Trust In The Short Story Thank You, M Am By Langston Hughes

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.

“If i turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman. In the short story “Thank you ma’am” by Langston Hughes it explores integrity by showing trustworthiness, honesty, and fairness. In this story a boy 14-15 years old tries to steal a woman's purse but doesn't succeed, and she takes him back to her house. This shows trust because she is bringing the boy who tried to rob her back to her home.

Trust is one of many components of life and it is shown through our actions and how we carry ourselves. We as human beings learn to trust each other by the words we say to one another and the actions we show to others. There are many lessons we can learn through the short but powerful story by Langston Hughes “Thank You. Ma’am”. Throughout the story there are several lessons and traits that the reader can interpret such as thinking twice before you execute the plan that you had in mind, sympathy, charisma, and even giving second chances. But more importantly, there is one lesson that specifically plays a huge role in the story itself and in American culture today, and that is trust others. There are several ways these lessons and interpretations can be put into real life situations and how they can affect us today in real time.

On page three, Mrs. Jones said “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son-neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” When Mrs. Jones was saying this, one was probably thinking that she has done something like this before, and that is probably why took Roger in instead of taking him to jail. On page three, Mrs. Jones said “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching on to my pocketbook nor nobody else’s-because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet.” One may think that Mrs. Jones was saying that if you do bad stuff but have nice shoes it will “burn your feet”. It is very important to think about the decisions you make in life. Making a bad decision comes with consequences, which can be compounded with further

His desire to steal the purse was driven by the strong want to buy blue suede shoes. This desire of the shoes can be compared to Macbeth’s desire of the throne. Both characters did evil deeds to reach their ultimate goal. Roger, however, is unable to successfully steal the purse and learns an important lesson through his failure. After Roger’s failed attempt, the story explains the woman’s initial actions, “... she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled” (Hughes, 1). This quote shows her aggressive behavior that masked her knowledgeable and caring personality. Roger is made to go back to her house to clean up and have a meal. The theme of patience is learned during his visit to her house, “The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye” (Hughes, 3). This quote expresses the amount of respect and trust built by both Roger and the woman in this short amount of time. She later explains to him that she understands his motive to steal as she has done wrongful deeds as well. She finished her talk with him by saying, “And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto

This teenager obviously made a mistake trying to snatch her purse. However, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones doesn’t hold grudges. In fact, she cleans up the boy and gives him what he wanted. “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes.” (68,110) This action shows how she is willing to overcome Roger’s wrongdoings and clean him up.

From a young age people are taught both trust and distrust. Children are instructed to respect authority figures. They are also warned to not get in a car with strangers, not take candy from strangers, and often to not even talk to strangers. While people are expected to be respectful, they are simultaneously trained to be suspicious and skeptical. This begs the question of when and where trust should be placed. In The Confidence Man, author Herman Melville uses the vehicle of a disorderly ship on which men are both distrusting and untrustworthy, to raise the question of whether or not people should trust one another. In Luck, Mark Twain addresses the same theme of trust through presenting the narrative of a naive man who has gained glory

The main characters of both stories are similar because they both are poor. The author doesn't tell the reader that Roger is poor directly, the reader must infer it through his actions. For example we can have a hint that he is poor because of his attempt to steal Mrs. Bates purse "about Midnight'' , she notices that he does not have anyone to talk to and how dirty his face is "Ain't you got nobody home to wash your face?" His answer "No'm" (Hughes). a boy who has a positive and good family that protects and feeds him would probably not let him go

At the beginning of “Thank you, Ma’am,” we see how just how compassionate Mrs. Jones really is. The moment she meets Roger, she tells the boy to wash his face. “Least I can do is wash your face. Are you hungry?” This might not seem like a very compassionate thing to do at first, however, she doesn’t even know the boy, yet she has enough compassion to make sure he is clean. Then, she takes the boy inside of her house! In addition, the boy, Roger asks, “You going to take me to jail?” But Mrs. Jones doesn’t. Maybe she sees that Roger is really a good boy inside, so she shows compassion to bring out his true kindness. This makes me think that he was probably trying to steal because he had to. And when Mrs. Jones asked him if he had anyone at home, he said, “No’m.” Mrs.

Therefore, Mrs. Jones and Roger, didn’t have a great

In the text, Roger tried to steal a purse from a lady but he couldn’t. The lady in the story is Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones took Roger to her house and made him wash his face and fed him. When she did that Roger felt good about her because he felt that she care about him. Many people don’t have people or family to care about them but she made it look like she cared about him. Roger was poor and you can tell because of how he dresses. Mrs. Jones was very nice to him and I think that her kindness made him change a lot. I say that because in the text once he got outside he ran in joy with the money. From my hypothesis I think that he is going to ask people for things instead of stealing. The last thing is he is very shy because in the story he said

stealing incident: " … a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse … " (1). When Roger

Mrs.Jones is a compassionate woman who is showing a boy kindness and respect to serve a great purpose to him for the rest of his life. Mrs. Jones was aware that Roger was no thief, he was just a boy who need some parenting. “You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face.” This explains how Mrs.Jones was going to teach Roger to own up to his mistakes and prevent from doing them again. Once Mrs.Jones had done enough parenting to Roger, he certainly wouldn’t forget. “If you think that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.” Mrs.Jones would certainly teach Roger

This is evident because Roger enters the story as a thief but gradually becomes a more caring, more honest, and a more thankful person. An example showing his productive development is during an early period of the story which shows his first actions, “It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse”(Hughes, 172). Roger is the “boy” who is trying to steal a woman’s purse in this scene. Then, later on in the story, after changing into a different type of person, Roger now

Mrs.Jones was walking home on a late night, but “[Roger] runs up behind her and tries to snatch her purse.” Mrs.Jones proceeds to push and drag Roger to her house. On the way Mrs.Jones see how dirty and hungry Roger looks. She asks him if he has a home and family, Roger say no and that when Mrs. Jones needs to teach and care for the boy. However Roger doesn't know what Mrs.Jones is going to do to teach him a lesson.