...Looking at the title of this poem gives me an imagination of what the poem might talk about. My perception when I see the title is that it means love, attention, or advice of a mother to her son. Well, we know that the figure of a mother is really important in a family. She is the one who has given birth. Pure love, great attention or care, and wise advice come from a mother. So, Mother to Son may describe about it. Then, I begin to go deeper seeing the dramatic situation which occurs in this poem. I consider that the speaker is a mother who tries to tell something to her son. It is clear, I think, and it also can be seen at the first line of this poem. I suppose that the poem tells about the advice of a mother to her son. In the first line shows an effort of a mother to advise her son. I imagine when I am in trouble or make mistakes; indeed, my mother will try to give me advice in order to cheer me up or encourage me. It also appears in this poem. Going to other lines explain the hardship of her life, and in the second line up to seventh of the poem attempts to portray her suffering in life. It seems she has faced very tough struggle. I can utter it because I see in the second line she describes her life as no crystal stair. I picture the words no crystal stair as though her experience in life which is not sparkling and luxurious like crystal. In addition, stair is the foothold for us to stand before we step higher to reach the top, I guess. She must have not only trouble but...
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...The poem is written from the standpoint of a mother speaking to her son, and the selection of her words is vital to her characterization. Specifically, it is believed that this poem mirrors the life of his own mother who was born “only a generation away from slavery” and faced much civil injustice (Reyes 267). The vernacular the mother in the story uses accents the social status of her time period. Removing the “g” from the endings of multiple words and using slang words, such as “ain’t” and “I’se” gives us an authentic feel for a struggling, poverty-stricken black woman who would not have access to much, if any, formal education in the era during which the poem was written (Hughes 23). Much of Hughes’ writing revolves around the tribulations facing the African American community over the years. This poem is a prime example in which a simple choice of words can make all the difference in a poem’s meaning. If written in proper English, the poem would feel contrived, stripped of the earnestness of its subject matter. Also, the mother’s use of first person when telling her personal history implies that she is a single mother doing her best to raise her child alone. At no time, does she use the third person, which one would expect from someone married or in a relationship dedicated to keeping a family together. This helps illuminate an underlying theme of the trials of motherhood, specifically around the lower-class single mother. This related to Hughes’ own life once again...
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...Mother to Son Analysis Langston Hughes' moving poem "Mother to Son" empowers not only the son, but also the reader with precious words of wisdom. Through the skillful use of literary devices such as informal language, symbolism, metaphors, repetition, as well as clever use of format, Hughes manages to assemble up the image of a mother lovingly, yet firmly, talking to her son about life. This poem is an advice from a mother to son about life that will be challenging and do not think about giving it up. The advice is simple but pertinent to the poetic theme: in order to overcome the hurdles of life, a person must possess courage and determination. The theme that this poet conveyed in the poem is determination to live without ever thinking giving up although the obstacles are harsh. Besides, it also emphasize regarding the struggle for life that the one will experience but still have the strength to face it day by day. It also shows about affection and as motivation of a mother to son that takes care of his son and gives advice so that the son will somehow be prepared to face the life. Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son” resemble to the well-known expression “let’s have a father to son chat”. However, in this case, the saying is altered to “mother to son”. Poetic devices such as informal language, symbolisms, metaphors and repetition were used in this poem. This poem is written from the mother’s point of view in the advice form so the audience could feel the warmth and...
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...attachment is made between the child and mother or father. To further examine how this attachment evolves throughout a child’s developmental stages three participants were asked various questions on the level of attachment and dependency that exists between them and their mother. A child is capable of forming an attachment to both mother and father, but the attachment that is formed between mother and child varies from that of a father and child. According to Robert S. Feldman, author of Development across the lifespan, “when [infants] are in unusually stressful circumstances, most infants prefer to be soothed by their mother rather than by their father. One reason for qualitative differences in attachment involves the differences in what fathers and mothers do with their children. Mother’s spend a greater proportion of their time feeding and directly nurturing their children. In contrast, fathers spend more time proportionally, playing with infants (Feldman, 2011, p. 182). After consideration of the differences in rearing tendencies between mother and father, the relationship between mother and son is going to be explored by interviewing three men; one in adolescence, one in early adulthood and one in middle adulthood. In Raising Caine, the author illustrates the unique complexities between mother and son and how they must evolve in order to survive: This is the fundamental pattern of the relationship between a boy and his mother. He is the explorer; she is the home-base...
