‘Thank You M’am’ is a short story which is written by Langston Hughes. The story takes place in the USA, in the street and in the woman house, where we meet Mrs Luella and Roger. In this article I am going to analyse this short story. At first I will summarise its plot, then I will discuss the main theme on it, and comment on the main characters and some literary devices.
‘Thank You M’am’ is about a boy called Roger and a large woman Mrs Luella Bates Washington Jones. At eleven o’clock at night, the boy tries to snatch the woman’s pocketbook. But as he grabs the purse behind, the strap brakes, he loses his balance and fall son his back on the sidewalk. Mrs Luella simply turns and kicks him, while he lies down. She shakes roger and commands him to pick up her purse. After having a little talk with him, she decides to take him home to her house by dragging him. She gets him washed and fed. Then he admits that he wants to steal money, so he could by a pair of blue suede shoes. Afterwards they have a conversation about her job. Right before Roger leaves, Mrs Luella gives him ten dollars. Roger wants to say something other than Thank you madam, while he tries to find the right words, she shut the door.
The story stretches over a few hours, and it is set in a big city in America, most likely New York according picture’s information on p. 163 and the currency dollars are mention too. I will also say that it is probably in the late 1950s or in the beginning of the 1960s, because this story is from a book which was published in 1963, the suede shoes indicate that it was at that period, since they were very popular then.
In my view, the main them of the story is life lessons and mentors. The message is treat others the way you want to be treated. In this story Mrs Luella Bates Washington Jones is a mentor; she wants to teach and provides advice in a kind manner that he can learn from his mistakes. She takes the role as his mother ‘you aught