Multiple authors and poets have displayed the challenges and hardships of life through their work. Langston Hughes is a poet who is known for his work, such as “Mother To Son”. “Mother To Son” is a poem that is constructed as a conversation between a mother and her son. The mother tells her son about the challenges she has faced throughout her life. Then she continues on saying that despite the challenges, she has never given up. Later on, she advises and encourages her son to strive and keep trying. The author uses stylistic techniques to emphasize the conflict. The conflict found in the poem is internal. The mother has faced multiple obstacles and struggles throughout her life. In the poem “Mother To Son”, by Langston Hughes, the phrase “crystal stair” is the most powerful phrase, because the connotation ties to the message and the conflict of the poem. …show more content…
In the second line of the poem the narrator states “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.” She uses the phrase to represent her life as a stair and to compare it against crystal. The phrase “crystal stair” means a stair made out of crystal. The definition of crystal is a highly transparent glass. And a stair is a set of steps leading from one to another. While crystal represents luxury and simplicity, which the mother’s life is not, the stair portrays her lifetime. The phrase has a positive connotation since it represents comfort and high living. When the both words come together they are used as a metaphor to illustrate the mother’s grueling and troubled life. In the 3rd and 4th line of the poem , the narrator describes her uneasy life by stating “It's had tacks in it… And splinters”. The tacks and the splinters connect to the conflict, because both terms display the struggles the mother has faced. The phrase “crystal stair” is a comparison of life, which emphasizes the conflict and the struggle the mother has
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.
The entire poem encompasses the idea that the woman’s life is never ending and has its rough patches. Although it “had tacks in it” that may have tripped her up, she did not let those stand in the way of where she wanted to go in life (3). The relationship between the staircase and a person’s life can be incredibly similar to one another. A staircase may have many different twists and turns, broken boards, and run down patches that relate to a various events that happen throughout life. Just because there is a hole in the stairs, or a death in a person’s life, does not mean that one should quit living or give up on everything that they have accomplished. There may be setbacks that require time and love to heal, but there will always be hope to move on to a better life. The mother insists that her son does not turn back and give up just because his life has hit a hard spot. She never gave up hope, and she insists that he does the same. The metaphor of the staircase to one’s life, can easily relate to anyone in the world. There will always be rough patches and hard times, but everyone gets through them, and they are usually stronger in the end because of it. Life may not be an easy task, but we must learn how to survive and thrive whatever may be thrown our
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
In “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes expresses a mother’s love to her son through an enlightening conversation that will potentially teach him that life is not always going to be easy; however, he has to strive to overcome adversity in order to see the beauty in life itself. Throughout the poem, one can begin to understand that the mother is giving her son advice on life experiences that she encounters herself. The message that the speaker is trying to portray to her son is that life can be difficult but he has to keep endeavoring to be bigger than his problems. In the poem “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes depicts the endearment in a mother and son relationship as he uses metaphors, imagery, symbols, connotation, and tone in order to effectively
She has given birth to a newer generation which might not understand the struggles she had to endure over the course of her lifetime. Nonetheless, the new generation is not without hurdles of its own, including racism and strife, although not to the extent the mother lived through. Explaining that the stairs had tacks, splinters, missing boards, and no carpet in some places, she creates an analogy of her journey that might be similar and relative to her own son’s journey-- a journey of hardship. Concluding the poem with advice about overcoming the odds and moving past all the obstacles, she tells her son, “don’t you turn back.
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.
First, the poem “The Rose that Grew from concrete” uses Personification and Metaphor to develop the theme of you have to rise above the obstacles in life. First, the author uses Personification to develop the theme by telling us that a rose can walk. It says, “ it learned to walk without having feet “This shows the author used Metaphor to develop the theme of You have to rise above the obstacles in life because she is using a staircase for an example of how life isn’t always what you want and that you have to keep moving up, like you do with stairs, but if you fall then you will have to go through obstacles and get back up. This is important to notice because the staircase is your solution, and you have to go down or up the staircase because life ,” ain’t been no crystal stair,” Second, the author uses Metaphor to develop the theme by saying that life can be challenging but you have to be proving someone wrong that you can keep trying. It says, “Proving nature's law is wrong “ This shows that the mother is telling the son that every where he goes then everything won't be the same at first. Which also means that that can be a hard obstacle to get out of. The carpet is also a way to
The entire poem, Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes is an extended metaphor. The unstated comparison is between a set of stairs that are by no means “crystal” and life. The crystal stairs in the poem are likely for the privileged or rich, while the poor make due with what they have. Even though the road is rough for the mother, she urges the son “For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’,” even after a long journey the mother continues to climb, so the young son should too. The stair metaphor could also help the son understand that this is just a ‘step’ in life, or stage.
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.
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
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 author utilizes symbolism to show that life is not easy. For example, the speaker says in line 2”life for me ain’t been no crystal stairs” (Hughes). This shows that the speaker is telling her son that life is not easy and you must go on. Furthermore, the speaker is saying that there is times where life will not be easy
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).