Dirty Face In Thank You M Am, By Langston Hughes

Dirty, soiled; unclean. Roger was unkempt. The symbolism of Rogers dirty face is essential to the message in Langston Hughes fictional short-story, Thank You M’am. The dirty face represents/symbolizes the society Roger has been raised in. In Thank You, M’am the story took place around eleven at night. A large woman was walking through the streets on her way home from work when a young child went to try to snatch the ladies pocketbook. The strap broke carrying the weight of the pocketbook was unbelievably heavy for the boy. While the woman whose named was Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones scolded the boy for why he tried to snatch her purse. She dragged the boy whose name was Roger to her resident. Roger went to the sink to clean the muck off his face from living on the streets, water dripped from his face as he used a clean towel to wipe it off. Countless times Roger wanted to run out Mrs. Jones home but he didn’t want to be mistrusted. Mrs. Jones didn’t question him on his personal life as they ate, Roger was quite glad considering

Mrs. Jones appeared to notice the situation, Roger was in and didn’t answer his question “You gonna take me to Jail?” (1). Instead, she only replied to him to freshen up, she followed off with them eating. A person who didn’t understand Roger would have truthfully answered if they will press charges or not, though Mrs. Jones must have seen the boy otherwise. Mrs. Jones had a good look at Roger before she exposed her own short background story, “I were young once and I wanted things I could not get” (2). Not only was Mrs. Jones concern about Roger but she attended the boy's needs. Mrs. Jones gave Roger a clean cloth that signified that Roger should start all over again, leaving the dirtiness as in his past and let it wash away as the cleanliness is being