1) The main point of the essay is revealed in paragraph two where it states, “The cause of my anguish is that I am the lone bastion of testosterone in a household that contains two females undergoing estrogen-related Armageddon’s of biblical proportion.” Hughes’ main point is the troubles a man faces in a family with two females. He sets up an illustration comparing his household to a “war zone where every word [he utters] is a potential grenade threatening to blow up in [his] face.” This comparison exaggerates the position the author is in through the metaphor he uses of the war zone to capture his family dynamic. 2) Hughes secondary point in the essay is the “existential question: ‘What the heck went wrong here and what do I do about it?’”
Hughes and Cullen Poetry Analysis Langston Hughes was a black writer during the harlem renaissance who wrote poetry and other papers. Hughes wrote a poem called A Dream Deferred. That poem is about what happens when a dream is deferred. Another writer during the harlem renaissance is Countee Cullen.
“And places with no carpet on the floor”(Mother to Son, 5.) Langston is giving us an image in our head, representing
In “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes, the poet uses figurative language and diction to convey a tone of persistence. When the poet likens his life to being a “no crystal stair,” Hughes establishes that his earlier life was never easy or rich through the comparison to a beautiful, and valuable object. The poet initiates an idea that he kept at it and didn't give up, even though his life wasn't pretty or full of wealth. Later on, the poet utilizes the imagery of “boards torn up,” and “no carpet on the floor,” illustrating a decrepit home life and revealing another difficulty he had to endure in his youth, but he pushed past it and persevered. When the poet likens his life to something with “tacks in it,” he uses the image of something sharp,
Throughout much of his poetry, Langston Hughes wrestles with complex notations of African American dreams, racism, and discrimination during the Harlem Renaissance. Through various poems, Hughes uses rhetorical devices to state his point of view. He tends to use metaphors, similes, imagery, and connotation abundantly to illustrate in what he strongly believes. Discrimination and racism were very popular during the time when Langston Hughes began to develop and publish his poems, so therefore his poems are mostly based on racism and discrimination, and the desire of an African American to live the American dream. Langston Hughes poems served as a voice for all African Americans greatly throughout his living life, and even after his death.
Let us say someone encountered a bump in life or something bad happened people will always move past it eventually because people cannot let something weigh them down for the rest of their lives. The big message or idea of these two poems is to keep moving on because people will always have to deal with problems. In “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and Still I Rise by Maya Angelou they both convey the message that people should never give up and keep on rising no matter what happens or what people say. Throughout the poem “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes coveys that people should always keep pushing towards their goals and not give up.
In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.
This quote highlights the mother’s resilience and her ability to overcome the challenges she has faced in her own life. By sharing her experiences with her son, she is instilling in him the strength and resilience needed to overcome adversity, and this gives the reader advice to get through their problems as
“Mother to Son” Analysis Everyone wants to be something in life. Langston Hughes a famous poet in the Harlem Renaissance had severe life from all the segregation and slavery during 1980s. During this time it limited things the African Americans could do, Hughes didn’t let that stop him he became a poet and wrote the famous “Mother to Son” poem. Which Hughes explains even though there are hard times in life you shouldn’t give up it should push you to be better and get further in life.
Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.
She tells her son that life is often “hard”, full of “stair steps” and “tumbles”. Through this metaphor, she conveys her understanding that life will be full of challenges, and that it is up to her son to make the best of the situation. She encourages him to keep going, no matter what is thrown his way. The mother then goes on to explain that she has faced her own set of challenges in life. She has had “troubles” and “clouds”, but she has kept going, and she encourages her son to do the same.
A central theme in the short story “Thank you Ma 'am” by Langston Hughes is a little kindness goes a long way. One act of kindness can change a person’s life forever. Her unnecessary kindness made a major impact on Roger and changes him. As the story progresses, we see that Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones shows empathy and kindness for Roger. That kindness appears to pass onto Roger near the end of the story.
In Langston Hughes poem Mother to Son the speaker is a mother who is giving her son advice that life is no crystal stair. Using “son” in the first line allows the reader to think about their son or any son in the world and not just one person if it was referring to a Richard or Tommy. Throughout the poem the narrator uses various symbols to describe what her stairs look like such as “It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,” (Hughes 559). These symbols give off the connotation meaning that even though tacks and splinters were on her stairs does not mean they would actually appear. The narrator tries to give her son the meaning of life by saying it’s not going to be perfect, along the way you will reach some obstacles such as tacks or splinters and one must keep moving forward in order to get passed them.
Langston Hughes is an African American Poet who is very closely connected to his culture and expresses his feelings very thoroughly through his poetry in a jazz style. Langston Hughes is a modern poet who ignore the classical style of writing poetry and instead, in favor of oral and improve traditions of the Black culture. In majority of Langston’s poetry, many of his audience seems to take away a very strong message that many can apply to themselves or to others or his poems gives you an educational background of what’s going on in the African American community right now. For example, Langston Hughes writes a poetry piece called Afro American Fragment, which gives you a great breakdown of what an everyday African American person goes through considering that their whole history is basically taken away from them. Langston seems to show his audience that in books we never hear much about what contributions a African American person has done except for being brought to America and being a slave.
Jazmyne Nelson Dr. Rose English 101 December 11, 2017 Literary Analysis Langston Hughes’ short story entitled “Thank You Ma’am”, analyzes the interaction between Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and Roger. It presents the readers, the idea of goodness, the theme of trust, forgiveness, and kindness. Hughes is able to convert a language that is easier to understand by characterizing the context of story, advancing important themes, and using dialogue among the characters. Trust is one of themes that stood out while analyzing the short story. Though Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones has been victimized Roger worries that she won’t trust him, so he moves.
