How Does Langston Hughes Use Figurative Language In Mother To Son

The author of “Mother to Son”, Langston Hughes, displays the attitude of hopefulness in the poem to show that life will not be easy for the son, but he should never give up because the mother did not. The author uses literary devices like figurative language, imagery, and diction. By using these literary devices, Hughes creates a sympathetic mood in the poem in order to emotionally draw in the reader.
Hughes uses figurative language like a metaphor in order to compare the two stairs. The author compares the two sets of stairs to the two types of lives people live: the easy and the difficult life. Hughes describes the easy life as a “crystal stair”, because the reader can imagine this stair being shiny, smooth, and clear. By the stairs being translucent, the author wants to show that the easy life has been planned and their life has a direction towards a great future. Hughes describes the difficult life as one with “tacks in it”, “splinters”, and “bare” because the reader knows that walking on these stairs would be unpleasant

and painful. By the stairs being dangerous, it shows that the difficult life has challenges and will be painful in order to get through it. The author compares these two stairs to give the reader emotion, and have sympathy towards the characters in the poem, knowing that the speaker in the poem had a difficult life, or in other words took the rough stairs. The author shows hope by comparing these two things while the speaker speaks to her son because she does not want her son to turn back, even if life gets difficult for him.
Hughes uses imagery in order to project in the mind of the reader a person climbing stairs, which figuratively means climbing through all of the hard times in a persons’ life. The
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author uses quotes like “I’se been a-climbin’ on” to show that no matter how hard life gets, she pushes through and never gives up. “And reachin’ landin’s” and “And turnin’ corners” shows how there are ups and downs that will come in a person’s life. Therefore, they will need to persevere to survive. The mother wants her son to know that his life is not going to be perfect, so that he knows to get up after he has fallen. The author uses the imagery to help show that she has had hope throughout her life, otherwise she would’ve given up during the hard times of her life. The mother wants the same thing for her son. She wants her son to have hope within his life and for him to be strong enough not to give up during the challenges that he will face.
Hughes uses diction in order to mimic a conversation between the mother and son.

With using diction, the reader will feel like they are an observer of the conversation, with the talking happening right in front of them. The choice of words that the author uses illustrates how the mother doesn’t think that she has not accomplished climbing on the “crystal stair”. The author uses words like “kinder” and “I’se” in the poem to make the speaker sound uneducated to the reader. Hughes does this, because he wants the reader to get a sense of her background. If she didn’t get the education she needed, then that contributes to why the woman has had a rough life. The author writes in this uneducated sounding English because he wants the reader to know that you don’t have to be completely educated in order to have strength and hope. The speaker may not be as educated as other people, but she knows how to set a strong base of life lessons for her

son.
The author wrote this poem in order to show the readers that the important thing in life is to realize life is not always going to be simple. You have to face your challenges with the
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strength and support from family members that have taught you valuable lessons. The speaker in the poem, the mother, has an attitude of hope. Her attitude reveals the theme by having literacy devices that show glimpses of her hope throughout the poem. Hopefulness is the mother encouraging her son to never give up and to keep going on with his life even if he has rough times like his mom. Most importantly, the mother wanted to teach her son to possess the hope that she has in her life. She conveys that life will have simplicity and happiness after all the rough times come to an end.