Overcoming Adversity In 'Little Brother, Mother To Son'

Overcoming adversity is a fundamental aspect of human nature, and it requires a lot of resilience. Throughout history, individuals and communities have faced various challenges and obstacles, ranging from natural disasters to social injustices. However, it is the ability to overcome these adversities with a strong and resilient mindset that defines us as individuals and as a society. The three literary works, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, and an excerpt from Trevor Noah’s book Born A Crime, all explore the theme of resilience and the ability to overcome adversity, which can be applied to our daily lives. Each work depicts characters who face challenges and obstacles but refuse to give up and instead use

Despite the odds stacked against him, Marcus refuses to give up and fights back against the oppressive government. He uses his skills as a hacker to organise a resistance movement and ultimately succeeds in bringing down the government’s surveillance system. As Marcus states, “I saw a problem, and I fixed it. That’s what being a hacker is all about” (Doctorow 348). This quote highlights Marcus’s resilience and determination to fight against the injustice he faced. Overall, we can use this mindset to understand that when wrong happens, we must fight against it, not turn a blind eye.
Similarly, in “Mother to Son,” Hughes uses the metaphor of a staircase to illustrate the difficult journey of life. The mother encourages her son to keep climbing the stairs, despite the obstacles he may face. As the mother states, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (Hughes line 2). 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

Despite her son’s protests, his mother refuses to let him bring his friends from the hood into their home. Noah describes his mother’s feelings towards his friends, stating, “If I brought them back to the house, she didn’t even want them coming inside. ‘I don’t like those boys,’ she’d say” (Noah 25). This quote highlights his mother’s determination to protect her son from negative influences, stand by her beliefs, and protect him from the dangers of the hood. She recognises the consequences that come with associating with the wrong crowd and refuses to let her son fall victim to them, which is a life lesson all readers can take from her character and the