Every mother would like to see her child succeed in life. The following passage from the poem, "Mother to Son", by Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son. She teaches him using her own life as an example; her life as a climb up a staircase. The imagery from the advice given in the stanza is explicit and poignant: Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards all torn up, And
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). Although the dialect by itself does not seem to be an important quality, however, “when it is presented with all dramatic skill”, it is important (Barksdale 3). In “Mother to Son”, Hughes uses dialect to show that the mother is not as well educated as many people. When she says
front of him, but it felt as if they were a mile away. Reaching his hand out, he began to holler: PLEASE STOP! PLEASE the words bristled from his mouth. He fell onto his knees, in front of him the white floor had droplets of blood that came out of his mother. Time passes, the boy lying on the floor, motionless, Just looking at the flickering light above. Footsteps approached, the boy remained motionless--not caring who it was. I’ve found the boy, over. Excellent nurse, bring him to O.R. #3. Gotcha. The
leadership, whom her son can trust and someone who he can really bond with. A mom is one whom teaches her son all the lessons of life and who puts her child onto the right path. In the story of “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the mother gives advice to her lovely son, about how she successfully faced the challenges in life and that she wishes that her son does the same by encouraging and by sharing her own experiences. The speaker’s message to the readers in “Mother to Son” is that life can have
2014 Essay #2 Biblical Allusion and African-American Spirituals in “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes’s poetry often deals with racial struggles faced by African-Americans. The poem “Mother to Son” is no exception. Written as a monologue, the poem has two audiences. As the title indicates, the primary audience is her son; on an allegorical level, the story addresses the African-American community-at-large. The narrator (the mother) relates to both audiences the theme that perseverance will create
complete. The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes was written in 1922. Langston Hughes was a black writer, whose work started to be published in the 1920s. “Mother to Son,” which shows a black mother telling her son to stay hopeful despite all the hardships one may encounter in life. Here the author is passing a message to the public through this woman of wisdom.The mother tells her son that life has not always been easy for her, yet she is still carrying on. This poem “Mother to Son” has many poetry
the power to see the world through the eyes of others. In the poem Mother to Son by Langston Hugh, a mother reflects on her time of hardship when she passes down words of wisdom to her son. Her expressive and descriptive word choices allow me to see images that make it possible to capture her insightful voice, reassuring gestures, and encouraging facial expressions to be able to relate to her struggle. Although I don’t have a son or a brother, I can relate to this poem as
In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes The main extended metaphor is “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”. The metaphor creates an analogy between life and a crystal stair. The crystal part of the stair represents a person living a lavish life with absolutely no worries, hard work and conflict. The mother is saying her life wasn’t this and it will never be this. The following lines to this poem are: “It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,”. The imperfections in the
and being raised by his grandmother, Langston Hughes drew from her wisdom and life struggles. His mother had moved from place to place as she tried to raise her son and maybe could not support him with the little money she may have received. His father had left after one year of marriage to his mother. His mother allowed her mother to raise him and help provide for his needs. In the poem, “Mother to Son”, this conversation may have occurred on one of her visits. He may have been at a low point in his
splinters, and torn up boards. Doesn’t this seem like a wonderful place to live? For the mother in the poem “Mother to Son” this was her everyday reality. Unlike most people there was no one there to help her when she fell down or lead her in the right way, she was always working for everything she had in her life. The hardships of life are represented by a dark beat up staircase in the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes. Throughout the poem Langston uses powerful symbolism, diction, and form
dedicating their every move to that one certain goal. Another reason is having persistence anything that a person sets their mind to doing so they will do whatever it takes to reach that goal. Just as Langston Hughes is dedicated in his poem “Mother to Son”: “ Well, son, I’ll tell you:/ Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair./ It’s had tacks in it,/ And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor./ Bare.” (l. 1-7). He never gave up no matter how long he was in places like the
Can a handsome and well-behaved fellow be someone or something that he is not? The audience is not shown Norman Bate’s mother directly, but because of the dialogue, the composition, and the props of the stuffed birds, we come up with the conclusion that Norman Bates is actually his murderous mother and more boyish than manly which contrasts with Marion’s personality in the scene where Marion eats dinner with Norman in the parlor. The dialogue featured in this scene helps us see Norman’s boyish nature
level. Timothy Findley narrows in something anyone can relate to: a loving mother worried about her son risking his life in a war. This mother in the “The Wars” is Mrs. Ross, who represents the home front while her son, Robert Ross, fights for the British in World War One. As the book progresses and Robert gets further into the death trap known as the “Great War”, Mrs. Ross becomes increasingly obsessive and connected to her son as his fate becomes more clear. Throughout this novel, the reader is left
Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” have a few things in common, especially their meanings. In “The Road not Taken” Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both” (1-2). “Mother to Son” also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: “Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal
of his works entitled “Mother to Son”, was written and published in 1922. The writing selection was based off the theme of ‘When life gets hard; persevere,’ as a mother illustrates to her son the life long journey of struggles and conflicts that she has endured. The writer produced this poem at the age of 21, and in this particular poem, Hughes displays the symbol of a staircase which to represents life. “Mother to Son” begins with a heed of warning from a mother to her son about how life will not
After reading the selection of poems by Langston Hughes the one that spoke to me was Mother to Son. This poem has a strong theme of how gruesome life could be in America prior to the Civil Rights Movement. The mother, who is the narrator of the poem, uses the image of a staircase to symbolize her life’s journey. Instead of the perfect staircase that would have been seen in Gatsby’s house, she often refers to the staircase by saying “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Through her words she
With this information kept in mind, the Ghost advises Hamlet to kill King Claudius, while protecting his mother, in order for the old King Hamlet to escape purgatory. Nonetheless, throughout the play Hamlet’s vendetta is continuously prolonged due to the Oedipus Complex created by Sigmund Freud which states, “in the young male, the Oedipus conflict stems from his natural love for his mother, which progressively may become sexual. Unfortunately for the boy, his father stands in the way of this love
In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, Hughes explores a relationship between a mother and son and she gives him advice on how to deal with hardships in life and perseverance in the face of adversity. Hughes uses a mix of dialect, free verse, metaphor, and imagery to create this theme of the poem. In the poem, the crystal stair referred to is a metaphor for an extravagant life. And as the speaker claims “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (Hughes 2) she is really describing that her
person at some point loses control of their lives, but when they lose control, and who they lose it to, can make the difference. This idea can be seen in many pieces of texts including the following poems. “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes both convey the message that people are supposed to have control of their own fate and actions. Through “Invictus” William Ernest Henley conveys that most people feel that they want to have full control of their own lives. The
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