Thank You M'Am

One small act of kindness has the potential to change a life. This heart warming story “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes introduces Mrs.Jones, a big strong willed woman. Roger, a young troubled boy, runs into Mrs.Jones and she changes his life forever. In this short story, Roger tries to steal from Mrs.Jones. After being unsuccessful instead of punishing Roger, she takes him to her home, washes him, feeds him, and gives him the money that he before tried to steal. The author makes the point that no matter how different two people can be, their stories can be very similar teaching the reader to never

We all have faced a moment or a time where someone had made us happy or sad. And there is this Quote written by Mary Angelou “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, or what you did, but people will never forget how you made them fell.” I have to say that this is really true. And how many people have ran thoughts about someone and how they made them feel a million times. I say that because I do, and sometimes I actually thought or think what they did and said was true. Because of that I think it was my fault. How many people do this, and how many people actually believe it, more that there should be.

Just the slightest bit of care and compassion can change a persons whole persona. This is what happens in Langston Hughes short story “Thank You, Ma’am,” when the old Mrs. Jones catches Roger trying to steal her purse.When Mrs. Jones gets ahold of Roger, he asks her if she’s going to take him to jail in which she replies “Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere.” This is the first important theme in the story, sympathy. Later in the story she takes Roger back to her house and she leaves the door open. Figuring that she did this on purpose, Roger decides not to run out the door. This is the second important theme in the story, trust. The themes of sympathy and trust were expressed throughout Hughes story in many ways, and I’m here to talk about them.

In the story of “Thank You M’am", Roger tries to steal from Mrs. Jones. “... when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse.” Mrs. Jones then took Roger back to her home, where Roger learned about the power of love and trust. Also, Roger had a chance to escape when he was at Mrs. Jones’ apartment. “The door was open … he could run, run, run, run, run!”

In the book “Thank You, Ma’am” Hughes sets the tone for how people are to be treated. Even though the book is not in public domain does not mean we cannot read parts of it and apply it to our lives now. In this short story book, he details an interaction of a young black child, Roger, who tries to steal a purse but is stopped. What he doesn’t know is the purse he will try to steal is that of a strong-willed lady, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. In the story, he depicts Roger as a dirty boy trying to survive on the streets. He must resort to stealing things to survive. When he encounters Mrs. Jones, she shows him some tough love “Then it will get washed this evening, said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her” [Thank You Ma’am]. This shows that even though he did wrong she still treated him with respect. Hughes was known for writing his short stories, poems, and Jazz music that had to do with African Americans and the racial issues that he faced. He was noted to be only a “few black authors to champion racial consciousness as a source of inspiration, and cautioned young writers to avoid racial chauvinism and virulent anger in their work toward whites.” He did not want society to write angrily with another race but simply embrace and love each other.

In the short story, Thank You Ma’am, by Longston Hughs a powerful message is communicated. The story begins on an empty street in New York City where Roger attempts to steal Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jone’s purse. Roger has to decide between running away or going with her. At her home she lets him wash his face, eat dinner and she gives him $10s to buy blue suede shoes. All this generosity leaves Roger speechless at the end of the story. He could barely say “Thank you ma’am”. And then Roger never saw her again. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has every reason to reprisal against Roger, but doesn’t. As readers we are left with the question, why does Mr. Luella Bates Washington Jones take Roger home? I believe that Mrs. Luella took roger home to teach him how to be selfless not selfish. An important lesson we seem to assume Roger lacks.

“The boy wanted to say something other than “‘Thank You, M'am”’ to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but although his lips moved, he couldn’t even say that as he turned at the foot of the barren stoop and looked at the large woman in the door”(130). Langston Hughes wrote an enduring short story called “Thank You Ma’m” that starts off with an old lady strolling an urban city at about eleven o'clock at night. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington-- otherwise known as “a large old lady” (10) teaches a lesson to Roger-- a thief searching for money to buy blue suede shoes. A central idea of “Thank You, Ma’m” is that believing in someone, despite extraordinary circumstances can change someone for the better.

In Thank You Ma’am, Langston Hughes used a lot of dialogue in his story to show how the characters talk to each other. Dialogue is one of his many words in figurative language. An example is “If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the women.

There are some challenges of human interactions in Thank You M’am, such as trust issues. “The boy said ‘I didn’t aim to.’” “She said ‘You a lie!’” Hughes shows that Roger is scared of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones so he decided to lie to her, but Mrs. Jones doesn’t believe him. Trust issues can lead to challenges in human interactions because you should be able to depend on someone without thinking twice. The characters’ interactions change as the story progresses because they start caring for one another and they begin to trust one another. The author proves this by stating that in paragraph 24, “Roger looked at the door then at Mrs. Jones, then at the door, and finally, he went to the sink.” Roger is beginning to trust Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones because in the beginning of the story he would have ran based off of his reaction when Mrs. Jones picked him up. Also, Mrs. Jones is becoming more considerate towards Roger after she starts realizing that he might not have the best home environment. In the story, Mrs. Jones told Roger to go wash his face then she made him dinner. In the beginning, she was hitting and shaking Roger and now she is caring for him and sharing stories with him. These changes allow the characters to be more considerate and caring. For instance, Mrs. Jones gave Roger ten dollars to help him pay for a new pair of blue suede shoes.

The story by Abani is set in an African background. It may be unfair to render the people as backward automatically, but their decision to act arbitrarily and against the wishes of the elders speaks of weakness regarding civility. Like the villagers in Jackson’s story, the bloodthirsty mob carries out an illogical and crude act with no regard for the life of the man they perceive to be a thief in the hope that the children will learn a valuable lesson.

In the story Thank you ma’am a boy named Roger tried to steal a lady named Mrs. Jones’ pocketbook. The lady took Roger back to her house and was holding him by the ear so he wouldn’t get away. Later on she let Roger wash off his face and gave him food. The reason he wanted to steal her pocketbook was to get some blue suede shoes. The lady tells Roger that she has done bad things in the pass too. Later on the lady gives Roger some money so that he could get the shoes.

n the story “Thank You M’am”, the turning point in the story was both interesting, and unexpected. The turning point in the story occurs because Roger tried to steal Mrs. Jones purse. For instance, in the story, “Thank You M’am”, it states, “It was about eleven o'clock at night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind

The Book Thief is a story about a girl who had lost her mother and brother and was sent to live with foster parents. Throughout her life of living with her foster parents she had developed a characteristic of stealing. In the story thievery is a symbolic meaning is by she had, had her life stolen from her in a way, it is also a literal meaning by she steals things, materialistic objects. This is important to the story because she it is a big part of the story. She becomes known to people as “the book thief”.

The story "Thank you M'am" by Langston Hughes and "Brother Can You a Dream" by Jackie French Koller. Each author develops the common theme "Need Before Greed" in "Thank you M'am" when Ms. J gives Roger the money he needed for some shoes he wanted.

In the story of Thank You Ma’am how Mrs. Jones makes Roger feel good. Mrs. Jones acted