The dialogue in the story “Thank You Ma’am” has many purposes. Some of these are to tell about a certain character, or to move along the story. While other dialogue influences decisions, or develops mood and tone. All of these types of dialogue can help create a story that flows well, and maintains the interest of the reader. These kinds of dialogues can all be found in the story “Thank you Ma’am” by Langston Hughes.
The dialogue in the story really develops the character of Mrs. Jones. “The woman said, ‘You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is wash your face. Are you hungry?” Mrs. Jones exemplifies a sort of tough love. She is can be proud and strong, but she also empathises with the boy. “The
…show more content…
The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.
The woman said, ‘Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well I wasn’t going to say that.’” Mrs. Jones can empathise with Roger because she was once in his position. This quote also shows that Mrs. Jones is satisfied with who she has become. If she wasn’t then she probably wouldn’t have brought up that she did snatch people’s pocketbooks. Through the dialogue I know that Mr Jones is an empathetic, strong and proud
…show more content…
The tone is the author’s attitude towards the topic, while the mode is how the story makes you, the reader, feel. The author’s tone is criticising, yet also sympathetic towards the situation, but he seems to respect the character of Mrs. Jones . “‘Well you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some blue suede shoes,’ said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.’you could have asked me.’” The mood the story makes the reader feel is sympathy for Roger and admiration for Mrs. Jones. “‘There’s nobody at my house ,’ said the boy.’ ‘Then we’ll eat,’ said the woman,” Readers feel sorry for Roger because he has nobody to take care of him. They also think highly of Mrs. Jones because she took him
The poem, “My Great-Grandfather’s Slaves” by Wendell Berry, illustrates the guilt felt for the sins of a man’s ancestors. The poem details the horror for the speaker’s ancestors involvement in slavery and transitions from sympathy for the slaves to feeling enslaved by his guilt. Berry uses anaphora, motif, and irony, to express the speaker’s guilt and provide a powerful atmosphere to the poem.
her house. On page 4, it said “Then we'll eat said the woman, “I believe you're hungry-or been hungry- to try to snatch my pocketbook”. This means that even though Roger tries to steal her pocketbook, she still cares for him. On page 6 “Eat some more, son” this implies
The novel Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is one of Tyler’s more complex because it involves not only the growth of the mother, Pearl Tull, but each of her children as well. Pearl must except her faults in raising her children, and her children must all face their own loneliness, jealousy, or imperfection. It is in doing this that they find connections to their family. They find growth through suffering.
Although Langston Hughes’ “Why, You Reckon?” is a short story, it encapsulates differences between races and classes in American society. The story highlights the desperate and hopeless lives of poor African-Americans in Harlem, New York, who would do anything just so they can fill their stomachs. Hughes adds a contrast by putting in a white man who uses his money and privileges to try to experience the exuberance of Harlem but fails to do so. Written in 1934, during the peak of racial divide in America, Langston Hughes’ “Why, you reckon?” shows that real experiences, not money, contribute to happiness.
A slum neighborhood located in “Yes, Ma’m” and a brilliant train carriage in “The Storyteller” create the setting for this compare and contrast essay. These short stories are similar in that their themes both focus on negative objects, but play them into a positive light. However, their suggested themes are different in that “Yes Ma’m” tells the reader to not believe in people by where they live, but “The Storyteller” communicates to not judge something based on its formality. Langston Hughes’s “Yes Ma’m” has an implied theme found anywhere, “nice people can be found even in the lowest places on the planet.” Another true theme belonging to Saki’s “The Storyteller,” reads, “Sometimes the most improper story is the best one.” Both main messages are true, and provide a very keen focal point for the reader to enjoy.
Deconstruction of Thank You, Ma’am. & nbsp ; There are a million acts of kindness each day. Some young man gives a stranger a compliment, or a teacher brightens a students morning. But, in the world we live in today, these acts are rare to come by. In this short story Thank You, Ma’am, the boy, out of mysterious luck, gets taken in by the woman whom he was trying to steal a purse from. Her actions, following the incident towards the boy, may have seemed very as complicated as life is, there will not always be someone for you to lean on and depend on. The first and most foremost thing that would come to mind when reading this story is how caring Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was, that she took in the boy and nurtured him; she tried to teach him between right and wrong. She gave him food, a nice conversation, and even a chance of escape, which he chose not to take, but these methods are still an immoral way of handling the situation. If a boy were to come up to an everyday woman on the streets, that victim would not be as sensitive as Mrs. the boy she caught. To teach a young man that if you steal and you are going to get special treatment is not an effective method of punishment. First of all, the boy told Mrs. Jones that he tried to steal her purse for one reason, to buy blue suede shoes for himself. She then replies, “Well you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some blue suede shoes.
