The Sidewalk Racer Poem Analysis

The ups and downs of being alone

Being alone affects you in many ways. Sometimes it’s good to be by yourself, and other times you need people in your life to help you. There are similarities and differences in the way the characters view being alone. First, in the poem, “The Sidewalk Racer,” by Lillian Morrison, the author addresses the meaning of being alone by being the one and only single engine human automobile. She compares herself as being the driver and the wheel. The author is telling us that being alone is fun. This poem also describes her as being a skateboard. When the poem says, ‘I swerve, I curve, I sway,” I imagine the author is telling me that she speeds through life without anyone by her side. She also says, “I’m the sailor and the sail,” and to me, that means that her life is pretty stable because a ship’s sail keeps it stable. Second, in the poem, “When I Read,” by Lillian Morrison, the author addresses the meaning of being alone by contrasting between a runner, a diver, and an explorer. At the beginning of the poem, she tells us that she’s a runner. The author says, “I’ve got a lot of speed.” As you keep reading the poem, the author then states
O’Brien, the author addresses the meaning of being alone by describing to you how terrifying it can be to be by yourself. In the story it says, “I hated being alone, hoping that a car, anybody would come.” Being alone is scary because anything can happen to you. The excerpt tells us about how she listens to a radio broadcast, and when that man on the other side of that radio goes off, she was sure she was the one in the world left. The girl in the story starts to dream of people driving to come get her and then end up driving past her without knowing she was there. What I take from this excerpt is that being alone can take a toll on your mind and you start to believe things that were never there. People need one another to be