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Facing sexism and racism essay
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The lives of people of color have long been marked by hardships experienced in order to achieve the American Dream. In the poems “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, and “Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper” by Martin Espada, both speak about these hardships, explaining what most people of color deal with, or have dealt with. Though both poems speak out about the hardships faced by people of color, Hughes emphasizes that life is a struggle for all generations that must be fought, while Espada indicates that painful obstacles are part of the journey to achieve the ultimate dream. Despite their different messages, both poems share the same topic of the hardships that surround the American Dream and use negatively connotated diction associated …show more content…
Hughes reveals the message that when life seems overwhelming, one must remember to keep pushing because life isn’t easy when she encourages her son to never give up. The main symbolism is seen when the speaker, who is the mother, compares her life to a staircase. The staircase is used to motivate her son, as it is symbolic of progressing through life’s hardships and having the will to keep going up. When she says “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”, she reveals that her journey through life hasn’t been easy, especially considering that she was a black woman in a time period where life for all generations was full of hardships. Her hardships are highlighted when she recalls the “boards torn up” and “places with no carpet”, suggesting that poverty was also something that she had to endure. This highlights how her generation had to deal with hardships, but she had to “Keep on climbing”, and wants her son to do the same. She repeats, “Don’t you fall”, “Don’t you turn back” and “Don’t you set down” which all give the same motherly push of encouragement, that she hopes will push him to continue …show more content…
They started off working in painful conditions to ultimately become a lawyer. The speaker’s success can be seen through the use of a hyperbole when he describes his papers stacked “seven feet high and leaning”, proving his hard work. This reveals that his journey wasn’t easy, and he goes on to describe his pain caused by it. The pain, however, is ironic- even though it caused suffering, the “oozing”, “burning palms” and “sting of hidden cuts” are the same that drive him to success. The legal pads that caused this pain as a student are used as a reminder of success, later on when he become a lawyer, suggesting that hardships are inevitable. Still, when he says “hidden”, it suggests that his hard work and pain is ignored. This is the case for many people of color, who struggle to achieve their goals despite putting all of their effort into them. Ultimately, this poem conveys that in order to be successful, there will be hardships
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.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, explained the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. Hughes made a very clear and concise statement in focusing on women and the power they hold, light and darkness, and strength. Did his poems properly display the feelings of African-American’s in that time period? It is apparent that Hughes felt a sense of pride in his culture and what they had to endure. After all “Life ain’t been no crystal stair!”(Norton, Line 2, 2028)
Because of that, his writing seems to manifest a greater meaning. He is part of the African-American race that is expressed in his writing. He writes about how he is currently oppressed, but this does not diminish his hope and will to become the equal man. Because he speaks from the point of view of an oppressed African-American, the poem’s struggles and future changes seem to be of greater importance than they ordinarily would. The point of view of being the oppressed African American is clearly evident in Langston Hughes’s writing.
This poem is written from the perspective of an African-American from a foreign country, who has come to America for the promise of equality, only to find out that at this time equality for blacks does not exist. It is written for fellow black men, in an effort to make them understand that the American dream is not something to abandon hope in, but something to fight for. The struggle of putting up with the racist mistreatment is evident even in the first four lines:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” She starts here by telling her son how hard life has been for her with the mention of the metaphor ‘crystal stair’, which is a reference to wealth and reaching the top. “It had tacks in it. And splinters. And boards torn up.
... They focus more on the cultural aspects of identity that Hughes is very proud of, while poems “Democracy” and “Theme for English B” touch on some of the social concerns that created a struggle for dignity as a black person in the early/mid twentieth century. The “Democracy” is a slightly stern and direct request to take action and fight for civil rights. The “Theme for English B” is a compassionate and low-key personal anecdote that reiterates the unpracticed concept that “all men are created equal”. Despite the difference in tone and subject, all four poems relate to the central theme that dignity is something that white men may take for granted, but Langston Hughes, as a black man and a writer, sees and feels dignity as a fight and a struggle that he faces and that the black community as a whole faces every day.
In line seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen Hughes says, “Don’t you fall now– For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’.” What Hughes expresses in these lines is that just because the stairs become hard to climb at times do not quit. One of Hughes’ most important elements is symbols in his poem “Mother to Son.” She still struggles forward, no matter what may have been the bleakest moments of her life, where there seemed to be no hope. When climbing the stairs she is “reachin’ landin’s, / and turnin’ corners, / and sometimes goin’ in the dark”.
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.
Both poems were written during the period of racial intolerance in the United States. In
Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” was first published in Crisis magazine in 1922. In the poem, a hopeful mother warns her child that many trails will present themselves to him over the course of his life. The mother encourages her son that no matter what, he must triumph over the struggles and continue to press forward. She relates life’s rigorous journey to climbing a staircase. The mother explains how her life has not been easy, or in other words, “a staircase made of crystal” The life of the mother has been an endless struggle described as stairs with protuberant nails and fragments of wood sticking out, boards ripped up and spaces where carpet was omitted. Though she described her life as an almost unclimbable staircase, she kept moving onward. She wants her son to do as she has done and pull motivation from her severe situations and remain steady.
The subtle differences in the tones are thoroughly tenuous. In “Dreams,” the author hints at a passionate and optimistic tone: “Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” (Hughes 1-4). The author tries to make the point dreams are important for surviving and thriving. The author is spirited towards the fact that if we hold fast to our dreams, then lives will be meaningful and worth something. These words and phrases make the enthusiastic and
Langston Hughes’s poem “I Dream A World” grants a voice to any person, who has been exposed to a life in racial prejudice and inequality, including the writer. That voice belongs to any black person, who has lived the poorer than poor life. This life was full of consistent violation of basic human rights, full of frustration, and overflowing with hopelessness. Upon closer examination, the situation of the poem uncovers the painstakingly raw yearning for humanity and equality.
Hughes usage of diction and imagery illustrates an oppressed African American mother who continues to climb higher, despite the many challenges she has already overcome. The theme of never giving up highlights many key triumphs that blacks have conquered and have yet to conquer. Like Hughes voiced through his poem, keep “a-climbin' on,” because there will always be something standing in your path to success.
The mother in the poem represents the many generations of African Americans for whom opportunity was scarce for, have endured pain, who's had a troubled past and was given every reason to give up. Life for Africans “ain’t been no crystal stair” since the beginning of time. Since Slavery to present time they have just been pushing through in hope of upward mobility. Langston Hughes successfully acknowledges the mindset of those who have been through hardships and have found it easier to give up, yet still remained strong. “Mother to Son” teaches a valuable lesson for anyone who encounters struggles, reminding them to never give up. On the road of life, you will encounter trials and tribulations, however he teaches us that we can and will overcome such things for pain is temporary and there is a way out.
On the road of life, many trials arise that one must overcome to make his or her life feel complete. In Langston Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son,” these trials are a subject of concern for one mother. Hughes’ “ability to project himself” is seen in his use of dialect, metaphors, and tone (Barksdale 3).