In “On the Subway,” by Sharon Olds, the author uses imagery and tone to convey her message of contrast between her and the boy she faces. First, she starts by describing his physical features, also using simile to compare his laces to a pattern of international scars. They are also inside a car and she continues to study him. The poem shows the differences between a male and female. Furthermore, her tone is quite passive but frightened because the speaker seems inferior and intimidated due to describing the boy as a mugger. The speaker’s use of imagery is quite fantastic as she describes the boy absorbing the murderous beams of the nation’s heart because
