Analysis Of Thank You, M Am, By Langston Hughes

The use of character foil in “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes reveals how Mrs. Jones shows herself through Roger. Mrs. Jones and Rogers contrast with one another ends up allowing Roger to bring out the best in himself. The story begins with Mrs. Jones not punishing Roger for trying to steal her purse but acting compassionate and helpful to Roger. The large woman, Mrs. Jones brings Roger back to her home and lets him wash his face and he asks ¨You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending over the sink. ¨Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,¨ said the woman.¨ (pg.2) Mrs. Jones shows the quality of being kind to the boy who tried to snatch her pocketbook, which reveals that she is a good person. Mrs. Jones showed her personality

In the story “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes Mrs. Jones kindness, and empathy for Roger changes his emotions on life. In the story Roger is a selfish, greedy boy who tries to steal Mrs. Jones purse with everything in it just to buy shoes when he doesn’t realize what he got himself into. When Roger tries to take the bag Mrs. jones is very protective of her belongings, so she still has a hold of her bag and yanks it towards her to grab Roger by the shirt. Roger tries to make up that he didn’t try to grab her bag he just hit into her, but Mrs. Jones didn’t believe a single word out of his mouth. Mrs. Jones then realized that Roger was all dirty and needed to be cleaned up, so she asked if Roger had anyone home to tell him to clean himself

A huddle of horns And a tinkle of glass A note Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm To a brother Too bad and too cool to give his name. Sometimes despair Makes the stoops shudder Sometimes there are endless depths of pain Singing a capella on street corners

“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” ( pg 261 # pgh 3 ). This quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King jr. on I have a dream and is interesting because how they were supposed to be free when abraham lincoln along time ago but still aren't free . This person said this during the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was “The civil rights movement was a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S.” citizenship. Being in the right position. This time in history was difficult for many people because there was a lot of fighting about the rights and how blacks and whites were treated very different. During this time people

after reading reviews from him thank you ma'am I have came up with a few similarities and one difference one somewhere or is that the setting in another is the characters change of heart the differences how the short stories end

Martin Luther King Jr, a black man living in a terrible community, thought to speak out against the hatred for blacks. His views on equality were unacceptable, so he thought to speak out to change the community’s outlook. Ordinarily, black citizens were slumped down and just accepted the criticism and hatred, but he had this idea of everyone being the same. He then started to show up at public speakings to show people he will not be knocked down. Although this choice made him more loathed he kept pushing through

Dr. King was a brave man. Even when he was thrown into jail. As long as he could change the way blacks were being treated he didn’t care about the consequences. He was never afraid to say what he was feeling. He was brave enough to stand in front of a lot of people to say his speech. It’s hard to pinpoint just one of Martin Luther King Jr’s acts of bravery. Dr. King put his as well as his family’s wellbeing at risk for his purpose. Dr. King walked into the racist and narcissistic jaws of the segregated south and urged for change. Not only did he take a physical beating, they also tried to defeat him mentally.

“Compassionate people are geniuses in the art of living, more necessary to the dignity, security, and joy of humanity than the discoveries of knowledge.” -- Albert Einstein

Misjudging someone can result in an unexpected outcome. Langston Hughes shows he agrees with this statement in his story Thank You, Ma’am when a boy believes a woman is an easy target and attempts to steal her purse. He soon discovers his original estimation was incorrect when he is dragged to the woman’s house and fed dinner. This character definitely misjudged Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. He originally believed he was just going to sneak off with her purse but was met with the realization that he had messed with the wrong person.

Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz

was very courageous but not through physical strength but through the power of his thoughts and words. In the story, it says “ M.L. first planned to become a doctor but decided he could help others better as a lawyer” This shows he had bravery because he was thinking of the goodwill of others before his own even though he may be risking his own life. Next off in the text it states “He wanted to learn more, to deepen his understanding of theology, and to prove himself at a white seminary” This was courageous because most White people back then differentiated African-Americans because of their skin color. At a white school he would be treated very differently by not only the students but also the teachers, so that would take a big leap of courage to do. Pursuing this further, in the text, it also states that “.....ready to take action against segregation, asked the scholarly, soft-spoken preacher to lead their protest.” In this small portion of the text, the preacher is meant to be Martin Luther King. But this shows bravery because, as we all know based on today’s society, Martin Luther King had chosen to lead their protest. But having courage shaped him into a man who had a strong and brave heart. That led him to fight for what he believed in. That brings me to my final ending paragraph.

From freedom of speech, to freedom of religion, here in America, issues are also freed to hidden behind the phrase “freedom.” The statement of freedom like free flowing words on the page of poem, contains various definitions like different possible interpretations of a poem. While at the time for Langston Hughes, his definition of freedom was chained by the pigment of his skin. As he acknowledges his conflict with freedom while struggling against racism, Langston Hues in his poem I Too, expresses how the issue of racism has been understated in America through the usage of euphony, free verse and enjambment, depicting that the existence of freedom that was promised by America is incomplete.

Micah Brastad Mrs. Kapsner Adv. Engl. 9, 5th Hour 28 October 2015 Characteristics of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones Langston Hughes characterizes Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones many ways in the story "Thank you Ma'am". First, Mrs Jones is someone who does not judge people if she does not know them well. When she brings Roger into her home and feeds him, it shows that she did not judge him right away, and that she thinks he has potential.

During his lifetime, Martin Luther king dared to not only dream about a better future but also fight for it. He was not afraid from having confrontations in order to promise a change. We can see his decisiveness when his arguments for stopping discrimination against black were not enough to change the situation. He decided to make a direct action in order to make society confront the issue.

According to Biography, James Mercer Langston Hughes is considered to be an African American poet who is college educated and comes from a middle-class family (Langston Hughes Biography). He attended college in New York City and became influential during the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes Biography). Although Hughes was a talented writer, he faced some challenges early on and it was stated that his “early work was roundly criticized by many black intellectuals for portraying what they thought to be an unattractive view of black life” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). They believed that his work helps the spread the stereotypes of African Americans. “Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations” (Langston Hughes. American Poet). Langston Hughes’s poems “The Negro Mother”, “Let America be America Again” and “The Weary Blues” were influenced by his life during the Harlem Renaissance and the racial inequality experienced in the late 1920s through the 1960s.