What Is Langston Hughes's Message In 'Mother To Son'?

Improved Essays
When it comes to the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the most important word would be “Life” because it moves the plot forward, creating a message of hope in the hardships of life. The poem is told by the point of view of a mother, who tells his son of what life is really like. Telling him that life doesn't come easy to anybody, and no life is perfect in any way.
The meaning of life is portrayed by a mother, not wanting her son the be surprised when he find that life isn’t as easy and glamorous as it seems. The mother tells her child of how life has its ups and down and that it doesn't bow down to anybody, it has no boundaries to what bad it can do. A said in the second line of the poem, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”. Illustrating

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Although the two texts were written at different times, they share a very similar way of how personal experiences shape the values of the characters. To further explain, the mother in Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" has had a rough life and knows that things can be very hard at times. She wants to express to her son to never give up even when things get very hard. She thinks this because of her own personal experiences she has gone through. To explain, based on her values, she compares life to a staircase and says that "life for me ain't been no crystal stair".…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The short story “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes and “The Six Rows Of Pompons” by Toshio Mori have a common theme which is with a good leader leads to responsibility. In both of the stories the to people that teach the two younger kids in the story how to be more responsible. In “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes the main character Roger Gets taught respect. A quote that shows he got taught responsibility is “The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door.…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Meaning of Life in Langston Hughes's “Mother to Son” In Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” the speaker explains that life is not easy but is worth fighting through. For example, when the mother of the poem states, “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up,”(L.2-5). The staircase represents an easy, even perfectly paved path through life.…

    • 163 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Salvation,” written by Langston Hughes, is an account of his experience as a twelve-year-old boy in attending a revival at his Auntie Reed’s church. Hughes ends up being the last child on the mourner’s bench because he did not physically see Jesus. He is eventually saved when he gives in and stands up without really seeing the light. Hughes shows how spiritual experiences cannot be forced upon an individual by satirizing religion with the use of repetition, perspective, and symbolism of the characters.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mother To Son Analysis

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son” dramatizes the conflict between perseverance and conceding in life, as depicted in the conversation between a mother and her son. The first line of the poem “ Well, son…” indicates that the mother has been asked a questions about the tribulations of life by her son and responded endearingly to him in an effort t explain that life has pit falls but you must never give up, instead you should continue climbing the ladder of success.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    And they are ready to fight for anything that comes their way. In the poem “ Mother to Son” one of the challenges that they faced was “ her life ain't been no crystal stair.” That means her life hasn't been the easiest like when she says “ no carpet on the…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Salvation, Langston Hughes writes about his experience of getting saved by the Lord. At the time, Langston was a young boy at the age of thirteen when his Aunts church was hosting an immense revival where all the sinners were going to be brought to Christ. Along with numerous other kids, Langston was called to the Mourners bench by the preacher, where they were told they would find Christ. Langston's Aunt had previously told him that he would discern a light and he would feel something, giving him these wild expectations. After going to the Mourner bench all the children, except for Langston and another boy, claimed to have been saved and got to proceed to the Altar.…

    • 240 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We All Have Them Human beings belong to the species of Homo sapiens and are of the genus homo. Because of their mental capacity and development, speaking capability, they have been distinguished from other animals. Human beings are also the only creatures that can think on 4 levels which are emotions, beliefs, facts and ideas. We have them.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Compare and Contrast Essay Liberty is a thing some people strive for and a thing people take for granted, Americans must decide how or how not to use their liberty . In Learned Hand’s “I am an American Day Address” and Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” both authors address the liberty of Americans; however they interpret the situation differently. The two writings have some similarities and some differences; both help people to understand the topic of liberty and what that means for Americans. The two writings have the same goal and that is to explain liberty to Americans.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Langston Hughes was of African and Latin descent, this afforded him the outlook of both races and the difficulties of living in a society that had so much racism. However, Hughes grew up very educated and even went to college. Hughes wanted to help fix the rift between being black or white, or any other race, and he tried to do this using his literary works. ("Langston Hughes Biography - Life, Children, Parents, Name, Story, History, School, Mother, Book, Information, Born, College") One of his poems, Theme for English B, is directed towards helping to mend the rift between races by noting that we are all Americans and a part of each other.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Mother to Son” is a poem written by one of the most admired and popular writers during the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes. The time period the poem was first published was in 1922. The poem is twenty lines long with no apparent rhyme schemes or rhythm. There are two characters in this poem, a mother and her son. The vernacular makes it seem like the mother is uneducated and is/was apart of the lower class based upon the information given.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because she’s black living in the south during the time of segregation, she went through hardship. Because of this she’s able to give her son advice on not giving up, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” We can also see her struggle through Hughs use of repetition of this phrase. The mother from Robert Mezey’s poem is Jewish, you can tell this by the way she keeps implying her son to save money and there’s a stereotype that Jewish always have money.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All types of kids will die someday no matter how hard you try to make their lives better economically; similar to the tale “Kids Who Die” by Langston Hughes. Hughes was a literary icon well known for writing about the African Americans’ experience with racism and discrimination during the 1950-1960’s. He was the leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, promoting upcoming young poets. On the other hand, he was the first black poet to support himself through his writing, according to the Poetry Foundation. In this poem, the theme displays children will die to strive for a better lifestyle, while the affluent people are living care-free.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mother to Son The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, is about a mother telling her son about her hardships in life, how she is not giving up, and how he should do the same. The poem is told from the perspective of a mother to her son. The mother explains to her child how she strived to do better after the problems she encountered earlier in her life. She wants to help her son and teach him valuable lessons on how to not go down the same road she did. Through syntax, imagery, and diction; the author pushes the idea and importance of pushing through the obstacles and inconveniences one finds in life.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays