10.12.2012
Erkin Karataş
9D 3
Character Analysis of Mrs. Jones in “Thank You M’am” By Langston Hughes
“Thank You M’am” by Langston Hughes is a story of a middle-aged woman, Mrs. Jones, meets with a boy, Roger, who attempts to steal money from her. Anyway before she got robbed, she catches the boy and chooses to give him a lesson of his life. Mrs. Jones is presented as a thoughtful, trustful and good-hearted woman. Firstly, Mrs. Jones characterized as thoughtful woman who understands teenage requests and problems. She helps a teenage boy who needs help. In quote “You could of asked me.” She shows her charity to Roger that if he asked politely instead of attempt to steal her purse, she could help him. Mrs. Jones can understand Roger’s problem because she was also young once and she wanted things that she could not get, but instead of stealing valuable things she decided to gain money with doing other things. Anyway at the end Mrs. Jones gives ten dollars to Roger to buy himself a blue-suede shoes that he wanted. She also gives a lesson to Roger. Mrs. Jones admonishes him that he shouldn’t do any mistake of stealing anybody’s purse anymore. It shows how Mrs. Jones is considerate woman that helps Roger even though she got robbed by him. Karataş 2
Secondary, Mrs. Jones portrayed as reliant woman who does not watch the Roger in her house. In quote “The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!” Mrs. Jones shows her reliability to Roger. She trusts Roger and she knows that he is not going to choose to run away. Moreover, she left her purse behind her on the day bad where the Roger sits. She is absolute sure about that Roger is not going to attempt to rob him again. So that she leaves her purse out in plain view. Mrs. Jones’ acts are weird because Mrs. Jones knows Roger for an hour, and not a normal person allows a “thief” in his or her house. That shows how Mrs. Jones is