MOTHER TO SON

In Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son”, a mother advises her son that he will face many adversities
in life, and yet he must overcome them and keep going. The mother compares the journey
through life to ascending a staircase. She says that for her life has not been a staircase made of
crystal. Rather it has been quite rough with protruding nails and pieces of wood jutting out,
boards torn up and places where the carpet was missing. However, she has kept climbing,
through landings, corners and darkness in spite of such discomforts. She then asks the boy to
walk in her footsteps and keep moving forward without turning back or giving up because he
finds the journey arduous. She wants him to take inspiration from the fact that she is still going
steady despite life’s hardships.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The anonymous mother in the poem may be suggestive of the African American women of
predepression America encouraging their sons to strive for success. The poem is written in the
form of a dramatic monolgue in black dialect.  The idiomatic style of the speech is invoked in
the context of the courage, endurance and sense of duty of the African American race.  The
language also imparts a charged colloquial element to the poem. The theme of the poem is
perseverence.
As the poem opens with “Well, son, I’ll tell you”, it is possible that the son has asked or said
something before to which she is responding. In the next line, she says that her life “ain’t” been
a “crystal stair”. The use of the word “ain’t” indicates that the mother is not a learned person
and “crystal stair” is symbolic of smoothness, beauty and luster.
“Tacks”, “splinters”, “boards torn up” suggests hurdles of life. Tacks are nails and splinters are
small fragments of wood which make it hard for the person to step. Boards torn up may
symbolise unsteady or rough grounds leading to uncertainty in the person’s mind. “Bare”
suggests scant furnishings.

Literary Analysis

This poem 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. It is also the demonstration of
the love a mother has for her son. Behind this love, the poet emphasizes the idea of never
giving up in any situation.

The speaker in this poem is a mother who gives advice to her beloved son, who may also be
seen to represent the younger generation. Since the mother has successfully faced the
challenges of life, she wishes her son to be courageous and bold in the face of these challenges
and to also succeed in life. The poem is grounded in the memories and experiences of a
mother. The tone of the poem is didactic, encouraging, and hopeful.

The poet opens this poem by presenting a comparison between the mother’s life and a
treacherous staircase in order to show that her life has not been easy and perfect. The mother
begins by addressing her son: “Well, son, I’ll tell you: / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Her
life was full of challenges and difficulties, such as, “It’s had tacks in it,/And splinters.”  The use of
extended metaphor comparing the mother’s life to a staircase continues throughout the poem,
with the repetition of the line,  “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.”

The mother seems to have been born in poverty, as the images reveal: “And boards torn
up,/And places with no carpet on the floor.”  This indicates that she experienced hazardous
circumstances, which somehow she needed to step over to arrive where she stands now.
Then, she goes on to say, “But all the time /I’se been a-climbin’ on” demonstrating that, despite
her hardships and troubles, she kept moving on and climbing the staircase. She goes on to say
that she did this “…sometimes goin’ in the dark,”  by which she means the low moments of her
life where there has “been no light.” The use of local vernacular she uses to give advice to her
son— “So boy, don’t you turn back” —is a reflection of the love the mother has for her son.
Finally, she motivates him to never feel dejected due to any failures in life. She encourages him
to move on just like she did, despite all difficulties.

Hughes alludes to the Biblical imagery of Jacob’s Ladder by using the extended metaphor of a
staircase. In addition, imagery of dark and light evokes periods of uncertainty in his mother’s
life, which Hughes’s has reclaimed as a lesson for him in his own life.

Structural Analysis

This is a short free verse poem containing twenty lines, which are without any regular rhythm
or formal rhyme scheme. There are a few instances of rhyme in the poem, especially the
connection between “stair” in the second line and “bare” in the seventh line. The poem is
written in irregular metrical pattern, though some follow trochaic meter as in
“Life for me ain’t  been no crystal  stair.”

The language is colloquial, such as “Cause you find it’s kinder hard.” The vernacular language
gives the impression that the woman is less educated and probably from the countryside.
Alliteration is sparingly used in the poem such as the “d” and “s” sounds, as in “Don’t you set
down on the steps.” The poet has used device of anaphora in that “And” is used at the beginning
of many of the lines. In order to emphasize the idea that the mother’s life was not ideal and
perfect like a crystal stair, a line is repeated twice: “Life  for  me  ain’t been  no  crystal stair.”
Enjambment is used throughout poem as,  “And splinters,/ And boards torn up.” The language is
unpretentious and informal.

Guidance for Usage of Quotes

The poem is a monologue that conveys the idea of encouragement and hope. The poem is
based on the theme of advice given by a mother to her son. Her life is full of challenges. She
tells her son that she faced these challenges and hardships, but she never gave up and
continued her journey with patience and resilience. Mothers can encourage their sons with
quotes from the poem, such as:

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Also, they can use the following quote to motivate sons to rise again after failure and face the
challenges of life confidently:

Don’t you fall now—

Summary and Analysis

The simple, straightforward title of the poem “Mother to Son,” by the African-American poet
Langston Hughes (1902-1967), clearly identifies both the speaker of the work and the person
to whom her words are addressed. The very first line of the poem is typical of the rest of the
work in its use of phrasing that is colloquial—that is, in this case, phrasing that implies one
person speaking to another. Yet the phrasing is also colloquial in the sense that it is ordinary,
unpretentious, and informal. By beginning with the word “Well,” the mother sounds as if she is
responding to a question from her son, while the use of the generic word “son” sounds
(ironically) more affectionate than if she had used the son’s proper name. By using the word
“son,” the mother also makes their relationship seem universal and archetypal—as if this might
be any mother speaking to any son. (The effect would be significantly different, for instance, if
the poem had begun “Well, Richard,” or “Well, Langston.”) As presently written, the opening
line implies the close, loving relationship between almost any parent and his or her child.

The second line continues the emphasis on colloquial phrasing. The word “ain’t,” for instance,
is clearly informal and unpretentious, implying either that the speaker has not been educated
in a conventional way or that she is unconcerned with the niceties of formal education. The
fact that the second line is almost twice as long as the first (nine syllables versus five) suggests
that the poem will not have a rigid, prepackaged formal structure, and indeed a glance at the
shape of the poem as it moves down the page suggests that it follows no preplanned,
predictable scheme, either in meter or in rhyme. Part of Hughes’s talent as a poet involves his
ability to mimic the rhythms and diction of actual speech, and clearly that talent is on display in
this particular poem.

The phrase “crystal stair” is intriguing. It can be found in a variety of texts from the nineteenth century,
some religious and some secular, and it is often used to suggest the glorious connection or procession
from earth to heaven. A “crystal” stair implies a stairway that is special, unusual, beautiful, finely
wrought, and symbolic of wealth. However, the speaker’s stair, or movement through life, has been
associated with few of these traits. Instead, it has been actually or potentially painful, brimming with
“tacks,” “splinters,” and “boards torn up” (3-5)—details suggesting that the speaker’s social position also
places her at or near the bottom of the economic ladder. The places she has inhabited, or where she
has worked, have not been beautiful or associated with wealth or comfort (“no carpet on the floor”
[6]). Instead, they have been plain and “Bare,” an adjective...