Personal Reflection Of Langston Hughes 's Poem, Mother And Son

The setting of the poem is very important to understand key elements that the poet is trying to express. The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” is set in the family’s kitchen. The lines “The whiskey on your breath…slid from the kitchen shelf;” let the readers assume

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.

Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son,” written in 1922, tells the story of a young mother giving important life lessons to her son. It conveys the struggles and hardships that the mother was forced to endure throughout her life, while portraying her as a woman who never gave up hope and got through the hard times. The strength and resilience she shows is a testament to the power of a mother’s love and willingness to do anything for their family. Hughes is able to portray this love and emotion with the use of various literary elements, such as rhymes and metaphors.

Langston Hughes was writing poetry during the period of the Harlem Renaissance. This literary era between the 1920s to mid-1930s was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that created a breakthrough for black identity. This greatly affected Hughes work where he would write about life as an African American. In this poem, “Mother To Son”, he writes about a mother and son relationship. The mother is giving crucial advice about life influenced by her own experiences as a black woman. In this poem, the first line opens with,” Well, son, I’ll tell you,” which introduce the speaker as the mother who is teaching her son. The overall concept the mother portrays is advice to overcome obstacles

The survival of the Black American family is a revolutionary act. The system of slavery purposefully separated and destroyed black families. Yet, in the face of obstacles, the Black family as an institution survived. Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden show the power of connection, love, and learning between the Black parent and the Black child. Many Black poets write about the Black experience in America, but few capture the interactions between Black parent and Black child the way Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden do in their poems “Mother to Son” and “Those Winter Sundays”, respectively. Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden use metaphors and imagery to portray the lessons Black children learn from Black parents.

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

In the poem Mother to Son, Hughes tells the tale of a mother speaking to her son about life and the hardships that one must face to make it in the world. Hughes uses extended metaphor to

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

Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes wrote poems imparting to young people. Brooks encourages her audience to continue to trudge forward even if the situation is grim in the poem entitled “Speech to the Young. . .” The author stated, “Even if you are not ready for the day it cannot always be night.” The author is trying to say that one cannot always just wallow in their problems. Instead, on must overcome their hurdles no matter how high they may be. One must overcome their obstacles sooner or later because time does not stop for anyone. Hughes takes a parental stand in “Mother to Son” encouraging readers to persevere even when faced with adversity. The author advised, “So boy, don’t turn your back. Don’t you set down on the steps.” The author

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.

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

The poet, Langston Hughes, was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Hughes’s grandmother was an activist for women’s education and rights. Both of Hughes’s parents were mulattos, meaning he had interracial maternal and paternal grandparents. Hughes writes about this situation in his poem titled, “Mulatto.” Hughes states things like “...a black mother and an uncaring white father” (Slovey and Howes 211). By using many writing styles and tools, Hughes gets his point across easier by making the reader feel like they’re in the moment of the poem. In Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son,” a mother offers wisdom to her son and the younger generations using her way of language and old slang that connect them to each other’s life and hardships.

“Mother to Son” , by Langston Hughes is based on the view of hope and inspiration to continue moving forward in life, regardless of difficulties, and no matter how hard life may be. The speaker in this poem is a mother who gives advice to her son. Since the mother has overcame challenges in life, she encourages her son to be fearless, face challenges and succeed in life. He includes rhetorical devices such as, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and sound devices to make the points of being fearless, to face challenges, and succeed in life.

Struggles of African Americans in Langston Hughes’ Poems, Mother to Son and Lenox Avenue: Midnight