Symbolism In The Negro Mother, By Langston Hughes

An inspiring and motivating piece is the first thing I thought when reading Langston Hughes’ poem, “The Negro Mother.” Langston Hughes wrote this poem to remind the African American people of the struggle and abuse that their ancestors had to go through in order to pave the way for their freedom today. The powerful tone that is used in this poem is the voice of the Negro Mother as she encourages her children. Her voice captivates the reader and draws them in, to actually listen and heed her words. I would like to look at some of the key symbolism that stood out to me, and also see what was going on during the time that this was written that could have inspired Langston Hughes to write this poem, and also how this poem can relate and help motivate African Americans today. In just the first couple of lines, symbolic meaning stood out to me. In the first two lines of the poem she (The Negro Mother) says, “Children, I come back today, to tell you a story of the long dark way…” (Hughes)which symbolizes that the mother is a spirit who returns from the past to motivate her “children” (1) of a more …show more content…
The word remember is repeated a few times toward the end of this poem. The mother wanted her children to remember “…my sweat, my pain, and my despair…” (36) Also she wanted them to remember, “…how the strong in struggle and strife, still bars you the way and denies you life, but keep moving forward breaking down bars, look ever upward at the sun and the stars…” (44-48). She suffered a great deal of pain from the beatings and the loneliness of slavery and exhaustion from working and toweling the soil all day. These things brought her great sorrow, but she still had her vision which helped her and gave her the strength to motivate herself and her children to do the same and continue on with their heads held high till they reached freedom and lived out her