Langston Hughes represented the African American culture in his poems, describing his utmost feelings towards America during the racial segregation era. Hughes’ use of cultural slang was inspired by the places he lived, which revealed the despairing tone the African Americans felt during this time period.
As a result, his poems often shared the same theme of hope that one day blacks and whites could come together as one without , breaking free from racial inequality, and striving for a better future. The pride of his race, culture, and history are clear in his literature.
Hughes tackled the same storyline of black people in his poem “Mother to Son”, but this time from a different perspective. The tone of the poem is informative, encouraging, and hopeful poem from the perspective of a mother narrating to her son, who it may also be seen to represent the younger generation.
“Mother to Son” is based on the idea of hope and encouragement to move forward in life, despite all difficulties, and no matter how tough life may become. The mother’s sufferings and her strength in overcoming the hardships she encountered in her lifetime.
She is telling her son that life “ain’t no crystal stair, It had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up”. It is also the demonstration of the love a mother has for her son. Behind this love, Hughes emphasizes the idea of never giving up in any situation.
The life of this black mother was full of hardships, and people mistreating her, she’s telling her son to let anyone stand in his way, wishing her son to be courageous and bold in the face of these challenges and to also succeed in life.
Finally, throughout the poem Hughes highlights three essential themes that are just a crucial reality in which one might endure throughout their life. These themes apply to one’s daily life but also connects to the struggle African American women had to face in order to raise their sons.
Furthermore, to reach success one must be ready to confront struggles, or any obstacle but have the strength to overcome them. With hope, one can face any obstacle knowing that there will be a light somewhere at the end of the tunnel. Lastly, Hughes emphasizes the theme of courage. One must possess courage to keep moving forward during rough times and to strive for a successful life.
This poem hints the message that life is not easy, but should be ready to face the adversities and obstacles.
Although there is not much structure to this poem, it does mimic a blues song. Blues was a very popular genre in the 1920s, especially down there many Southern African Americans popularized it as well. In most blues songs, they will sing about progressing on and never giving up on yourself, which is what this poem really tries to instill into the child.
Additionally, a blues song will have the reappearance of words. For instance, this poem repeats the phrase “crystal stair.” It begins and ends the poem by saying that, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair,”. In conclusion, Langston Hughes uses extended metaphor, imagery, dialect, and structure to reveal a weary mother who gives her son guidance about the strength of character.
We realize that although her life has given her many hardships, she never gave up her willpower to keep on and she pushes on. With the use of the extended metaphor of the staircase and the crystal-clear imagery, the readers take on a clear picture of struggle, perseverance, and hope that the mother had to go through.
