Tone: The Emotion of a Story The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes is the story of a mother speaking of life’s hardships to her son. The poem starts off with the protagonist’s haunting words about the difficulty of life; however, as the story goes on, her words of despair become words of wisdom to her son on never giving up. Hughes organizes this poem by transitioning the tone from hopelessness to encouragement to convey the raw message that although life can be hard, anyone can reach their goals with effort. The beginning of the story starts off with the speaker’s somber words of life’s difficulties, thus, setting the mood to a glum start. Addressing her son, the speaker says, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it. And splinters…” Her blunt tone makes the story seem much more personal; there is not any sugar coating in her tone which is exactly what would be expected of a mother. By trying not to set false expectations on the easiness of life, Hughes uses a blunt tone from the speaker to let her son know how life really is. By setting off the mood of the story as drab, the later transition of tone will be more effective. The speaker then goes on to talk about “goin’ in the dark where there ain’t been no light” which again emphasizes on the drab, pessimistic tone of the story. …show more content…
He transitions the tone of the poem from one of despair and hopelessness to one of encouragement which adds a realistic effect to the poem while still encouraging the reader. There is a thin line between being completely discouraging and being realistic; the speaker in the story seems to keep the perfect balance between these two lines. With the skillfully organized tone, the author helps the reader better understand the mood of the story as well as the difficult
Imagine that your life started getting harder, harder, and you kept conquering the problems one by one. The poems “ Mother to Son” and “ The rose that grew from concrete” will show you how to rise above your challenges. The poem “Mother to Son” is about how you have to persevere to rise above your problems in life. And the poem “The rose that grew from concrete” is about how this rose came out of concrete showing us that anything is possible if you keep trying. The poems “ Mother to Son” and “ The rose that grew from concrete” both share the theme of rising above challenges but they do so in similar and different ways.
And the poem “Mother to Son” is about how a mother is telling her son that she had to go through rough times like her son.She says she also keeps going no matter how difficult life gets.Both poems share the theme of overcoming obstacles in life. Both authors use figurative language for example,Tupac uses a Rose and Langston Hughes uses stairs to compare them to how hard life can be to develop the theme.
“Mother to Son” , by Langston Hughes is based on the view of hope and inspiration to continue moving forward in life, regardless of difficulties, and no matter how hard life may be. The speaker in this poem is a mother who gives advice to her son. Since the mother has overcame challenges in life, she encourages her son to be fearless, face challenges and succeed in life. He includes rhetorical devices such as, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and sound devices to make the points of being fearless, to face challenges, and succeed in life.
It is the idea of contrast that Hughes imposes on the reader. Hughes not only focuses on the negativity aspects of life, but through the negative elements is one able to see the positive outcomes. It is the over all theme of overcoming these obstacles, that captures the audience. Towards the end of the last stanza of the poem, we, the audience, see a complete transformation of the speaker and his view on life. He now comprehends the extensity of his actions and views his emotions as a blinding element from reality. He does not have the need to commit suicide anymore, and now fully accepts the loss and embraces the lament. "Though you may hear me holler, and you may see me cry- I'll be dogged, sweet baby, If you gonna see me die. Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine! (Conarroe pg 242, 27-33). With the passage, the reader is now aware of the transformation of the speaker.
Every mother would like to see her child succeed in life. The following passage from the poem, "Mother to Son", by Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son. She teaches him using her own life as an example; her life as a climb up a staircase. The imagery from the advice given in the stanza is explicit and poignant:
The theme of the poem and short story is that parents only want the best for their children and they try their hardest to meet their children’s needs. In both readings, the parents always tried their hardest to care for their children no matter what situation they're in. In the poem, “Mother to Son”, the mother states that life for her hasn't been easy for her but she didn't give up and neither should her son. I see this in both the poem and short story. Both mothers don't think that their child should give up on their dreams so they would be successful in life and not have to go through what they went through. Langston Hughes describes how the mother's life has been using figurative language. He described that the mother’s life isn't
The speaker’s message to readers in “Mother to Son” is that life can be difficult, but you have to keep trying despite these difficulties. I believe this message is directed towards people who are experiencing hardships and poverty, because the speaker is directing her conversation to her “son,” who does not have a life that is like “crystal stairs” (line 2). The crystal stairs in the poem represents a wealthy and easy life, as wealthy people have not probably had the same difficulties in life. Her message of not giving up is evident throughout the poem as she demands her son to not give up. She says, “So boy, don't you turn back, don't you set down on the steps, cause you finds it’s kinder hard” (lines 14-16). As readers, we know the message for us is that you can’t give up, even though you will face challenges—just like you have to keep going on a “staircase” even though the staircase has many obstacles on it. She clearly believes that we need to be fighters in our lives, as life will often be difficult. More importantly, I believe this message was also meant towards African Americans in the early 1900’s (when Langston Hughes was writing poetry), to remind them to never give up on fighting for equal rights, even though it is
In the poem Mother to Son, Hughes tells the tale of a mother speaking to her son about life and the hardships that one must face to make it in the world. Hughes uses extended metaphor to
Two people going through tough and concerning times in their life. They do not know what to do or how to overcome it. They both describe how they are feeling and what their life looks like when they are going through it. They both describe their life is different ways. The idea that when things get hard never give up can be seen in both William Ernest Henley “Invictus” and Langston Hughes “Mother to Son”
Throughout the poem, no one ever speaks or has a dialect. The narrator’s voice has an omniscient presence, which allows the reader to under the emotions and feelings that are being established during the poem. The narrator also establishes the setting and the
The way the author of Mother to Son organizes and structures his writing helps the audience grasp the meaning and message quite easily. Firstly, readers can tell that the “mother” figure in this poem may indeed be from the southern regions just based off of the way she speaks, or otherwise known as diction and that can be seen in the line “I’se been a-climbin’ on” along with multiple other examples. Consequently, it may be difficult to grasp the meaning due to the way she speaks, but that is then otherwise resolved by the word choice the author uses and the metaphorical structure by comparing life to a staircase in the line “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” Lastly, the author proceeds to compare life to an imperfect process in the lines
In the poem, “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes writes about a mother that encourages her son to move forward in life, even when obstacles arise. The mother tells her story of the hardships that she was forced to endure in order to motivate her son to become the best that he can be. Throughout the poem, the author’s use of diction and rhetorical devices make the mother’s message more powerful to the reader.
Whether life is a steep climb up a shaky stairway or a challenging voyage over rough seas, a parent hopes a child will persevere to the end. In Langston Hughes's poem "Mother to Son" and in Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer," the poets use the voice of a parent considering a child's future, and both use imagery of struggle and survival to suggest what lies ahead for the child. Although the point of view, context, and language of the two poems differ significantly, the message is the same: a parent wants a good life for his or her child, but knows that many obstacles can block the way.
Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" uses the rhythmic patterns of poetry to convey a lesson that is from a mother to her child, but it is also symbolic of a message that is related from an experienced individual and then passed down to someone who is potentially more na誰ve about the ways of the world. In the poem, the narrator speaks from the point of view of a mother talking to her son about the life that she has led. Life has not been easy for her and she has had to struggle throughout her life to acquire the simple lot that she possesses. She uses the imagery of a crystal staircase to
Poetry is a complicated yet beautiful artform. It allows for an individual to express their emotions and ideas by painting a picture using eloquent lines. Although alluring, poetry is also perplexing. It is almost impossible to fully understand what the author was exactly trying to get across in writing. There are however, multiple factors that can be used to help analyze poetry to get a better feel of that certain piece. In this paper, I will be analyzing Life Is Fine by Langston Hughes using irony, symbols, tone, rhyme, rhythm and meter.