Mother To Son By Langston Hughes
The poem “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes, is about a mother advising her son about life. She tells him that life is not easy and that he should not give up even when life is hard. Throughout the poem she uses an extended metaphor to compare life as a decayed stair. The mother expressed the hardship of life by saying, “And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor” (4-6). She describes the stair as an old and decayed stair that seems impossible to climb. Life is hard to live through and to point that out the mother compares it to climbing the stair as very painful task. Further throughout the poem the mother goes more in depth and reveals more difficulties of living by expressing, “I’se been a-climbin’ on, And
reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light” (9-13). The dark is a symbolism of negative energy within someone’s life whether it is an emotion or a physical being; such as sadness or a bully. For the son to live life he must overcome this “dark” obstacle on his stair journey. With this intention the mother further describes the dangers of life and explains how to survive in the vicious journey of climbing the stair of life. She guides her son, “So, boy don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the 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’ been no crystal stair,” to teach him that even when life is hard that giving up is not an option, that even when it feels like he is about to fall off the stairs that he should never give up. It will never be easy like climbing a “crystal stair” but always be difficult where quitting might seem like the best option. In the poem the mother teaches her son a very valueable lesson by using extended metaphor to compare life as a stair that seems impossible to climb.
reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light” (9-13). The dark is a symbolism of negative energy within someone’s life whether it is an emotion or a physical being; such as sadness or a bully. For the son to live life he must overcome this “dark” obstacle on his stair journey. With this intention the mother further describes the dangers of life and explains how to survive in the vicious journey of climbing the stair of life. She guides her son, “So, boy don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the 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’ been no crystal stair,” to teach him that even when life is hard that giving up is not an option, that even when it feels like he is about to fall off the stairs that he should never give up. It will never be easy like climbing a “crystal stair” but always be difficult where quitting might seem like the best option. In the poem the mother teaches her son a very valueable lesson by using extended metaphor to compare life as a stair that seems impossible to climb.