Invictus 'And Mother To Son'

To continue, the poem “ Mother to Son” uses figurative language and conflict to develop the theme of rising above challenges. To begin, the author uses figurative language to develop the theme by using Metaphor. In the text it said, ““I’m still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Figurative language develops the theme of rising above challenges in this text because the author is comparing her life and the stairs to show that there are going to be hard things that are going to come into your life. Second of all, to develop the theme of rising above challenges the author also used conflict. In the text it says, “ “Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you find it’s very hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’m still going, honey, I’m still climbin,”. The conflict of this poem is the person on the stairs is starting to give up. The conflict develops the theme of rising above challenges in this text because in the poem it shows that the mother is trying to convince the son to keep going and to overcome his challenges. In conclusion, to develop the theme of rising above challenges the author of the poem, “Mother to Son” used figurative language and conflict. The author used these to show how the metaphor is showing us how life is at times and how the conflict help show the theme of the poem.

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 Poem “Mother to Son” uses Figurative Language and Characterization this develops the theme of there is no easy way in life. To begin, the author uses Figurative Language to develop the theme by showing us that the stairs represent the mother's life. It says “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” This means her her life has not been easy that is what the stair stands for. The author uses figurative

Throughout the poem there is many uses of imagery mostly in the details of the staircase, “It had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor, Bare.” These lines bring to mind an image of houses where poor African Americans lived. The tacks symbolize painful events, the splinters symbolize wounds, and the torn boards symbolize changes in the mother’s life. In (lines 18-19) ” For I’se still goin’, honey/I’se climbin,” she relates life with climbing stairs to show that it must be accomplished through hard work and dedication. This shows that she remained strong and is encouraging her son to do the

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— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark. Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

metaphors are used to symbolize the turbulence in the house and how rapidly it spreads throughout the house. In line 4, “greasy stains spreading on the cloth”, the ‘greasy stains’ refer to schizophrenia and how it spreads through the family. In lines (4-6) “Certain doors were locked at night, feet stood for hours outside them…” this is a metaphor for paranoia. It could also show how family members would shut themselves off from the rest of the world. The use of diction sets up the tone of anger throughout the poem by using words such as: slammed, shouting, threats, cracking, broken and madhouse. (2) “It had begun with slamming doors..” the use of slamming shows how infuriated the family was and how they took their anger out of the house. (11) “...reconciliations, the sobbing that followed.” Reconciliations

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

Hughes creates a character, the mother, who survives and overcomes the obstacles that life has offered her. In the poem Hughes institutes harsh objects on the stairs in order convey the obstacles the mother has to overcome:

For instance, Langston describes the stairs as “torn up” with “splinters” and “tacks” which demonstrates the obstacles and hardships on the mother’s walk of life (Hughes 1). Moreover, these obstacles did not stop the mother from getting back up. Another example is when the mother tells her son “Ise still climbin” (Hughes 19). This reveals that even though the mother faces difficulties, she is still going.

First, the article states that “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair, it's had tacks in it and splinters”. This shows perseverance because it’s stating that her life wasn’t easy and it had a lot of bumps in it, but she still got through. next , the article states “

The imagery of the torn up household and its brokenness is used as a comparison to the life of the Hughes’s mother. It shows both literally and figuratively the tough life Hughes has been raised up in. His mother tells him, “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” (2-6).

A boy who is being bullied at school doesn't know what to do or who to go to. He has become depressed and a shell of who he once was. He wants to talk to someone about what he is going through. He talks to his friend. His friend says he can not give into the bullies and give them what they want. He has to get stronger for the next bullies to come. Hardships are very common among people who are struggling, but they can not give into those struggles, instead of giving in they need to get stronger. This idea can be seen in many pieces of the following poems.“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes both convey the message that people who are struggling throughout a

This imagery includes “splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor” (4-6). The character’s language paints a very real picture of an old and dangerous stairway that provides little in the way of support and is constantly threatening harm. The details such as splinters force one to think of sudden sharp pains in unexpected places while the torn up boards introduce ideas of sudden instability and lean times. The road of life has not been full of comfort either, as the carpet is thin or even missing from entire segments, but still the older woman continued to climb, “And reachin’ landin’s, / And turnin’ corners, / And sometimes goin’ in the dark” (10-12). The life depicted thus provides few safe havens in the form of ‘landin’s’, if all the boards are in place, but more frequently prove difficult in their own way as they introduce corners and sections that must be navigated completely in ignorance. Picturing trying to climb this twisting stairway, it is easy to see how this life has been littered with all kinds of difficult trials and tribulations, but also sprinkled with comfort in the idea that the floor was covered with carpet sometimes and rest in the concept that she came across landings sometimes.

Throughout the poem, many different forms of imagery were used such as tactile imagery, kinesthetic imagery, and visual imagery. Langston used tactile imagery to support his mother’s message about the hardships in life when he said, “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.” By using tactile imagery, Langston could use written expression of how his mother was feeling and to depict his mother’s message as well as capture the attention of the readers. The mother was telling her son that her life has not been a pretty picture. She tells her son that there were “tacks” and “splinters” in her way. Which she is telling her son that her journey through her life as she has moved forward has not been easy and she has had objects that got in her way. She has been places that were not all smooth or nice when she told her son “And places with on carpet on the floor Bare”. (Hughes Langston) 1994. The mother is explaining to her son through all of the trials and tribulations that she has faced in her life that you must keep climbing the stairs or keep moving forward in your life. The mother wanted her son to understand that he may experience some of the same things that she encountered in her life in his life also. “I’se been a-climbin’ on, and reachin’ landin’s, and turnin’ corners,” in which Langston wrote to describe the movement or progression that his mother spoke of. The road was not easy for Langston’s mother, but she was determined to get ahead in life regardless of what go in her way. The final form of imagery that Langston used in his poem Mother to Son was visual imagery. “And sometimes goin’ in the dark where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn

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.