Thank You Ma Am Interpretive Response

The central meaning of Langston Hughes' story is that kindness, empathy, and understanding, have greater impacts on the lives around us than cruelty does. Hughes demonstrates this concept by using Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones interactions with Roger. From the first time they meet, when Roger tries to steal Mrs. Jones purse, to the end when she gives him ten dollars for a new pair of blue suede shoes, she never ridicules or truly punishes him for his actions. Instead, she asks him why he tried to steal and uses kindness to show him that there are other ways to survive, without resorting to stealing. The clear message here is that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover. By not immediately judging

My first evidence for this claim is the quote, “Well you didn’t have to snatch my pocket book to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. “You could have asked me.” (page 5, lines 96-98) Which proves that the reason why Mrs. Luella takes Roger home is because she wants to teach him how to be selfless not selfish. There are several keywords that prove my claim such as

The author Langston Hughes characterizes Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones in many creative ways throughout the short story "Thank You, Ma'am". The first characteristic that stood out in the short story was Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones' kindness. She not only lets Roger clean up his face, but she lets him eat with her because she knows Rogers family at home probably was not taking good care of Roger. If a brigand came up to anyone else, I am almost positive they would not be so kind to the robber. If I was Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, I would very circumspect towards him. First, when Roger came up to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and snatches her pocketbook unbridledly,

“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 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.

This is because she made a scene in public, and angered her mom, leading to her feeling of humiliation. To wrap up, it can be concluded that both Roger and Waverly’s behaviors make them experience guilt and

Langston Hughes characterizes Mrs. Luella Bates Jones in the short story " Thank You Ma'am" as kindhearted. First, Mrs. Jones shows she's kindhearted by cooking food for Roger and having him to wash his face, almost as if he was washing the guilt away with the warm water as a second chance. Second, she shows that she's bossy. When Roger tried to steal Mrs. Jones purse, angrily she kicked him squared in the blue sitter. Also, when Roger was trying to get loose from Mrs. Jones, she put him in a head lock for he wouldn't get away and dragged him the rest of the way to her house.

Luella then grabs him and starts to integrate him. She starts asking questions such as “What did you want to do it for?” and “If I turn you loose, will you run”. Roger is being honest, but i trying to get away from her because of how terrified he is. I believe that you could tell that this has never happened to him, because of the way he is reacting.

So what I'm trying to get to is that toward the end of the story, Roger begins to show respect to Mrs. Jones. He shows respect by listening to Mrs. Jones and he doesn't want her to not trust him for example “Mrs. Jones insists that Roger wash his face and she makes them some food. While she is busy, she leaves her purse and doesn't even watch Roger ensure that he doesn't still steal her purse and run away”. Roger, however, is unsure of the situation which is why he says that "he did not trust the woman not to trust him." He is confused and his words show that when he uses a negative action he tries to replace it with a good one.

There are many character traits of Mrs. Jones that affected Roger. First of all, Mrs. Jones was so caring towards Roger. She offered food to Roger and told him to wash his face like he was her own son. The food that she is giving to him might be his first meal of the day. Most people wouldn’t bring someone home who attempted to steal something from you.

The first reason to support my theme is when Roger didn’t run away, even though he had many opportunities to. In the beginning of the story, “‘If I turn you loose, will you run?’ asked the woman. ‘Yes’m,’ said the boy”(pg. 5). However, after the woman was very kind to him, “Roger looked at the [open] door-looked at the woman-looked at the door-and went to the sink”(pg. 6). The fact that he didn’t run away proves that he trusted the woman enough to stay in her company. Just by showing Roger a little kindness, he trusted Ms. Jones.

In the story “Thank you Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, the character Roger changes from an egocentric person to a more appreciative person. In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is walking down the street at night, “…When suddenly a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse.” This boy’s name was Roger. What I know is that only someone desperate would try to steal someone’s purse. The boy did look like he needed food, but that’s not what he was going to do with Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones purse. He only wanted to buy a pair of blue suede shoes. Therefore, making Roger egocentric. Later in the story, after Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones makes Roger go clean his face. She then starts to prepare food

This fact is evident when he offered to go to store for Mrs. Jones in thirty-seven. In theory, this could because Mrs. Jones was treating Roger with kindness by taking care of him and cooking dinner for him. Even earlier in the story, in

After Roger gives back Mrs. Jones’s pocketbook, she drags him to her home. This shows that she is solid by demonstrating that she wants to teach Roger a lesson to never steal again and that people don’t like this nonsense. Mrs. Jones does this to have Roger explain

For example, when Roger clumsily fell and ruined his chances of getting away with it consequence free, the woman asked why he wanted her purse and he quickly lied that he did not mean it. His actions of instinctually defending himself shows that Roger isn’t much of a thoughtful person, he isn’t very trusting of others, and he doesn’t reason his questionable actions of stealing for the luxury item of blue suede shoes. By thinking of only himself, he gets into situations such as this where he knows it is wrong, but he does not really know any other way. However, he is shown differently once Mrs. Jones takes him in to