“Mother to Son”, written by Langston Hughes, is a short poem about a mother who teaches her son perseverance and determination using the image of a ladder. She explains that even though life has given her many difficulties, she moves forward and urges her son to do the same. In “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes uses extended metaphor, imagery, dialect, and structure to paint a picture of a tired mother who wants her son to persevere through life's difficulties. The theme of this poem is determination and the value of experience. The mother is telling her son that no matter what happens, he should never give up. Even though this is a rather sad poem, there is a glimmer of hope because she never gave up. She has never let the trials of life get her down and this gives readers a sense of hope. In this poem, Langston Hughes uses an extended metaphor, a ladder, to describe his mother's life. The mother compares her life to a “crystal staircase” saying that “life for me has not been a crystal staircase” (2). This gives readers the impression that she was not as lucky as the people who climb the “crystal ladder” and that she had to work for it. When you imagine a “crystal staircase,” you think of something that is precious, expensive and luxurious; therefore, someone climbing a “crystal staircase” would be someone who possesses great wealth and has lived a luxurious, perhaps easy, life. To highlight the difficulties the mother faced, the author uses imagery to describe the ladder she had to climb: there were nails, splinters, torn boards, and uncarpeted spots on the floor: bare. (3-7) The use of “tacks” and “splinters” illustrates pain and discomfort… in the center of the card… in attack. Singers will also sing about their daily struggles, as this poem does. Finally, a blues song will have repetitions like this poem does with the “crystal staircase.” He begins and ends the poem by saying that "Life for me has not been a crystal staircase" (2.20). In conclusion, Langston Hughes uses extended metaphor, imagery, dialect, and structure to portray a tired mother giving her son advice about determination. We see that even though her life has given her many problems, she never gives up hope and continues to move forward. With the use of the extended ladder metaphor and vivid imagery, readers receive a clear picture of struggle, perseverance, and hope. Works Cited Hughes, Langston. "Mother to son." 1926. Literature The human experience. Richard Abcarian, Marvin Klotz and Samuel Cohen. 11th ed. Np: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 215. Print.