What drives people to do things? It would be foolish to call this a simple question, but a possibility would be that the most important factor in why people choose to do something is to feel accomplished about themselves and their actions because as humans, people only do things that they believe will accomplish something good.Some might say that people can do things for no reason. However, everyone has a reason to do something, it might just be hard to find, like going on an unknown path out of curiosity, or randomly dancing for fun. Judith Ortiz Cofer's Abuela Invents The Zero does a great job of representing the claim that was presented. A good example would be when Constancia was getting ready to go to the mall with her friends: “My …show more content…
A good example would be when the mother in the story talks about her life using a metaphor of a staircase. In the beginning of the poem, the mother says, "Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, [...] But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on" (Hughes lines 1-9). This metaphor describes the mother's life experience, the reader can infer was hard, but the nice part of this excerpt is the final lines, where the metaphor of continuing to climb on the staircase is used to symbolize the mother's goal to persevere, no matter how tough life gets because she believes her efforts will accomplish something good. Another fitting quote from the text is something the mother says at the end of the poem, ¨So boy, don’t you turn back. [...] Don’t you fall now For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair¨ (Hughes lines 14-20) This shows the Mother's purpose in telling this story. The mother says to the son, using her stair metaphor, to keep persevering through life, as she had. She says this because she believes that her son persevering through life is something good for him, the Mother, and the world. that her son persevering through life is something good for him, the Mother, and the
Figurative Language in used throughout poems so the reader can develop a further understanding of the text. In “The Journey” the author uses rhythm and metaphors throughout the poem. “...as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of the clouds..”(25-27). The author compares the star burning to finding your voice. Rhythm also develops the theme of the poem because throughout the story rhythm is presented as happy showing growing up and changing for the better is necessary and cheerful. In “The Laughing Heart” the author uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme throughout the book. “There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness”(5-7). Always find the good out of everything, even it
The most prominent example of this is the imagery of the wallpaper and the way the narrator’s opinion on the wallpaper slowly changes throughout the story; this directly reflects what is happening within the narrator’s mind. At the beginning of the story, the narrator describes the wallpaper as “Repellent.revolting. a smoldering unclean yellow” (Gilman 377). As the story continues, the narrator starts to become obsessed with the wallpaper and her opinion of it has completely changed from the beginning. Symbolism plays a big part in “The Yellow Wallpaper” too.
Have you ever ever wondered how your life experiences shape who you become? How do they shape your values? In the stories Born Worker and Abuela Invents the Zero, both Constancia and Jose value the importance of becoming a better person. In Gary Soto’s Born Worker, Jose values being a hard worker, but after his experience with Arnie, he realises that he can also be a good person. Growing up, Jose always believed that “he was a born worker” (1) just as his mother “stitched at a machine all day“ (2) and his father worked “climbed splintered, sun sucked poles, [and] fixed wires” (2).
Claim: When making a decision, people are often influenced by the pressure society places on them in order to follow the social norm, or what is socially accepted.
The most important factor in why people choose to do something is based on the expectations they set for themselves or the expectations people create for them. This occurs because people aspire to be their best. Although some people do not have the drive to keep improving themselves, they may want to change to fill the expectations of their peers.
An example of this is when Mccabe writes, “At twelve, I could only see the seventeen-year-old boy\as a gift” (lines 1,2). Since she’s very young, she see’s the older boy as a gift. To a young girl an older boy who has taken an interest in her is something she can’t imagine. He came to her out of pure luck like a chance from God. Another example of figurative language conveying the theme is the use of simile when she writes “I lodged like a splinter in his day” (line 24). This represents how she wished to add herself into his life not just when they sneak around at night but in the day as well. She’s trying to integrate herself into this boy's life to be closer with him. She wants him all throughout the day and not just at night when they slink through the
The overall poems entitles a mother talking to her son and encouraging him to move on in his life. But, one of the major messages she give him other than to always keep moving forward, she also tells him to never look back. “So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps,’ Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. “In these three lines, the mother tells her son to persevere through, the troubles he might face in life. If he turns back, he may never discover what is at the end, of his own life-s staircase. If he turns back, all those troubles he might have faced before, all of the ‘tacks’ and ‘broken boards’, he will ultimately have to experience once more. There will always be the possibility that, he may fall, but he shall not, for he must keep moving forward. She encourages her son, to not give up on his journey, despite the hardships she has encountered on her own and the hardships he may encounter on his own journey. She sees no point or logic of giving up on your life- staircase if you have already made it as far as you have. You must keep climbing despite of what may lie ahead. “Mother to Son,” by Hughes is a short poem about a mother describing her life to her son and the many difficulties she has faced in her life, yet she overcome them and used her hope and her strength to keep climbing. The Story also tells of
For example, multiple metaphors are used. These metaphors are used to compare friendships and relationships to furniture. “Very pretty upholstery,/Comfortable padding,/But no firm foundation,/No sound support from supple springs/ Thus crumpling under pressure.” This is an example of a metaphor being used in the poem.
