Literary Techniques Used in Mother to Son by Langston Hughes Essay

In the poem “Mother To Son”, Langston wants the best for her son and buts him before herself. Throughout the poem its imagery portrays that the mother and son are climbing stairs to get to a better place. She is encouraging her son and loving him even when she's run down. “ I’ve been a-climbin’ on….So boy, don’t you turn back.

In the poem, “Mother to Son” harlem renaissance Langston Hughes writes of a mother’s heartbreaking journey through a never ending cycle of life through the use of figurative language and complex structure. The reader is able to fully receive the message the author has provided.

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

The overall tone of the poem is the mother giving advice to her son from her perspective. The author also uses dialect of the mother to establish the setting and time period. The entire poem is a metaphor for how hard life has been for the mother and advice she has for her son to persevere through life’s climb as an African American. After anyone reads this poem, they can feel the mother’s plea to the son to keep pushing through hardships, dangers, or challenges in life. A reader may even fell as if the mother is talking to them. All poems will somehow relate differently to everyone’s lives, one way or

Miller begins his article by describing the speech in which King first noticeably took inspiration from Langston Hughes’ works. The speech’s theme is persevering, specifically moving forward, and the speech concludes with Hughes’ poem, Mother to Son. In a speech about a week later, King once again made reference to the poem; however, with several miniscule, but important changes that often slightly altered the interpretation of the passages he drew from. As Miller points out ,though, “King is not being sloppy with Hughes’s verse. Rather, he is riffing on these lines of Hughes’s ‘Mother to Son’ like a

Mother to Son is a poem that was written by Langston Hughes, and was published in 1922. Throughout this poem, Langston Hughes portrays a mother speaking to her son and the readers to bestow her knowledge, encouragement and wisdom from the life that she lived.

The theme of the poem and short story is that parents only want the best for their children and they try their hardest to meet their children’s needs. In both readings, the parents always tried their hardest to care for their children no matter what situation they're in. In the poem, “Mother to Son”, the mother states that life for her hasn't been easy for her but she didn't give up and neither should her son. I see this in both the poem and short story. Both mothers don't think that their child should give up on their dreams so they would be successful in life and not have to go through what they went through. Langston Hughes describes how the mother's life has been using figurative language. He described that the mother’s life isn't

He explains, “I was only an American Negro—who had loved the surface of Africa—but I was not Africa. I was Chicago and Kansas City and Broadway and Harlem. I was not what she wanted me to be” (Hughes as quoted in Cobb 44). Hughes wants to make sure people are aware that the life and culture of African Americans differ drastically from the romantic view of the Negro in Africa. In his poem “Mother to Son,” Hughes provides the story of struggle, poverty overcame by hard work, and hope for a more dignified life for the entire African American people (Niemi 1). Hughes recognizes that despite being oppressed, the black community is strong enough to empower itself with determination to succeed. When discussing working-class life, Hughes consistently “asserts blacks as fully complex, fully human, and equals in the American democratic experiment” and does not play into the thought that blacks should be kept down (Sanders 107). Langston Hughes’ “concern for the lives and oppression of poor and working-class blacks” is apparent in most of his work (Sanders 107). Through his writing he makes the population aware of the deep-set oppression put upon the black community.

Langston Hughes, author of the short story "On the Road" and the poem "Mother to Son," often illustrated in his writing the hardships experienced by the characters--products of African American life in the United States. While Hughes and other young African-American authors wanted to define and celebrate black art and culture, they were also responsible for changing the preconceived notions of most Americans' erroneous ideas of black life (Mabunda

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.

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 poet begins the poem by motivating and inspiring her son to be fearless using an extended metaphor. He begins comparing the mother’s life and a crystal stair. The mother begins saying, “ Well, son, I’ll tell you: / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair,” compares an easy and pleasant journey through life to her journey of life that has not been easy and pleasant. The use of extended metaphor comparing the mother’s life to a staircase continues throughout the poem, repeating the line, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Furthermore, life has never been easy or free of problems and it has never been smooth sailing. The tacks, splinters, and

Every mother would like to see her child succeed in life. The following passage from the poem, "Mother to Son", by Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son. She teaches him using her own life as an example; her life as a climb up a staircase. The imagery from the advice given in the stanza is explicit and poignant:

And the poem “Mother to Son” is about how a mother is telling her son that she had to go through rough times like her son.She says she also keeps going no matter how difficult life gets.Both poems share the theme of overcoming obstacles in life. Both authors use figurative language for example,Tupac uses a Rose and Langston Hughes uses stairs to compare them to how hard life can be to develop the theme.

     The third quality that Langston Hughes uses in his poem is the tone of the speaker. When she explains to him not to “set you down on the steps / ‘Cause your find it’s kinder hard. / Don’t you fall down now,” the tone in her words in compassionate (Hughes 232). The mother is simply trying to tell her son that she knows what he is going through because she has been in rough times herself. Those rough times were troublesome but she had the strength to go on and get past them. All she wants for her son is for him to keep climbing, and never give up. Winslow believes that this “enduring exuberance” shows her youthful spirit towards life (262). She wants this all because “[she is] still goin’, honey, / [she is] still climbin’, / and life for [her] ain’t