Thank You Ma Am Theme

In the story “Thank You ma’am” both roger and Mrs. Jones both experience a feeling. With roger he gets shown what

Jimmy has turned into a a selfless and considerate person, and “With that act, Ralph D. Spence passed away and Jimmy Valentine took his place.’’ This shows how different Jimmy Valentine, is from Ralph, a nice, considerate, and non-selfish man who has found the love of his life. In “Thank You Ma’am,” the main conflict is that Roger is poverty-stricken , forlorn, and has no family to rely on, which causes him to make a bad decision; he tries to steal from an innocent lady on the street. The old lady in the story, Ms. Luella Bates Washington Jones, asks Roger, “Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?” to which he responds “No’m.” This shows the connection Ms. Luella Bates Washington Jones makes with Roger on how he does not have anyone to care for him. After Ms. Luella Bates Washington Jones takes Roger home with her, he washes his face and then he is presented with the situation where he could run, “After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what

Jones is generous as she provides him with a meal and a small amount of money for the shoes he wanted to buy. The old lady knows that  without an adult, there would be no one to guide him and point out his mistakes and failures that will come along his way. The old lady helped Roger to learn from his mistakes as he was grateful for the time he had shared with her. A quote from the text is, “ But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.”  As an orphan , she gave him the opportunity for redemption rather than punishing him. Finally, Roger does not know how to thank her or repay her  back, but one thing is for sure, she should feel proud for making someone feel so blessed when their world feels empty.

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.

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.

As a side note I did look to see if I could find Rose’s diary but was unsuccessful. If anyone can find it I would be interested to read that passage in full context.

At the beginning of the story Roger just wants to get away from Ms. Jones then she just takes him to her house. When they got to the house she let him go and he wanted run but he didn’t. Then he tried to earn her trust by asking her if she needed someone to run to the store to get some milk. After they ate their dinner she gave him the money he needed to buy the shoes he wanted. He learned manors and to ask and not steal.

Mrs. Jones kindness to Roger changes him by knowing he can trust people. Mrs. Jones showed kindness by taking him in to get cleaned up. On page 32-33 it quoted “you go to the sink and wash your face“. And she also feat him. She wanted Roger to trust her and he also wanted her to trust him. And another way she wanted to gain his trust is when she left her purse on the couch to see if he was going to take it. On page 32 she quoted “run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable”. That is another way she wanted to show kindness so he won’t look bad. And at the end Mrs. Jones gave Roger $10 to buy the blue suede shoes he wanted. I think he changed by gaining Mrs. Jones trust and gained respect for her. So now he probably won’t steal

According to the story Mrs. Jones impact on Roger will most likely make him change a lot because in the story it states that he doesn’t have anyone at home to take care of him. But since Jones had the kindness in her heart to take him in and feed him then make him clean himself up she played a huge role when she did that because his parents aren’t around to make him do things like that. After that she had gave him the money to buy the shoes he wanted so now all these beautiful old ladies don’t have to worry about getting there purse snatch because Roger became a gentleman and now knows he have to ask for things instead of taking. Basically Mrs. Jones raised him to become a man in less than 3 hours in the story it stated that Mrs. Jones told

In, “Thank you M’am,’ a young man named Rodger goes from petty thief, to a reasonably polite, behaved boy. Rodger, a muddled boy, stricken by poverty, tries to steal a purse from none other than Mrs. Jones, a larger woman who works at a salon nearby. Rodger is scolded by Mrs. Jones, which is later reversed to be seen as guidance by the audience, when Rodger seems to change. After a shared dinner, and Mrs. Jones showing Rodger signs of trust, Mrs. Jones gives Rodger money to buy a pair of, “Blue Suede Shoes,” which was the original reason why Rodger was even tempted to steal. Rodger is quiet, but a piece of his personality shines through when he murmurs a small, “Thank you m’am,” as Mrs. Jones shuts her door. Why did Rodger wait for her door

I think that Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones took Roger home because she wanted to change him.

He just wanted to help but segregation was in the way. In “Thank You, M’am,” Roger makes the decision of either grabbing Mrs. Jones’ purse and run or stay to become trustworthy enough so he can be let free. He decided to stay with Mrs. Jones. Both of these stories show how a little decision can make a big difference.

The Treasure of lemon brown and Thank you, ma'am are similar by their adult character and how they are trying to help them but they don't realize it until the end of the story.In The treasure of lemon brown the theme was Parents try to give children what they can to help them have a better life. The theme for Thank you M'am was Children often don’t understand that adults have encountered the same challenges they have.The themes of the stories have different concepts but have similarities in their meanings.

Roger thinks to himself while leaving the doctor's office. "What will I do now?" Roger continues, "I have everything I want in life, a family, a healthy career, and a purpose." He suddenly remembers that he needs to thank Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones for everything she has done for him. She changed his life forever.