In her poem, "The Race", Sharon Olds employs tone and imagery to convey the significance of family and illustrate the internal impact caused by the potential loss of a loved one. At first, Olds introduces a chaotic and rushed tone. The foreboding phrase recounting the doctors' belief that her father 'would not live through the night', immediately sets a depressing tone. Despite being the introduction of the poem, the reader's hope for the father is immediately crushed. Yet, despite such a powerfully negative commencement, the author transforms the tone into rushed determination. She recounts how she, 'who had no sense of direction raced exactly where he'd told me'. Her determination to see her father conveys his importance to her. She