“Mother to Song” demonstrates plenty of figurative language. A metaphor that is also repeated compares the how her life was not a crystal stair. There are many possibilities of the meaning of it such as, representing wealth, transparency, and also glamour. Also, Hughes uses imagery in line five that states, “And boards torn up.” Hughes wants us to truly try to understand all the hardship that the mother went throughout her life.
The extended metaphor throughout the poem compares their life to a crystal stair. The speaker talks about climbing up the stair which is like going through years of
Form and meaning are what readers need to analyze to understand the poem that they are evaluating. In “Mother to Son”, his form of writing that is used frequently, is free verse. There is no set “form”, but he gets his point across in a very dramatic way. The poem is told by a mother who is trying to let her son know that in her life, she too has gone through many frustrations just like what her son is going through. The tone of this poem is very dramatic and tense because she illustrates the hardships that she had to go through in order to get where she is today. She explains that the hardships that she has gone through in her life have helped her become the person that she has come to be. Instead of Hughes being ironic, like he does in some of his poems, he is giving the reader true background on the mother’s life. By introducing the background, this helps get his point across to the reader in a very effective way. In this poem there are many key words which help portray the struggles that the mother is trying to express to her son. The poem is conveyed in a very “down to earth” manner. An example of this is, “Life for me ain’t been a crystal stair (462).” This quote shows the reader that the mom is trying to teach the son a lesson with out sugar coating it. She wants her son to know that throughout her life has had many obstacles to overcome, and that he too is going to have to get through his own obstacles no matter how frustrating it is. Her tone throughout the poem is stern telling the boy, “So boy, don’t turn your back (462).” The poems tone almost makes the reader believe that the mother is talking to them, almost as if I am being taught a valuable lesson.
Written by Langston Hughes, the poem “Mother to Son”, offers insight on the author's life advice that she’s giving her son. The mother, begins by telling of the hardships one may encounter in life, and then continues to explain how you cannot give up, but keep going. In this situation, the speaker is very encouraging telling how she is still struggling through her not perfect life, but one cant give in to the roadblocks they may encounter. Starting off, the author uses many different analogies to express the challenges/ problems one has to deal with, which adds a different way of reading this, giving the reader a visual picture. For example, the author says, “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes is a poem about a mother telling her son to keep going in life and don’t give up when it gets tough because life won’t be easy just like her own. Now I believe the tone of this poem is encouraging and inspirational due to the literary techniques and figurative language. The most used figurative language used in the this poem are metaphors and imagery. One of my example of figurative language the helps establish the tone is a metaphor. The author writes “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair” This makes the tone sound like the mother has a lot of determination and her life hasn't been easy as the crystal stair represents a no problem luxury life but hers has not been a “crystal stair”.
The poem gives a message that no one should procrastinate and expect dreams to happen on their own. Hughes delivers this message by having a series of similes throughout the poem so that the reader would comprehend the point that is being made. “A simile states similarity that illustrates how one object is like another.” It is a figure of speech, “an expression that departs from regular, straightforward use of language to achieve a particular effect.” Hughes tries to give the reader a mental image by comparing a dream to several things that get worse over time.
The mother tells her son how hard life was for her and all the rough times African Americans had to go through. The mother wanted her children's lives to be much better than hers and wanted to teach kids to keep fighting for their rights. “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair./it had tacks in it/ and splinters/ and boards torn up/ and places with no carpet on the floor.” (“Mother to Son”). His words show the reality and horrible life he once had to live, just because of the color of his skin.