How Do You Respond To His Mother By Langston Hughes

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.

Reporter: Hi Mr Hughes, so I’ve learnt that recently one of your poems , “Mother To Son is published”. Congratulations, but besides from the blissful joy of happiness, can you share with us your feelings right now? Are we happy? Proud?

Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son,” written in 1922, tells the story of a young mother giving important life lessons to her son. It conveys the struggles and hardships that the mother was forced to endure throughout her life, while portraying her as a woman who never gave up hope and got through the hard times. The strength and resilience she shows is a testament to the power of a mother’s love and willingness to do anything for their family. Hughes is able to portray this love and emotion with the use of various literary elements, such as rhymes and metaphors.

The title, “Mother to Son,” tells us that this is a mother giving her son advice. Langston Hughes opens the poem by saying, “Well, son, I’ll tell you:” (1), which could mean that the son had asked her about her life or that maybe he was complaining about his current struggles. The mother then begins to tell her son that her life has not been easy, but she never gives up and she urges her son to do the same:

Langston Hughes was writing poetry during the period of the Harlem Renaissance. This literary era between the 1920s to mid-1930s was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that created a breakthrough for black identity. This greatly affected Hughes work where he would write about life as an African American. In this poem, “Mother To Son”, he writes about a mother and son relationship. The mother is giving crucial advice about life influenced by her own experiences as a black woman. In this poem, the first line opens with,” Well, son, I’ll tell you,” which introduce the speaker as the mother who is teaching her son. The overall concept the mother portrays is advice to overcome obstacles

The theme of the poem and short story is that parents only want the best for their children and they try their hardest to meet their children’s needs. In both readings, the parents always tried their hardest to care for their children no matter what situation they're in. In the poem, “Mother to Son”, the mother states that life for her hasn't been easy for her but she didn't give up and neither should her son. I see this in both the poem and short story. Both mothers don't think that their child should give up on their dreams so they would be successful in life and not have to go through what they went through. Langston Hughes describes how the mother's life has been using figurative language. He described that the mother’s life isn't

In the poem, Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes, the author highlights counsels a mother to her son, to be persistent, not to let discouraged by obstacles that arise in life, posing herself example, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair…But all the time I’se been a-climin’ on.”, the image of a mother lovingly, wisely talking to her son about life.The language used by the mother shows that she was not an educated person and words such as “Tacks”, “splinters”, “boards torn up” suggests that life was not so easy for this woman. Obstacles of life are often very sharp, the challenges are difficult and painful, like a ladder with all kinds of defects, which is very difficult to be ascent. The way this mother describes her journey through this life, make the reader to understand that she is a black woman who had faced a lot of obstacles in her quest to move forward in life from the whites, “And sometimes goin’ in the dark, Where there ain’t been no light. So, boy, don’t you turn back.”

In the poem, “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes writes about a mother that encourages her son to move forward in life, even when obstacles arise. The mother tells her story of the hardships that she was forced to endure in order to motivate her son to become the best that he can be. Throughout the poem, the author’s use of diction and rhetorical devices make the mother’s message more powerful to the reader.

Have you ever come across an obstacle you thought you would never overcome? Every mother prays that her child does not struggle growing up. Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son” depicts that life is full of hardships in a message from a mother, who has had her fair share of hard times, to her son. The poem also states that you have to overcome life’s obstacles to be successful in the future, even when you see nothing but darkness. Hughes portrays the hardships of life through the use of metaphors, voice, imagery and repetition to compare the mother’s life to a crystalized, yet jagged staircase.

Langston Hughes, an inspirational African American writer, in his poem “Mother to Son” (1922) insinuates that life is a series of challenges and difficulties. Hughes establishes this pronouncement by first depicting a metaphor with his comparison of life and a set of broken wooden or crystal stairs, expressing how the broken wooden stairs represents hardships and how crystal stairs portray a smoother life; second, by providing imagery of a boy sitting down on the steps of the stairs as the mother is scolding her son, exhibiting how the son has given up on the task in front of him while his mother is scolding him, displaying her motherly affection; and third, by using regionalism to indicate the difficulties of the mother and the son and how

The poem Mother to son by Langston Hughes is a very deep and complex poem. Literally Mother to son is about climbing up steps that aren't made of crystal. However the figurative meaning is much different. The figurative meaning is that you should be humble, not take your luxuries for granted. Everyone has hardships in their lives, you are not the only one who has to work hard. Everyone has to climbs the stairs of life. The message is strengthened by the poem’s empathetic and humble mood. This mood is maintained by the use of repetition and metaphors.

Contrast to someone's home that has had a crystal stair, her home is impoverished with uncarpeted floors. With tattered stairs, the mother also illustrates her floor as being bare. Finally, "Bare," one word sentence is used to describe her life.

Obstacle is defined as “thing that blocks one’s way or hinders progress”. Similarly, this relates to the poem because there will always be obstacles in your life. In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, the mother tells the son that he must go on and face his obstacles and move past them. The theme is that no matter how hard obstacles are they are always there and you must past them but it will not be easy

The poem titled Mother to Son by Langston Hughes displays a mother giving her son advice about her life not being the way she had expected it to be through demonstration of a crystal stair. Her expectations for her son were high in demand; and as his mother she desires the most from her son. She hopes by desiring the best in her son that he will eventually see the same potential in himself through discrimination of his capabilities. The mother requires to him to not go back down the stairs even if he thinks climbing is difficult. For this reason, he should try not to fall in life or use falling as an excuse to give up, but be as his mother, who is still living life  and climbing those impossible obstacles although, her life “ain’t been no crystal

     On the road of life, many trials arise that one must overcome to make his or her life feel complete. In Langston Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son,” these trials are a subject of concern for one mother. Hughes’ “ability to project himself” is seen in his use of dialect, metaphors, and tone (Barksdale 3).