Preview

Mother To Son Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
503 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mother To Son Analysis
The poem, ¨Mother to Son¨ by Langston Hughes depicts a mother talking to her son about how life treated her and how he should treat it in return. In the first stanza of the poem, it says ¨Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it. And splinters, And boards torn up...¨ This can be seen as the mother's life has not been sunshine and lollipops, but it was filled with pain and heartbreak. With these emotions coming in throughout the good and the bad times, sometimes it may want you to give up. Later in the poem, the mother encourages that only with pain and sacrifice and heartbreak will lead to a life well lived. The mother tells her young child that he cannot stop climbing the heights and that he cannot fall down now. Although …show more content…
If he had a loving mother that gave him this kind of attention and gave him hope, then he could have not died. Or if he were still dead, he would have died knowing he had loving parents. He would have had more support from the people that he wanted in his life the most. He did not want the money, or the popularity. He wanted the thing he could never have, loving parents. Parents that cheered him on at sports events, parents that spent time with him doing things other than hitting and abusing him. If Johnny had read this poem and it was from his mother, then he could believe that she loved him more than alcohol and the substances that she would abuse. “So boy, don't turn back. Don't you set down on steps cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now- For i'se still goin honey, i'se still climbin’ And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.” Even though Johnny could never forgive his mother, this could give him a glimpse into her life. Maybe, just maybe Johnny would have had a normal life after he got this poem from his mom. Instead of running away after a murder, a mistake that would cost him his life, he could have been in a loving home for the remainder of his adult

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The writer used many ways to show the relatioships between charcters in the stories we have studies one of them is Anil. in Anil the writer presents confilct in relationship between the father, Appa, and the son, Anil. Anil is very uncomfortable and scared with his father, we know this because in the story it says " his father was a burly man, a bully to his family" this explains that the relationship between the father and the son is unsual and unsafe. the word "Bully" is used to show negativity and the harmful relationship between Anil and Father.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Johnny can stay away from home for long periods of time and neither of his parents seem to care or notice. Even though Johnny has bad role models, he's tries to stand up and be a good person. We’ve never see him being mean or mistreating others. He even challenges his idol, Dallas, when he sees how uncomfortable Dallas was is making Cherry and Marcia at the movies on pages 24. To make things even worse, Johnny was brutally beaten by the Socs last spring and now lives in a constant state of fear. On top of that, he doesn't quite get enough to eat, he often sleeps outdoors, and is even contemplating suicide. After Johnny saved the children from the fire, he seems to be saying that he's come to terms with his death, because death was the price he had to pay to regain some of the innocence he'd lost. Being involved in so much violence, in some ways it probably made him feel pure. He would prefer to live, even though he's probably more scared to live than to die, because he can see that there is good in the world, and that he's been a part of it. Johnny is a remarkable young teenager that went about his daily life with great…

    • 1390 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mommie Dearest, a best selling memoir, turned into a bio-drama motion picture. The book was released in 1978 and the movie was released in 1981. The memoir was written by Christina Crawford, adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. Christina recounts her childhood and claims that she and her siblings were physically and emotionally abused by their alcoholic mother.…

    • 58 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Johnny wanted to kill himself because of his parents. Johnny didn’t though…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the entirety of the poem the mother compares her life to stairs that are broken down, dark, missing steps, and steps with tacks in them but she states she has never stopped climbing “But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on,” and she used repetition by repeating a line to drive home the fact that her life hasn’t been easy. “And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Using these two methods the mother clearly states that even though life isn’t easy but you must keep climbing and…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The theme of, "Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes, is to keep moving on even when the worst of times is trying to hold you back. "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair/It's had tacks in it/And splinters,"(line 2-4). With this in mind, I believe the narrator is trying to metaphorically explain that the tacks and splinters in the mother's life are the parts in her life where she experience the most pain, like becoming broke or losing a family member. These tacks are what slows the mother down in her long climb, but, as she keeps saying, “She's been climbin’ on.” Also, line seventeen through eighteen describes, “Don't you set down on the steps/'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.” This furthers the point of the difficulty of life, if you stop…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes uses figurative languages like metaphors and tone to enhance the theme that you must keep going even through hard times. Hughes uses a metaphor to help show this theme by comparing two main ideas in the poem. A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another without using like or as. Hughes uses a metaphor when he compares the mother's life in the poem to a crystal stair. The mother in this quote tells her son “Don’t you fall now for I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (17-20). This metaphor explains how the mother’s life is very hard and no where near perfect. This metaphor connects to the theme of the poem, because…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When reading the two poems 'The rose that grew from concrete' written by Tupac Shakur and 'Mother to Son' by Langston Hughes, you will notice that they both have several distinct similarities and contrasts. The First poem written by Tupac Shakur talks about a rose that grows from a crack in the concrete all on its own with determination, and the central idea is that the hardships we face as children/teenagers don't have to shape our future in a negative way. The second poem by Langston Hughes is about a mother telling her son not to give up because she didn't when her life got hard, and the central idea is not to give up because all problems can be overcome with perseverance and determination. The biographical events that took place in both…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Themes In The Outsiders

