mother to son response

Author’s note: this is a short response for the short poem Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes.

This poem could have many different meanings to it. The mother is telling her young son that life can’t and isn’t perfect, even if you wish it were to be. In this poem Mother to Son, there are different examples of figurative language, such as “life for me ain’t no crystal stair”. That quote is a metaphor, meaning that her life, and everyone else’s life in the world, isn’t perfect, no matter how hard you try it to be.

One the other hand, the mother is saying to her son, that he should keep on moving forward with his life, and not look back on all of the hard times he has had. She’s talking about how her life has been, and that his life will be the same; with ups, and downs throughout his lifetime. Langston Hughes can relate to this short poem, because it was part of his life. He hasn’t had the best life in the world, like he wishes.

There are different tones that you could come up with for this poem, but to me, the tone would have to be protective, sympathy and inspirational, to all young children, if they ever read this. The mood in this story is most likely caring, stern, and patient, because of how the read must feel, and how the mother must feel saying that to her son, because he must learn how to deal with life; and that it isn’t “a crystal stair”.