Mother To Son Literary Devices

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 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

Many Americans did not know how and African American’s daily life went. Through Hughes’ writing he portrayed their lives to help show their desire and need for civil rights. In his poem, “Mother to Son”, a mother is talking to her son about how life is much harder for them, but that he must never give up, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair...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”(Lines 1, 17-20). Hughes has assumed the role of speaking for the black community and the way that they live. Rita Dove and Marilyn Nelson write in their work, “Langston Hughes and Harlem”, how Hughes gives other Americans a glimpse of their lives, “His work offers white readers a glimpse into the social and the personal lives of Black America;”(1152). Hughes uses the simple conversation between a mother and son to show the American people how much different and harder their lives

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 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

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 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

In “Mother to Son”, Langston Hughes informed us of a mother whose life was horrible, according to her, and she doesn’t want her son to make the same mistakes. The poem states, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”(Langston Hughes). The mother is thinking about her past life. For this reason, she is limiting herself to her past and not thinking that she can have a future for herself. Langston Hughes wrote, “It's

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

W. Clement Stone, a well known businessman and book author once said, “Like success, failure is many things to many people. With positive mental attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, and a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order to prepare to try again”. This quote epitomizes the central idea behind Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. Taking slow and careful steps as you walk up the stairs filled with obstacles and distractions, is a perfect correlation of succeeding and failing through every step you take in life. This illustration of succeeding and failing with every step taken is a perfect way to gain experience.

Realistic writers tend to write about everyday events and struggles rather than love, and fantasy. Realism is also characterized by ordinary speech. Langston Hughes lived in the early to mid-19th century in Joplin, Missouri and New York City. He experienced limited opportunity and a tougher life because he was African American in a time when African American were discriminated against. He believed in protesting peacefully, justice, equal rights, and perseverance.

He shows this by using other forms of literary devices like using symbolism because it shows other ways the reader can understand they can not give up when going through a struggle. For example, “And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor-/ Bare” (Hughes 3-7). The author uses this to show the reader how rough the mother's life was growing up. The metaphor gives an image that the stairs the mother was climbing where her hardships. Even when things got hard she kept going on with her life and went up another step and got stronger for the next. In addition another figurative language peice is extended metaphor. Langston Hughes uses this because the reader can compare not giving up and getting stronger. One extended metaphor in “Mother to Son “ is “Don't you set down on the steps/ ‘Cause you finds it's kinder hard./ Don't you fall now” (Hughes 15-17). The author used this literary device to show the reader that they can not give up. The comparison between the hardships in someone's life and falling down stairs gives the reader a better perspective. For example when someone walks up stairs that are hard, broken, and splintered it will hurt. So this pain is represented as the hardship she is enduring and overcoming. This helps the reader understand the concept of giving up.

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.

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.

The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes is the story of a mother speaking of life’s hardships to her son. The poem starts off with the protagonist’s haunting words about the difficulty of life; however, as the story goes on, her words of despair become words of wisdom to her son on never giving up. Hughes organizes this poem by transitioning the tone from hopelessness to encouragement to convey the raw message that although life can be hard, anyone can reach their goals with effort.