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In present day you wouldn’t see novels like The Outsiders where people like Dally get in jail at really young age (10 years). Back then it would it be normal in some places where you would see some kids going somewhere all by themselves and they shouldn’t be there. Johnny was a tough kid because he lived by himself and got through his parents abusing him. I have to admit; Johnny has helped a lot with my theme which is good. He has been a big inspiration for me to make my theme and a big role model. He’s such a great example of what a person should and shouldn’t do and I just feel bad that he has to die this…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The theme of “Mother to Son” is perseverance to live life without giving up. The mother compares her life to a ragged staircase which has “tacks” and “splinters” representing her life hardships and challenges such as financial strain and maintain a household. She is still determined to be “climbin’ on” the stairs despite the pain caused by the “tacks” and “splinters” along the way of every step. The mother encourages her son to never “set down on the steps” from the uphill challenges in life such as living through a struggle. She hopes to see her son face these obstacles rather than turning…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem written from a mothers perspective giving loving advice to her son about the challenges life will throw, yet the importance of never giving up, subverts the usual stereotype that African Americans live a bad life, abusing drugs and being criminals. The audience feels the warmth and care from her southern dialect, “Don’t you fall now – for I’se still goin’ honey, I’se still climbin’’ and “life for me aint been no crystal stair”. The informal language also portrays a truthful motherly figure. The poem includes an extended metaphor, the person compares her life to a stair case, “life aint been no crystal stair, it’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor- Bare.” This is a metaphor for the lack of comfort and poverty she lives in. Symbols like ‘tacks’ also symbolise the discomfort of life’s obstacles. By the smart use of informal language, symbolism, extended metaphor and repetition supports the idea that African Americans can make the right choices and are not necessarily limited to the life people see them as living all the time. Just because of the harsh circumstances they are going through. As the persona puts it. ‘Don’t you fall now, for I’se still going,…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The connection between mother and son is untradeable. There is inevitable love that pushes a mother to do absolutely anything because of the maternal instinct that is bestowed within. Unconditional motherly love releases the “super power” inside a desperate mother in need of her child. In the novel “Son,” Lois Lowry uses characterization in the main character, Claire, to demonstrate her courage, desperateness, and mental, as well as physical, strength that strives her to find her son. Born in an utopian society, Claire is assigned her role as a birthmother. After something goes terribly wrong in her birth, she is reassigned to the fish hatchery. After overhearing her son is number thirty-six in the Nurturing center, she creates a friendship with the Nurturer so she can secretly see her growing son. The village elders decide, at one year old, he is not suitable for a family and would be killed. The Nurturer’s son, Jonas, runs off with the baby and Claire sets off on a ship to find them. Her body washes up on shore of another village without any memory of what happened. After listening to a little girls’ conversation, Claire thinks “This baby in my belly makes me forgetful,one little girl had said. Claire, working now with Alys, preparing the herbs for Bethan’s mother, understood what the child was pretending. Why did it make Claire feel so unbearably sad?”(Lowry 153). Lois Lowry uses indirect characterization to illustrate…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Outsiders Hero

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    He dreams of “‘...someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people’”(42). He can see beyond social ranking and sabotage, instead preferring a world without labels. He can even tell that the abuse he suffers isn’t permanent, and chooses to live away from his parents. Johnny is one of the younger members of Ponyboy’s gang, but he is smart enough to see that his misfortune was never caused by the Socs. Johnny learns that he doesn’t need the acceptance of his family or of his fellow greasers, and decides to make a leap of faith that will give him the freedom he has always desired. Johnny killed Bob not out of hate for Socs, but in order to save Ponyboy’s life. This showed incredible awareness and sincerity for his friends, which is very heroic. Later in the novel Johnny saved multiple kids’ lives by pulling them out of a burning building. He was “...red marked from falling embers and sweat streaked, but he grinned…” showing he wasn’t afraid of doing the right thing (79). If he never went into the building, he wouldn’t have died and nobody would have forced him to help. The reason he ran back in was to try to compensate for killing Bob and forcing Ponyboy to be on the run with him. This was a sign that Johnny was mature enough to sacrifice his life in order to protect other innocent ones. His complete and utter respect and selflessness earned him a title in the newspaper as a hero, and on his deathbed he wasn’t afraid to leave. Johnny’s love for his closest friends caused him to die peacefully and with a cleared name, which he earned even when he didn’t think he…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Parenting Style Analysis

    • 2319 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The impact of ethnic background and education level on individuals parenting style been a topic of interest to both developmental and family psychologists. This intense interest stems from the fact that a persons parenting style is so intimately intertwined with the culture they were exposed to. Ethnic variation in parenting style is almost universal. Numerous studies have investigated parenting in a very diverse set of countries, each with its own value systems, using parenting styles derived from Baumrind's work as the measure (Boyd & Bee, 2012, p.320-329). All of these studies have shown that authoritative parenting is the most consistently parenting style associated with the best psychosocial development and mental health development across…

    • 2319 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biblically speaking, is “Father-Son” language strictly metaphorical, as Carr suggests? Or do these terms convey something essential about God? If the latter, can one speak equally of God as “Friend”?…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays