Mother To Son By Langston Hughes

She is living in sad and poor conditions just to give her son the things he needs for a successful childhood. The sons mother lived at places with no carpet, splinters everywhere and boards bordered up the walls. Even in such bad conditions she never gave up on her son. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” she repeats to her son throughout the poem which gives the impression that her son still does not fully understand what his mom went through to raise him. Langston is trying to explain what she has been through while still encouraging him to keep going.

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?

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

“Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes was written in 1922 by Langston Hughes. The poem first appeared in Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to James Nathaniel and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes. Hughes mother and father separate shortly after his birth. His father moved to Mexico in pursuit of a better life and his mother moved often from state to state because of financial difficulties. Hughes lived with his grandmother until her death in 1910. He then went to live with family and friends and later settled in Illinois with his mother. Hughes attended Central High School, where he poetry and short stories for the school newspaper. He attended Columbia University for a short period of time before leaving the institution. Hughes continued to practice writing poetry. His work attracted many famous writers such as Vachel Lindsay. Hughes and several other African-American artists and writers started the Harlem Renaissance Movement, “the cultural, artistic, and social movement that took place in Harlem in the 1920’s”( Wormser). “Mother to Son” depicts a mother sharing encouraging words with her son to motivate him not to give up on life as he encounters different hardships. The theme of determination, perseverance and motivation is developed by the use of extended metaphors, free verse and symbols.

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.

The poem starts off with a Black mother, presuming the vernacular, explaining false hope, delayed equality and sadness of a hard life: Well, son, I'll tell you: 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 on the floor-

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.”

Hughes uses a wistful and somber tone to show the plight of the mother when she was growing up. In the beginning lines, the author makes a striking comparison by stating that the mother’s life “ain’t been no crystal stair” (2). This metaphor suggests that she had to endure many hardships throughout her life and was not allowed to enjoy the

“Mother to Son,” is the first poem that I read by Hughes. Just by the title alone, I knew that this work was going to be heavy. Throughout the story, Hughes’ mother references crystal stairs, stating that “life for me ain’t been no crystal stairs.” The stairs that she is referring to would be the stairs that lead to equality and freedom. She also states that the stairs she took were splintered and torn up. To me, that symbolizes slavery and the troubles she endured throughout her life thus far. Knowing that, the term “crystal stairs” then becomes a bit easier to grasp. White people are given the crystal stairs, meaning that their path is smooth and paved. Where as blacks of

These are the words every child should heard from their mothers, why? Because this is how we learn how to appreciate life. This words sound like a single mother, or just a mother that has been suffering so much. In the first two lines from the poem the mother says “Well son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” refereeing to how hard life has been for her, telling her son that is not easy like he maybe thinks. The last thing a mother wants to do is worrying her son with her problems, they always keep them to themselves, but when they see their kids struggling they use their life as an example. She uses words like “tacks, splinters, boards torn up, no carpet, bare, dark with no light” to give the image of how difficult everything has been for her. On the fourteen line from the poem she tells her son “So boy, don’t you turn you back.” Maybe he has a problem and is giving up, his mother tells him that she has been through worst, and if she made it, for sure he can do it too. And every day she keeps struggling but fighting like a true soldier. Every day my mother tells me a little struggle she has overcome and she tells me, if I did it why you

Who ever said life was going to be easy ? This poem, titled “Mother to Son” was written by Langston Hughes in the twentieth century. The poem depicts a mother telling her son that he cannot give up no matter how hard life gets that needs to keep trying. She describes how hard the path to success is and will be and she tells her son not to give up hope, to keep trying to be successful. She believes he should never give up when he is faced with a challenge.

As the poem starts with “Well, son, I’ll tell you”, it’s likely that the son has asked or said something before to which she is answering. In the following line, she says that her living “ain’t” been a “crystal stair”. The use of the word “ain’t” states that the mother is not

Hughes’ poem incorporates multiple different metaphors to ensure that the reader understands the overall message of the poem. In Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” he writes, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”(2). The author used the extended metaphor of a crystal staircase to represent the struggles in life and that life is full of hardships. A crystal staircase would represent a rich and flawless life whereas the character in the poem had a harsh and difficult life. Stairs can be torn up, contain loose tacks and give people splinters, but you have to find a way around the default’s of the stairs to get to the top. In terms of the poem, life can be full of obstacles, but you have to work around the obstacles to be successful and reach your goal. This

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.

Pushing through and enduring life is a struggle for some people on a day to day bases. Most people have to find ways to get up in the morning and find a way to keep going. In Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, he writes a powerful poem about enduring life and always moving forward even if you don’t know what you are moving forward to. Hughes shows many examples of this by writing, “Sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain't been no light.”