MOTHER TO SON ------------------------------------------------------ Langston Hughes

13.  Langston Hughes                                                                                                 Mother to Son

Write an essay on the following

1.       “Mother to Son” is about the endurance of human spirit. Elaborate

Langston Hughes is the most important poet of the Harlem Renaissance (The New Negro Renaissance). He always aims at creating positive images of black life and identity. In this poem titled “Mother to Son” he tries to create the positive image of a black mother. The  poem is sub-titled as “Crystal Stair”. The Whites always said that the black woman was domineering, egotistic, a kind of spider woman. Langston Hughes through  this poem presents to us the kind hearted, hard working and lovable and full of understanding and sympathetic  black mother. The mother in the poem is full of energy and strength to overcome various hurdles of life.  The poem is written in the frame work of a dramatic monologue and the mother is the lone speaker and the son is a  silent listener. The mother tells her son that the path of the black race is full of struggle and pain but one must overcome these hurdles to succeed in life.

The black mother  tells her son that life has  not  been a crystal stair for her. It is full of tacks, nails and splinters in it. Boards are torn up and in  many places there were not even carpets spread. It was bare and empty ground. Crystal stair is very smooth and comfortable. For the whites, life is like a crystal stair, but for the blacks the stair is full of sharp rusted nails and the boards are broken in many  places and there were no carpets. The crystal stair is the metaphor for human life.

 Ever since her birth the black mother has been climbing up. On the stair case there were landings and turning corners and there were no lights on her path. In the light of her bitter experiences of life, she  warns him not to turn back and don’t sit down on the steps.  Don’t fall down and keep on climbing in spite of all the difficulties on the way. She tells him that she is still climbing with great struggle because life has not been a crystal stair for her. Difficulties and problems of life never disappointed her and even in her old age life is full of struggle  for her because she is born a black woman! She is not angry with any  one nor she curses nor makes complaints to anyone. She suffers her difficulties in silence. She advises her son  to follow her example in  life.      kjt/- 20-03-2020