How Does Langston Hughes Use An Extended Metaphor In Mother To Son

In the poem, Mother to Son, there is a mother telling her son that life isn’t always easy. She tells her son about her life, and the pain she had to go through. She compares her life to stairs, and the stairs can either be easy to climb on or hard. She lived a hard life, and she kept going through the challenges. She wants her son to keep going like she did. Hughes reveals that you must overcome challenges in life and keep going by using a extended metaphor, and imagery. Hughes used a extended metaphor to show how someone must go through hard times. The metaphors show how life can be easy, or how difficult and challenging it can be. In the poem, the mother compares life to stairs. Since her son is young, she uses the repetition of stairs …show more content…
(“Mother” 3-7)
Instead of being a crystal stair, it was a horrible and damaged stair. These stairs are difficult to climb on, but she fought through it and kept climbing. Even though her life was full obstacles and problems, she never gave up. Hughes uses imagery to show the challenges she had to go through. The descriptions of the stairs and the journey allow us to see the difficulties in her life. It is shown that the journey up the stairs was difficult. “And sometimes goin’ in the dark/ Where there ain’t been no light.” (“Mother” 12-13). She is probably trying to her son that he might get lost or he might lose hope in the journey. She might have been lost and she wasn’t sure where she going. Life can be really hard and some people lose hope in life. She probably lost hope or a little hope, but she kept going through life. She then tells her son about going through the journey. “I'se been a-climbin' on,/ And reachin' landin's,/ And turnin' corners,” (“Mother 9-11). She reveals that life can have unexpected turns, and there would be some good along the …show more content…
“Don’t you set down on the steps/ ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.” (“Mother” 15-16). Sitting on those damaged stairs will probably hurt somebody, and it will be hard to recover from it. She is telling her son to not give up. If you give up, there will bad consequences, and it will be hard to recover from it. She also tells her son: “Don’t you fall now-/ For I’se still goin’, honey,/ I’se still climbin’,” (“Mother” 17-19). She is telling her son to not give up if life gets hard. If she is capable of doing it, then her son can do it too. She doesn’t want her son to fall or fail in life. She keeps stressing that she was climbing and she still is. She wants her son to know that she is strong. She wants her son to be strong like her, never giving