Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” is an inspirational poem in which a mother imparts an important life lesson to her grown son, but this lesson works on two distinct levels. One is a universal level in which the mother, the speaker in the poem, delivers universal wisdom to her son, as we can infer when she says she has been “goin’ in the dark” of life “where there ain’t been no light.” The mother has had a complex life, with many twists and turns, yet she has walked on, never giving up. Despite having a life far from perfect, she has persevered in the face of adversity, and so must the son. This is a good lesson for any child to learn.
At the other level however, the poem is rooted in a specific context: it is an African-American mother speaking to her son. Her refusal to give up in the face of life’s challenges gains a double impetus in this reading of the poem. Now we move in from the general to the particular and begin to pay attention to the poem’s language, rhythm, and imagery. Hughes deliberately uses dialect to convey the everyday speech of the mother. “I’se been a-climbing on,/ And reachin’ landin’s/ And turnin’ corners,” she says of her journey on life’s staircase. Her language is colloquial and paints a realistic portrait for us. It also contrasts the depth of her message with what elites may consider “unpolished” language. Similarly, the physical details of the staircase make us picture the “tacks,” the “splinters” and the “boards torn up,” evoking urban tenement buildings of the early 20th century. The details tell us the mother’s challenges are uniquely rooted in her milieu and history as an impoverished African-American woman. Life has challenged her at every turn because of her race and socio-economic background.
The mother’s response to these challenges, her never-say-die spirit, is also specific. Her dramatic monologue has distinct echoes of inspirational 19th-century songs and spirituals sung by enslaved populations. (Langston Hughes often uses elements from African-American oral literature and culture to add meaning in his work). Like her ancestors before her, the mother has never stopped walking and climbing through the odds, even though “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” The “crystal” stair represents an easier life path which was never available to the mother, but why crystal we wonder? Is crystal—or fine glass—particularly easy to walk upon? Wouldn’t something like a plush, carpeted or smooth, wooden stairway have been a better choice here? I think the use of the word “crystal” is very deliberate, because the crystal stairway of the poem is not real, but figurative. It is an idealized, perfect life the son might imagine lies ahead of him. The association of crystal with “clear” refers to a life-path which is clearly laid-out. It could also be a proxy for the American dream, in which everyone has equal opportunities.
The reality, of course, is very different from all these scenarios, the mother gently tells her son, with life uncertain and the American dream a possibility only for a privileged few. Yet another interpretation of the crystal stair is a biblical reference, in which Jacob has a vision of the stairway or a “ladder” to heaven. “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” (Genesis 28: 10-22, King James Bible). The ironic message here could be the way to reach spiritual growth is not through the crystal staircase after all, but through real life’s harsh and winding stair. The biblical reference also fits in well with the poem’s metaphors of rising and climbing one’s way to personal growth. The mother has hiked through discrimination and challenges, never turning back or sitting down. Like a mountaineer or a pilgrim bent on her quest to fight circumstances, she is “still climbin,” and telling her son:
So boy, don’t you turn back./ Don’t you set down on the steps/ ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
The speaker in Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son” represents a mature woman who imparts her wisdom to her young adult child. The speaker uses the extended metaphor of a staircase to represent life’s journey. In contrast to the crystal stairs that others get in life, the speaker’s staircase has been full of obstacles that have tried to get in the way of her climb. The climb, of course, is the mother’s final destination, or goal in life.
Her ultimate message to her son is that, regardless of the difficulties he will face in his life, he should never pity himself or give up.
Ergo, the mother is a perseverant individual who never ceases in pursuit of her goal. The text of the poem supports this in the following quote:
Don’t you set down on the steps’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.Don’t you fall now—For I’se still goin’, honey,I’se still climbin’,And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
This is her direct address to her son. In the previous parts of the poem, she discusses the various obstacles she has encountered by explaining how she overcame them. The mother’s life has been difficult, but she hasn’t let that deter her from continuing upward. Using herself as an example of someone who perseveres, she wants her son to be similarly determined, even when life gets difficult.
No comments:
Post a Comment