The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes was written and published in the year 1922 which was during the Harlem Renaissance period. Harlem Renaissance also referred to as the New Negro Movement led to the evolvement of a new identity of the black culture between the the1920s and the early years of the 1930s. It is during this period that the black people or community got a chance to express themselves (West, p. 162). With the rampant level of racism and scarce economic opportunities for the blacks, one way through which the Negroes could be able to air their voices was through creative expressions that included the use of poetry. Langston Hughes is one African American who used poetry as a way of expressing himself and the experiences that his community went through. He brings out Harlem as being a crossroads for the experiences of African Americans (Berry, p. 187).
In the poem “Mother to Son” Hughes speaks of the lives of the black Americans who constantly fought against discrimination and poverty faced during the Harlem era. He very well explores the issues of social injustices, race, black American art, and culture. The social, artistic, and political climates of the Renaissance have also been vividly brought about (Rampersad, p. 5).
The poem is from the viewpoint of a black, African/American mother, telling her son of the hardships she has faced in her life (Hughes, p. 8). According to the black renaissance, African Americans tried all their best to go against the white oppression which is what is being dictated by the mother to the son. Hughes, being one of the people who fought most against the oppression as a leader of the Negroes, tries to express what the older generation felt about the young generation who could not possibly understand what was going on at that time (Rampersad, p. 1).
From the first line ‘well, son, I’ll tell you:’ it is clear that the son has either raised a question or a complaint to his mother. In her answer, she begins by telling him of her own difficulties. At one point she says, ‘Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair:’. The author has used the crystal stair to symbolize an imaginary path that is smooth and full of ease. She bases her response on her own life meaning that her advice to him is based on her own hard-life experience (Miller, p. 14).
The poet uses dialect to clarify that the mother is uneducated. This is evident from the lines: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” and “For I’ve still got, honey, I’ve still climbing”, which she says to mean that in reality, she is still going on and trying hard to get stronger or make it through the hardships. This style has been effectively used as it makes the mother seem real and less fictional (Wasley, p. 16).
The poem takes the dramatic monologue style meaning that it is spoken in the voice of an imaginary speaker rather than that of the poet himself. In this case, the imaginary speaker is a somnolent mother speaking to her son (Howe, p. 103).
Using this style the poet places the reader in the place of the son listening to his mother who bases her advice in relation to her own life. This advice is therefore directed at the reader. The use of this style is effective as it draws the reader into the poem by placing him in the son’s position and by making the son’s frustrations become his own and the mother’s advice directed to him (Wasley, p. 24).
The poet also uses other prevalent poetic styles such as metaphors. This is seen when the mother says “And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” meaning that her life has not been one of ease and luxury. It is also evident in the words; “And splinters”, “ And boards were torn up”, and “And places with no carpet on the floor” all of which are symbols of poverty and hardships. Other metaphors used effectively by the poet are “reachin’ landin’s, / turnin’ corners, / goin’ in the dark”.These words are meant to express the trials, hardships, and tribulations the mother has faced in her life (Barksdale, p. 3).
The tone of the speaker is compassionate; a feeling which is evident when she tells her son that she is aware of what he is going through as she has been through it herself and that he should not lose hope. This is shown in the lines, “So boy, don’t you turn back” and “Don’t you set down on the steps” meaning that he should not give up, “For I’ve still got, honey, I’ve still climbing” (Hughes, p. 232).
The theme of this poem is perseverance. This is depicted by the mother’s constant advice to his son telling him not to give up at any one moment. According to the mother, she has been through harder times before but has always tried to get through all the situations and to always be strong an act that she wants her son to emulate. She does not give up at all and is instead still climbing and moving on in this life which has not been full of luxury and happiness. The mother further emphasizes this theme by repeating three times how she has not given up to the struggles in life when she says “I’ve been a-climbin’ on,”, “For I’ve still goin’, honey,” and “I’ve still climbin’. Perseverance hence becomes the poem’s main hypothesis as it is what the mother wants the son to have in spite of the pressures in his life (Barksdale, p. 7).
The speaker is seen to put side by side the history of African-Americans with a never-ending flight of broken-down stairs, evident in the overcrowded and crumbling dwelling places in which loads of poor blacks found them enforced to live in the ghetto neighborhoods of northern cities (Miller, p. 54). Nevertheless, she says that in spite of how tiring or frustrating the climb is and in spite of the number of setbacks she has suffered “I’ve been a-climbin’ on” meaning that she is still holding. This suggests to both the son and the reader that the future of the black people in America depends on their willingness to not turn back and to keep climbing, to not “set down on the steps / Cause you finds it’s kinder hard”.The author leaves some questions unanswered. One such question is what the mother did in order to be strong and keep climbing on (Barksdale, p. 8).
References
- Barksdale, Richard. The poet and His Critics, Canada: Vintage publishers, 1977.
- Berry, Faith. “Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem.” On the Cross of the South 150.1(1983): 185-186.
- Howe, Elisabeth. The Dramatic Monologue, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1996.
- Hughes, Langston.”Fight for Freedom and Other Writings on Civil Rights”. Works of Langston Hughes 10.2(2001):8.
- Miller, Baxter. The Art and Imagination of Langston Hughes, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2006.
- Rampersad, Arnold.”Mother to son”. The Life of Langston Hughes 1. (1986): 1-5.
- Wasley, Aidan. Poetry for Students, Michigan: Gale publishers, 1998.
- West, Sandra. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes, 4.5(2003):162.