The Climax of "I Want You Women Up North to Know"

Lines 85-97 of Tillie Olsen's first published poem "I Want You Women Up North to Know" contain the climactic turning point of this poem, and the language and form reflect this change. Instead of being humble and disjointed victims who remain mostly anonymous, the workers are transformed into an angry and unified group of distinct individuals. This shift in mood is accomplished by three devices: imagery, grouping, and capitalization of proper names. The imagery in …

…anonymity, not "I" but "i" (1). However, this quickly switches to "I" (6), implying that he or she gains authority and confidence to speak on behalf of the workers. By line 85, the speaker has capitalized all the workers' names, raising them up inside him or her in their authority to speak. Lines 85-97 thus become a launching point for the poem's conclusion, empowering the narrator and the workers when they threaten that the abuse "can't last forever" (99).