Blue Suede Shoes

Millions of acts of kindness occur every day, like how Mrs. Jones acted towards Roger. “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes shows that forgiveness comes with trust and understanding. This short story has multiple themes; trust is earned, trust comes with kindness, and generosity leads to happiness. But the most important theme that the author indicates is that forgiving the wrongdoer comes with trusting and understanding them. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is upset with the boy in the story, Roger. Luella learns to forgive him; he’s only a kid and deserves a second chance. Roger explains that he only wanted money for blue suede shoes. Luella leaves him alone with her purse for awhile which implies that she trusts him. When Mrs. Jones discovers that he didn’t steal her money, she is glad that she trusted him and generously gives him money to purchase the shoes.

In the story “Thank you Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, the character Roger changes from an egocentric person to a more appreciative person. In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is walking down the street at night, “…When suddenly a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse.” This boy’s name was Roger. What I know is that only someone desperate would try to steal someone’s purse. The boy did look like he needed food, but that’s not what he was going to do with Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones purse. He only wanted to buy a pair of blue suede shoes. Therefore, making Roger egocentric. Later in the story, after Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones makes Roger go clean his face. She then starts to prepare food

In the story “Thank You M’am” by Langston Hughes I think that Mrs. Jones seems to be bold because she dragged Roger home with her, helped clean him up, and most of all she tested Roger. The story is about a woman who was walking down the street and was almost robbed. Instead of letting herself get robbed she took matters into her own hands.

In the short story, “Thank You Ma’am,” a young boy named Roger tried to steal a purse that belonged to a woman named Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and got caught. She had Roger wash his face back at her house and even had him stay for dinner. Throughout the whole story, Roger learns life lessons. Some were that he shouldn’t try to steal and he should just ask. Through their time together, Roger learned that if he treats Mrs. Jones kindly, she will treat him kindly back.

The author Langston Hughes characterizes Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones in many creative ways throughout the short story "Thank You, Ma'am". The first characteristic that stood out in the short story was Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones' kindness. She not only lets Roger clean up his face, but she lets him eat with her because she knows Rogers family at home probably was not taking good care of Roger. If a brigand came up to anyone else, I am almost positive they would not be so kind to the robber. If I was Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, I would very circumspect towards him. First, when Roger came up to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and snatches her pocketbook unbridledly,

One small act of kindness has the potential to change a life. This heart warming story “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes introduces Mrs.Jones, a big strong willed woman. Roger, a young troubled boy, runs into Mrs.Jones and she changes his life forever. In this short story, Roger tries to steal from Mrs.Jones. After being unsuccessful instead of punishing Roger, she takes him to her home, washes him, feeds him, and gives him the money that he before tried to steal. The author makes the point that no matter how different two people can be, their stories can be very similar teaching the reader to never

In the short story, Thank You Ma’am, by Longston Hughs a powerful message is communicated. The story begins on an empty street in New York City where Roger attempts to steal Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jone’s purse. Roger has to decide between running away or going with her. At her home she lets him wash his face, eat dinner and she gives him $10s to buy blue suede shoes. All this generosity leaves Roger speechless at the end of the story. He could barely say “Thank you ma’am”. And then Roger never saw her again. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has every reason to reprisal against Roger, but doesn’t. As readers we are left with the question, why does Mr. Luella Bates Washington Jones take Roger home? I believe that Mrs. Luella took roger home to teach him how to be selfless not selfish. An important lesson we seem to assume Roger lacks.

Everyone has difficulties and tragedies in life, some more than others. Though when people show compassion, it makes your spirits rise and make your challenges more bearable. In the short story, “Thank you, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, a woman whose purse has been an attempted target by a boy, shows the theme of compassion with an overflowing amount of it. The boy, Roger, learns throughout the story that compassion is very important, and his true personality is revealed by some woman he doesn't even know.

Since the beginning, Langston Hughes has described how the kid screws up and how kind the woman is even though he did so. The kid is poor and has decided to steal money to get shoes however the woman stops him in his tracks. She tells the kid “Well you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes, you could've just asked me.” This describes how kind the woman is because she forgave him and said he did not have to be a thief to get shoes. Even though this is a very kind thing to do the woman has done more for the kid.

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

“Thank You, Ma’am” is a short story about a young boy named Roger who meets a woman, Mrs. Jones, after an attempt to steal her pocketbook. After getting a hold of Roger Mrs. Jones decides that she won’t turn him into the police and wants to be a role model for Roger. In paragraph 15 it says, “‘You ought to be my son . I would teach you right from wrong…”’(Hughes 15) It’s obvious in this paragraph that Mrs. Jones wants to be a role model for Roger and she influences Roger to make better choices later in the text. Next, in “Doing the Right Thing” four football players enter an unlocked, closed store in New Jersey. They needed to purchase some items when they realized no employees were there in the store. They also realized they could get away with stealing the items they needed but they didn’t. Instead, they paid for the items and left for practice. The reason these young men had integrity was because they had family, their role models, they didn’t want to disappoint. The text says, “‘If there’s one thing about parenting that I’ve learned it’s that the best gift you

There are some challenges of human interactions in Thank You M’am, such as trust issues. “The boy said ‘I didn’t aim to.’” “She said ‘You a lie!’” Hughes shows that Roger is scared of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones so he decided to lie to her, but Mrs. Jones doesn’t believe him. Trust issues can lead to challenges in human interactions because you should be able to depend on someone without thinking twice. The characters’ interactions change as the story progresses because they start caring for one another and they begin to trust one another. The author proves this by stating that in paragraph 24, “Roger looked at the door then at Mrs. Jones, then at the door, and finally, he went to the sink.” Roger is beginning to trust Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones because in the beginning of the story he would have ran based off of his reaction when Mrs. Jones picked him up. Also, Mrs. Jones is becoming more considerate towards Roger after she starts realizing that he might not have the best home environment. In the story, Mrs. Jones told Roger to go wash his face then she made him dinner. In the beginning, she was hitting and shaking Roger and now she is caring for him and sharing stories with him. These changes allow the characters to be more considerate and caring. For instance, Mrs. Jones gave Roger ten dollars to help him pay for a new pair of blue suede shoes.

In the story “Thank You ma’am” both roger and Mrs. Jones both experience a feeling. With roger he gets shown what