On the Subway focuses on a male and a female on the subway. The female is Caucasian and the male is African American, in this poem the Caucasian female is evidently fearful of the African American male riding on the train with her; “he could take my coat so easily, my briefcase---my life”. Olds uses the dashes and commas to enhance the poem. The narrator compares the two; the Caucasian woman is wearing expensive fur, while the African American man is wearing red “like the inside of a body exposed”. Olds uses simile and imagery to describe the two. In addition, the African American man is described to have the look of a mugger, and a raw face. The Caucasian woman is wearing fur, and eats steak that he doesn’t eat, and fears that her brief
