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Mother To Son By Langston Hughes Analysis

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There are many written pieces in literature that describe a mother's love but a particular poem redefines the understanding of true love. The metaphor created by Langston Hughes in “Mother to Son” resonates with many people due to the many obstacles and splinters that could disrupt a person’s life. Throughout the extended metaphor, the character Mother represents the true epitome of selfless love and care. As the poem unfolds, Mother reveals the depth of intimacy she has for her son. Mother who plays the speaker in the poem recounts the experiences she had to endure and she also attests that her life is challenging. However, she manages to recover despite her circumstances. Likewise, she wishes that her son does not fall into the challenges …show more content…

Every year during the summer I would vacation in Haiti. One summer, as I sat under the mango tree I noticed a peculiar phenomenon. A mother hen dashed out with her 7 stunningly colored, and distinctively patterned chicks, and headed straight for the crumbs of food that had fallen off the small aluminum pot that served as the cooking container. She came towards the food so ferociously and started to cluck at her chicks, beckoning them to come to the food fest she had just discovered. But there was a problem due to the large number of chicks she had, and the relatively small amount of food available. One would think that this would lead to a fierce battle between the chicks as to who could get more. The mother hen knew this, so she started sharing her own techniques. She would go to one end where there was a noodle that was too long for one chick to swallow at a go, and she would cluck at her chicks, taunting them to come for it, and momentarily the chicks would pounce on the noodle, and start to devour it. I could tie this flashback so closely to this poem because it is hard to articulate a mother’s love, it is often described with adjectives like ‘unwavering’ and ‘unconditional’. Indeed, a mother’s words, actions, thoughts, and emotions encapsulate the beautiful nature of her love for her children and in Mother case her

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The conflicting interests of the mother and the father result in a situation where one must make a sacrifice in order to preserve the connection in the family. The flat depressed tone of the poem reflects the mother’s unhappiness and frustration about having to constantly

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Many people believe that having a lot of money gives you a happier life, one where you have less problems, so we look up to idols who always look like they are having a great time when they go out to expensive restaurants or shops and wear their most expensive clothing. In the short story, "Why, You Reckon?", Langston Hughes shows that just because people have lots of money and can easily get stylish clothing or go out to the fanciest restaurant, it does not always mean that the person is having the time of their life. Money is just a piece of paper but in this time, it makes it clear as day that you need that flimsy paper to buy your

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Hurston consistently uses these types of symbolism to show an overarching theme, as well as particulars of the story. The language used by Hughes in Mother To Son is the perfect way that he adds a personal, accessible touch to the poem. By using such phrases as “I’se still climbin’” Hughes shows the his own mother’s specific way of talking, which is a great way to connect with the readers (Hughes, n.d.).

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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.

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Life for some will be an uphill battle. We never want to see our children suffer and we try to prepare them or guide them the best we can as parents. In Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son," and Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl," the mothers play a somewhat harsh role to infix and prepare their child for a life of struggle. In each of these stories, you will read the mother telling them how to act or what to expect in life or certain situations. Hughes’ story is a mother telling her young son about the struggles she has overcome.

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She rises above these difficulties and keeps pursuing her goals and dreams. Thus, she believes it is her duty to impart wisdom on her son by referring to her successes and failures in life. Hughes conveys his idea, through the use of imagery, figurative language, and sound devices, that no matter how tough life gets, one must keep going and keep trying. Initially, the

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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,

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Over the past quarter we’ve read several short stories and poems. While most poems have different themes, each developed in their own way, two stories stuck out to me with similar themes: “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and “To James” by Frank Horne. In the texts “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and “To James” by Frank Horne, both authors develop the theme of never giving up through conflict, repetition, and word choice. In the first text, Mother to Son, the message is that you should never give up no matter how hard life gets. In the second text, James, the message is that you should keep pushing, never give up and you’ll be victorious.

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Langston Hughes“Mother to Son,” shows an example of a mother's life struggles. A mother tells her son of how hard life is. Hughes uses metaphors and imagery in the narrative poem “Mother to Son” to communicate the struggles of life.

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However, she did not let those obstacles bring her down, she overcame them. The mother tells her son to not fall or give up because she kept going. “Don’t you fall now - For I’se still goin’ honey, I’se still climbin” (17-19). The

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Langston Hughes “Mother to Son” & Robert Hayden “Those Winter Sunday’s” both deal with the theme of Parenting. In both poems the sons are taught different lessons about life by each parent life experience. For example in “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes uses the Metaphor of the stairs to emphasize to the kid the importance of never giving up in any situation and in “Those Winter Sunday’s” Robert Hayden uses Imagery to show the son what sacrificial love looks like.

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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.

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Unlike “From Childhood,” set within the home of the mother and son, this mother-son-duo is at a party. This mother is persistent in taking her son away from his surroundings and reeling him in to her—keeping an eye on him is simply not enough. Nowlan writes, “The touch of her hand embarrasses him” (Nowlan, 390). Taking the term overbearing to new extremes, the mother is not content unless her hands are physically on her son. While it is completely normal for a mother to have protective instincts and to watch over their children, the level of overbearing the mother in the poem reaches is radical.

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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.

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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.

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