Comparing 'Dear Mama And The Song Mother To Son'

In the poem, “Mother to Son” harlem renaissance Langston Hughes writes of a mother’s heartbreaking journey through a never ending cycle of life through the use of figurative language and complex structure. The reader is able to fully receive the message the author has provided.

The mother begin by telling her son how hard her life has been , and it has not been a "crystal stair." Then , I began to develop the metaphor of a staircase, as the mother describes the challenges in her life with symbols such as splinters, tacks , uncarpeted floor, and dark, unlit corners. She also exhorts her son not to turn back, because she never will and she wants the same to happen to her son.

When the mother describes the stairs as not being “crystal”, this means life hasn’t been a clear, easy path to live. Walking up the stairs is sometimes tiring and difficult, for example,”It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor.” This represents all the hardships or challenges in life that may make us want to give up. The author uses the example of the mom’s hard life as an African American in the 1920s to mid-1930s to teach the son that his life will not be easy because of racism. The whole poem is a metaphor comparing life to walking up stairs. The style of the poem also conveys this

At the beginning of the poem, Langston imitates his mother by saying that life for her has not been “no crystal stair case”. As you can see Langston started off using a metaphor to depict the message of the hard life that his mother had.

In the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred Taylor, and the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the characters face many challenges. A challenge from the novel that they faced is that black people never got to see the money they owned for working for their white owners, and they were always overcharged when they went to go shopping. On page 99 it says, “I feels the same way you do, ‘bout them low-down Wallaces, but it ain’t easy to jus’ stop shoppin’ there. They overcharges me and I has to pay them high interest, but you know I have credits there ‘cause Mr. Montier signs for me.” A challenge they faced from “ Mother to Son” is they faced many challenges. In the poem, it says “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, Bare.” When the mother says that life for her ain’t been no crystal stair she means that she been through many challenges. When she says that it's had

In the first two lines of the poem, the mother says, "Well, son, I'll tell you: life ain't been no crystal stair.” According to the essay, “Mother to Son by Langston Hughes,” this use of metaphor emphasizes the words of wisdom from a woman, who explains to her child about the chaotic experiences in life. Although life can be tough and difficult to understand, we have to find ways to conquer it. This comparison conveys the idea and theme of this poem. The woman further tells her son, in lines three through six, that the stairway has some tacks in it which also has splinters and boards, which are tattered over the floor.

As the poem concludes, the mother uses her resilience to further encourage her son. Hughes writes “[s]o boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now—" (Hughes). As an African American in the 1920’s, everything within society was designed to create hardship or failure. The encouragement from the mother’s words is a push forward not only for an individual but for the entire African American community.

In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, the most meaningful phrase is "life for me ain't been no crystal stair" because it explains the narrator's identity and conflicts. In the poem “Mother to Son,” it describes her hardships in life. She begins by discussing what she had to endure. Lastly, she explains how she pushed through her hardships.

In these lines, Hughes connects the sad tone of the poem from the earlier lines, to the meaning of endurance that he creates in these lines. The mother is continuing to climb the staircase, even though it may be bare and have tacks in it and boards torn up, she refuses to let that stop her from climbing it. The author's word choice helps to develop this idea, by involving encouraging words that make the reader feel as though he or she is motivating the mother to keep climbing. It is through the author’s word choice that a meaning of endurance and encouragement is created in the

To continue, the poem “ Mother to Son” uses figurative language and conflict to develop the theme of rising above challenges. To begin, the author uses figurative language to develop the theme by using Metaphor. In the text it said, ““I’m still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Figurative language develops the theme of rising above challenges in this text because the author is comparing her life and the stairs to show that there are going to be hard things that are going to come into your life. Second of all, to develop the theme of rising above challenges the author also used conflict. In the text it says, “ “Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you find it’s very hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’m still going, honey, I’m still climbin,”. The conflict of this poem is the person on the stairs is starting to give up. The conflict develops the theme of rising above challenges in this text because in the poem it shows that the mother is trying to convince the son to keep going and to overcome his challenges. In conclusion, to develop the theme of rising above challenges the author of the poem, “Mother to Son” used figurative language and conflict. The author used these to show how the metaphor is showing us how life is at times and how the conflict help show the theme of the poem.

The speaker’s message to readers in “Mother to Son” is that life can be difficult, but you have to keep trying despite these difficulties. I believe this message is directed towards people who are experiencing hardships and poverty, because the speaker is directing her conversation to her “son,” who does not have a life that is like “crystal stairs” (line 2). The crystal stairs in the poem represents a wealthy and easy life, as wealthy people have not probably had the same difficulties in life. Her message of not giving up is evident throughout the poem as she demands her son to not give up. She says, “So boy, don't you turn back, don't you set down on the steps, cause you finds it’s kinder hard” (lines 14-16). As readers, we know the message for us is that you can’t give up, even though you will face challenges—just like you have to keep going on a “staircase” even though the staircase has many obstacles on it. She clearly believes that we need to be fighters in our lives, as life will often be difficult. More importantly, I believe this message was also meant towards African Americans in the early 1900’s (when Langston Hughes was writing poetry), to remind them to never give up on fighting for equal rights, even though it is

The metaphor in this poem conjoins life, and a staircase, "Well, son, I'll tell you:/ life for me ain't been no crystal stair." The mother says to her son, that

The beginning of the story starts off with the speaker’s somber words of life’s difficulties, thus, setting the mood to a glum start. Addressing her son, the speaker says, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it. And splinters…” Her blunt tone makes the story seem much more personal; there is not any sugar coating in her tone which is exactly what would be expected of a mother. By trying not to set false expectations on the easiness of life, Hughes uses a blunt tone from the speaker to let her son know how life really is. By setting off the mood of the story as drab, the later transition of tone will be more effective.

     The third quality that Langston Hughes uses in his poem is the tone of the speaker. When she explains to him not to “set you down on the steps / ‘Cause your find it’s kinder hard. / Don’t you fall down now,” the tone in her words in compassionate (Hughes 232). The mother is simply trying to tell her son that she knows what he is going through because she has been in rough times herself. Those rough times were troublesome but she had the strength to go on and get past them. All she wants for her son is for him to keep climbing, and never give up. Winslow believes that this “enduring exuberance” shows her youthful spirit towards life (262). She wants this all because “[she is] still goin’, honey, / [she is] still climbin’, / and life for [her] ain’t

In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the mother tells her son that her “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” What she means is that her life has never been perfect and that she has been to different places that are not the best like with no carpet or with splinters. In the painting, the mother has nothing and she is sitting on the bare floor. All that she has in the painting is the big ball of yarn and her son. Also, it kind of like she wants the little boy to catch the ball or like she is giving it to him.