A Reexamination of a "Mother to Son"

Dear Langston Hughes,

I think you wrote the first or one of the first poems I ever read. If I’m being honest, I can’t say I enjoyed reading your poetry when I was first exposed to it because of the essays that came with reading, but I think I’ve learned to better understand and appreciate your work.

Your poem “Mother to Son” has a similar, yet different meaning to me since the first time I read it. I remember only seeing the metaphor of a stairway that had “tacks in it” throughn a lens of when it was written (during a period of heavy racism), but the poem really is applicable to more than just that. Since it never explicitly mentions racism, these “tacks” on the staircase could be any obstacle that one should come across in life such as failure, loss of a loved one, financial harship, ect.

Something else I found strange when I reread the poem was a slight aggressive tone in the mother’s voice. While she uses her own life as motivation for her son to persevere, there seems to be a hint of the son being forced to continue not because he can do it, but because she did it so he should be able to do it too. 

I also noticed how the mother herself seems lost and confused while she is giving her son advice. She talks about all these steps she had to walk on that had “boards torn up” and “no carpet on the floor”, but she never says anything about things getting better. I thought this could be one of the reasons why her tone may seem a bit forceful along with loving, but I was wondering if this is what you intended for in the poem.

Sincerely,

David Chen