Mother to Son Essay

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Sarah Wannenburg
Mrs. Pearsall
American Literature
17 March 2014
Mother to Son The poem Mother to Son by Langston Hughes is a lesson for all because it is inspiration to keep moving forward despite everything that makes us want to give up. Originally the poem was most likely intended to be read by the oppressed African American community in which Langston Hughes lived, but as equality has grown widespread, the poem’s meaning can be advice for anyone, no matter their race. The southern-sounding dialect that the poem is written in allows the reader to skip formalities and be immediately submersed in the stern yet concerned tone of motherly advice. The mother says, “I’se been a-climbin’ on,/ And reachin’ landin’s,/ And turnin’ corners”(9-11), and one already has the feeling of familiarity that would come with listening to one’s mother speak. The imagery in the lines “It’s had tacks in it,/ And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor--/ Bare.” (3-7) allows the reader to picture a flight of worn down, beat up stairs which is then related to the mother’s life. This causes the reader to feel the mother’s pain and struggle that she had endured throughout her lifetime. The poem’s turn at line eight is extremely effective because the memory of the mother’s struggle is still fresh in the reader’s mind when the poem’s tone changes from despair to perseverance. While telling her son to push through the worst of times, the poem begins to sound like a “negro spiritual”. Usually “negro spirituals” talk about looking past one’s oppressed state and

Mother To Son

picture shows a mother holding a ball of yarn towards her child. In ‘Mother to son’, I would consider the ball of yarn to be life, because the mother in the picture seems resentful of the ball and one the most things that humans resent is life, which is talked about in ‘Mother to Son’. Life for the mother in ‘Mother to Son’ is described as a stair case with tacks, splinters, and much more— basically a metaphor for a hard life. It also talks about how the mother is telling her son to never give up…

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Mother To Son Analysis

of Hughes’ Mother to Son Christian Brown GENG 260 Dr. Fagan & Dr. Thompson September 14, 2012 Christian Brown Brown 1 Sept 12th, 2012 GENG 260 Dr. Fagan & Dr. Thompson Analysis of Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” Written from a mother’s point of view, Langston Hughes’ twenty-line poem “Mother to Son” encapsulates hardworking African American attitudes while being delivered in a more casual mother-son conversation…

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Mother To Son Analysis

1. Langston Hughes’ poem, Mother to Son, is a poem that speaks directly as it is entitled. A mother advises her son the adversities he will face in his lifetime. She speaks on her behalf of personal experiences on how to overcome obstacles he will face in life. The theme that I get from this poem is perseverance. She really pushes the point that no matter what life throws at you; you must be stronger and withstand the battles. Langston Hughes was an African American poet, in which you can tell the…

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Mother To Son Analysis

a lemon. Don’t give up because there’s always a way to move forward in life. In Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” the story illustrates that no matter what the circumstances are in life it can be difficult sometimes, but you can’t give up. You must do with what you have and still progress on. One can’t let something that can be fixed stop you or make you fail so don’t give up. Even though the mother has gone through a lot in her life, she didn’t have everything she wanted, but she has always found…

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Figurative Language In Mother To Son

In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, Hughes uses imagery as a prominent part of most of his work., figurative language, and sound devices are used to express the speaker's experiences. In this clever and concise didactic extended metaphor the imagery, when describing how hard life is, and that you have to work at everything in life and that life in general is hard work.The crystal stairs are a metaphor comparing to the speaker's life. Tactile imagery is used to describe the stairs with…

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Mother To Son Poem Analysis

poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, it tells how the mother is giving good advice to her son by telling him to never give up because life turns out okay in the end. In the short story “Rules of The Game” by Amy Tan, it tells about a mother and daughter’s struggling relationship, and how the mother thinks that she’s helping her daughter but she actually isn’t. The theme of both the poem and short story is that parent/child relationships aren’t always good. In “Mother to Son” the mother begins…

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Mother To Son Literary Devices

activist due to his to get equal rights with the Mexican and American. Although he had to go through a strike and had to deal with the American hatred. That’s similar to the advice that the mother gave to the son In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.It's about portray of a mother who gives advice to her son about not giving up.…

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Mother To Son By Langston Hughes

The poem,"Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes is a poem discussing the uphill battle everyone faces called life. It is told in the perspective of a mother teaching her son that life is a staircase. The entire poem is an extended metaphor that describes her life as an unsteady staircase that she climbs everyday. The poem was written during the civil rights period of time so African Americans ultimately had a harder time than whites did. Many people can infer that the speaker and her son are African…

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Mother To Son Rhetorical Devices

stairs and continues down until she gets to the sentence, “But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on.” This turns the poem around by stating that she’s been climbing through all the splinters and cut boards her whole life, so she is now teaching her son to do the same. She ends the poem off with an inspirational ending, creating the idea that no matter how many times you fall, you need to stand back up and keep climbing. In doing so, she rounds out the poem’s meaning by coming back full circle. The…

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Comparing Alexander Portnoy's The Mother And The Son

The Mother and the Son Alexander Portnoy has given me great insight into his mental condition based on the lengthy account of his life. Focusing on the suicide of Ronald Nimkin, and Alex’s masturbation tendencies, it is safe to assume that his problems are related to his upbringing, particularly his mother’s influence on him. Alex describes the continuous state of torment he was in due to his mother’s expectations. He explains the overwhelming embarrassment he felt when he could not remember…

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