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...behind this is that children should not only be loved, but that teaching them important life lessons are just as vital. This can be seen in Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" poem. "If" is about being who you are without the thought of someone else's opinion in the form of a conversation with his son. Another poem that relates to this theme is Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" poem which shows a discussion between a mother and her son about never giving up just because life can grow problematic. The significance of the two poems is that both authors display some sort tougher affection by teaching meaningful life lessons with a simple heart-to-heart talk....
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...In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and in the novel I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the mothers are both showing their children how to live a successful and to preserve in the hard time in life you may go through. The mom states in the poem , “So boy don't you turn back. / Don't you set down on the steps.” (10-11) This is one of the lines in the poem from the mother talking to the son. She doesn't want the son to give up. He shouldn't turn back just because he hit rock bottom. The son should always persevere in the tough times. According to the mother in the poem “Don't you fall now- / For I’se still goin’, honey, / I’se still climbin’ (13-14). in other words, this mother doesn't want her son to give up. She is still climbing through the struggle....
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...“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “Mother to son” by Langston Hughes both share the lesson that success is one's own decision. Through “Invictus,” William Ernest Henley portrays that success lies in one's own decisions. He does this through the use of diction the theme is expressed by using words that show that he is very brave and has an unbreakable will to succeed. This is shown in the quote, “And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.” (Henley 11-12). This device is used when Henley uses strong words like...
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...From starting a fire in the morning, to giving life advice, to making sacrifices for their children, parents manifest their love in numerous, tangible and intangible ways. These subtle indications of affection are the driving forces behind two poems written with the same theme: “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In the two poems, the authors reveal the different ways in which parents show love for their children through point of view, imagery, and symbolism; however each poem deals with a different method of demonstrating their kindness. The two poems use different points of view to convey their similar messages to the reader. While both use first person point of view, “Mother to Son” is told from...
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...This segways us into our topic, I was assigned to analyze the three pieces of text, the text I chose were “The Lost Boys”, “Mother To Son”, and The Fifth One. Stories...
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...being the mother of a son who has committed a very serious crime, would you still love him with all your heart? The answer to that question would vary depending on different points of views, but from my understanding most people would. Why though? Your son just violated the law, and you would still forgive him? This all comes down to love and loyalty. In Beowulf, loyalty played a major role in the relationship between Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother knew her son was atrocious, but the love between her and her son never changed. Grendel’s mother was loyal to her son when defeat played a part in his death, and adds to my belief that a mother’s loyalty will never changed no matter how gruesome their child is. Every child or adolescent gets into trouble, hoping that their parents will still love them the same. For instance, Grendel’s attacks on Hrothgar’s people. He standed “hoping to kill” the innocent people of their country. Even though Grendel terrorizes Hrothgar’s halls and made everyone miserable, he was still loved by his mother. Now look at a similar scenario from a modern eye, think about a young boy causing a destruction. The d mother of the young boy would be disappointed by her son’s behavior, but the love for him will not change; furthermore,...
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...8 Lies Of A Mother A Heart Touching Story Born into a very poor family, often there was not much to eat in the house. Whenever there was some food, the Mother would give her portion of rice to the child and say ‘eat this rice son, I’m not hungry.’ As the child grew, the mother started using up all her spare time to go fishing in a river near the house, hoping that from the fish she would catch, she could provide a little nutrition to her child. Every time she caught two fish, she would make a fish soup and give it to her child. As the child drank the soup and ate the fish, the mother would sit beside and eat the bone from what was left. The child felt really sad seeing its mother eating just the leftover bones, so one day it gave a piece of fish to the mother, but the mother said ‘eat this fish son, I don’t like fish.’As the son was growing up, the mother began working harder to fund his education. She went to a Match factory to bring home used matchboxes which she would fill with fresh matchsticks. This helped her get some money that she could use towards her son’s education. One late winter night the son woke up and saw his mother was still filling the matchboxes by candlelight. He asked her to go to sleep. ‘Go to sleep son, I’m not tired,’ she smiled. When it was time for the son’s final exam, the mother accompanied him and after dawn, she waited for long hours in the sun for her son to finish the exam. When he came out and ran to his mother, she gave him a cup of tea...