For example, Sylvia attacks the teacher’s clothes and educational background, etc., but shows that she knows the teacher’s importance through observing what parents are allowing her to do. This same attitude is shown when she is in the store and starts to notice prices and compare their lifestyle to that of the rich. She even gets upset at what she sees in the store. At this point, the character starts to think about the real reason they are there. “What kind of work they do and how they live and how come we ani’t in on it? (Bambara91) .Here we are is who we are. But it don’t necessarily have to be that way, Miss Moore always adds”. This lets the reader know that Sylvia wants to know more about a better life where she can get nice things. Sylvia is the only one out of children who understand the lesson and point that Miss Moore is trying to teach them .The fact that Sylvia is stuck in her ways and she gets upset actually does not represent what she really
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Although this may seem typical of an overly protective mother, Biddy’s comportment is that of a woman bitter and angry about her past. She was raised by a woman equally as stouthearted and then married a man, Tom Cadogan, on whose seeming lack of ambition she blames her less than luxurious life. Biddy’s self-consciousness about her socioeconomic status is cleverly conveyed through her obsession with appearances. She shops for new clothes virtually everyday, she exaggerates her own family’s status while criticizing her husband’s modest background, and is fixated on Katie studying the right course at the right university and marrying the right man. Biddy is clearly trying to relive her life vicariously through
Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was a woman who was a victim of attempted robbery. While she was walking, a young man by the name of Roger attempted to snatch her pocketbook but fell when the strap broke. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones proceeded to grab the boy by his shirt and ask him what was wrong with him and why was he so dirty. When he responded that he had no one to go home to or look after him, she lead him to her house where she fed him and even allowed him to wash-up. She even shared her life story with him and gave him advice about life, which made Roger feel as if someone cared about him.
people think short stories are boring, but I don’t they are full of all different kinds of funny, interesting or amazing knowledge. In the short story “Thank You, Ma'am” written by Langston Hughes it shows that some people are not what you expect them to be. He uses many powerful things in this story such as literary devices and different ways of describing the characters. Langston Hughes uses several literary devices, and one is imagery. He uses this style a lot throughout.
“Thank You Ma’am”, by Langston Hughes, is a story that communicates an effective message. Throughout the short story, there are many elements of author’s craft that Hughes uses to convey the message. To begin, Hughes uses economical diction, to make the story straightforward. Instead of using long-winded, extraneous diction, Hughes writes very simply and in a straightforward manner. For example, in the text, it states, “She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder,” (Hughes 1). As can be seen, the author clearly does tries to make the scene brief. The author didn’t go into further explanation about the women’s characteristics. He only informed the reader about one single characteristic. The purse had exactly no characteristics besides the fact that it could be slung across a shoulder. No texture, feel, or any characteristic was given to the woman's purse. By making the story straightforward, the economical diction makes the reader stay focused. When an author explains too much about an insignificant matter in the story, many readers will get bored because the story is not moving at an adequate pace for them. Furthermore, the author, uses economical diction closer to the end of the short story, “After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall,” (Hughes 2). This economical diction towards the end of the story, by making the events more straightforward, makes the story conclude very intriguingly. By not elaborating excessively towards the end, Hughes conveys his message more clearly.
A situation can be interpreted into several different meanings when observed through the world of poetry. A poet can make a person think of several different meanings to a poem when he or she is reading it. Langston Hughes wrote a poem titled "I, Too." In this poem he reveals the Negro heritage and the pride that he has in his heritage and in who he is. Also, Hughes uses very simple terms that allow juvenile interpretations and reading.
The poem “Negro” was written by Langston Hughes in 1958 where it was a time of African American development and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Langston Hughes, as a first person narrator tells a story of what he has been through as a Negro, and the life he is proud to have had. He expresses his emotional experiences and makes the reader think about what exactly it was like to live his life during this time. By using specific words, this allows the reader to envision the different situations he has been put through. Starting off the poem with the statement “I am a Negro:” lets people know who he is, Hughes continues by saying, “ Black as the night is black, /Black like the depths of my Africa.” He identifies Africa as being his and is proud to be as dark as night, and as black as the depths of the heart of his country. Being proud of him self, heritage and culture is clearly shown in this first stanza.
population is oppressed and must ignore or postpone their dreams. The more dreams are postponed