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...One mom asks the question who is this man living in our home. Implying that her son is a totally different person than from who he once was. Rather that may be spend less time with her and more with his girlfriend to not needing her help for things anymore. Old spice claims to welcome sons to manhood by giving them the smell of a man. Taking the perspective of the mom and showing what mothers generally go through when discovering the change in their sons. The mother begins to reminisce of her memories throughout the beginning stages of her sons’ life. She sings the same lyrics as the dad does with a different meaning behind them about her son becoming a man. Mom claims that Old Spice has “sprayed a man of our boy” saying that him using Old Spice is his start to manhood. As a mom she goes through the stalker stage of missing her “little boy” always wanting to know what he is doing. The fact that he doesn’t need his toys anymore hurts her so she has a yard sale. During one portion of the ad the mom is shown hugging the dad with long outreached arms towards the family’s portrait touching her sons face with sadness on her face. The mom feels as though she has Old Spice to blame for the attraction of girls to her son. She wants to be the only woman involved in her sons life, but she cannot control it due to Old Spice products attracting girls. No matter how...
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...The case I got to review was that of a 16 year old boy who was sexually abused by his uncle when he was just 6 years old. Children and Youth Service was contacted and they step in to intervene. The mother and farther eventually divorced and the mother then got involved with a new guy. They ended up have a little girl together in 2001. Sometime during this relationship the guy sexually abuse the boy. Once again CYS step in and the mother split up with the guy. A few years later the mother got remarried and they have a girl and a boy together. When his youngest sister was six year old he told her he would give her all of his school supplies if she had sex with him. The young girl did not know what to do and he ended up sexually abusing his...
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...Mother-Child Relationship. It was said and it will be said a lot about late Anna Nicole Smith and her late son Daniel’s relationship. The intimacy and the complicity of their relationship wasn’t a secret. Anna Nicole Smith used to say that her son Daniel was her best friend. It was an earthquake for Mrs. Smith when her son passed away. She couldn’t take it; she went depressed and started taking antidepressant medication, which finally intoxicate her to death. She and son proved to the whole world how closed they were. It was a beautiful relationship according to tabloids. Are all mother-child relationships perfect? What makes a mother-child rapport to be good or bad? One of the most prolific environments of interpersonal relationship is the family. Thus, the common form of a family is the nuclear family. It’s constituted with a marital couple living with their offspring in a common dwelling. The essence of the family is the relationship parent-child. The family is an institution where children learn from their parents the signification of the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, or the ethical and the unethical. Parents as guardians of the family have the role to provide basics to the entire family. A family is a place of a symbiotic relationship between parents and children, which involve a lot of exchanges of all nature. The mother-child relationship as well as the parent-child relationship could be classified in three different dimensions (clearly influenced by...
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...2009 ENG 435 Langston Hughes “Mother to Son” is written entirely from a weary mother’s point-of-view and presents inspiration, themes, and imagery concerning the appearance and the reality of the poem. Every mother wants to see her child be successful in life through the hardships and the good times. The poem was written from a mother to her young son demonstrating the love and concern a mother has for her son and educating him on how life may be. The overall message is to never give up, although life is hard, one can never give up no matter what your struggles are, keep pushing forward. This poem implies that experience can teach life lessons, which the mother has been through time after time. She explains to her son in a well spoken way that things may go wrong, don’t get content, move forward and never give up. This poem reminds me of a novel named Push, written by Sapphire in 1996, it illustrates the conditions of living in Harlem in the 1980’s and the suffering of a girl, Claireece Precious Jones, who experienced sexual harassment, being committed twice by her own father, having two children by him, but never giving up. The first couple of stanzas show that the son may have asked his mother a question, because she starts with, "Well, son, I'll tell you." The mother then goes on and uses the metaphor “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair,” which can symbolize her spiritual pursue towards Christ or telling her son that life is a journey and not something...
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