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Mother to Son by Langston Hughes | Poetry Foundation

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In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes uses the symbolism of stairs within the poem to demonstrate the hardships of the speaker, or the mother, had to face and the progression of one's life. In the poem, there is the mention of "crystal stair" in line 2 and line 20, in the phrase, "Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair." Crystals symbolize clarity and purity while stairs symbolize ascension or emotional and spiritual progression, using crystal to describe the stairs shows an easy progression throughout life, however, that is not the case for the speaker. Describing the stairs that she walks on which is pretty deteriorated shows demonstrated the difficult journey throughout her life.

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In the poem, Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes, the author uses the symbolism of stairs to represent the journey and hardships of life. The speaker describes her life as 'no crystal stair' comparing it to splinters and torn up "It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,/And boards torn up,/And places with no carpet on the floor—/Bare." The author's rough description of the stairs symbolizes her hard and tough journey she has travel in life. However, the speaker uses this symbolism to promote perseverance of life, by describing how she continues on the climb "But all the time/ I’se been a-climbin’ on,/And reachin’ landin’s,/And turnin’ corners,". Despite the symbolism of the hard life using the broken descriptions of stairs, the speaker uses the same symbol to show perseverance through a hard life.

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Langston Hughes uses symbolism throughout the poem "Mother to Son", most notably talking about a staircase which represents the journey of life. In the poem, a mother is talking to her son about the hardships that she has experienced throughout her life as a way to encourage him to never give up hope. Within the first few lines, the mother says "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair", obviously meaning that her life has not been perfect and pristine. She uses descriptive language to emphasize the hardships that she went through during her life: "It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor". These pieces are used to represent different obstacles of her life, or things that have hindered her ability to move through her life gracefully. If one were to walk up a staircase with exposed nails and splinters and parts where the steps are broken, it would inevitably make it harder to get to the top, at least comfortably. Despite this, though, the mother says that she has persisted through the difficult parts of her life, and uses these examples as ways to tell her son that he must keep going despite any hardships he might face. The idea is that everyone's life is like a staircase, but every staircase is different. The only things that may be the same are the bottom (birth) and the top (death or the ascension to heaven).

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Hughes uses a staircase as a symbol for the path and hardships of life. A clear path without struggles is likened to a crystal stair, whereas the life of the narrator is likened to a much rougher form of the staircase, with patches of no light and torn up boards, splinters and nails. Her life has been incredibly difficult, and yet she has pressed on and kept climbing in spite of the difficulties

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Within the poem, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, the crystal stair could symbolize the ease of life for some individuals. In the case of the speaker, who is the mother, she explains how "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair" and then explains different things about said stairs such as them having "splinters" and "boards torn up" in order to explain to her son that her life has been difficult.

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The abstract idea of the poem contributes to a theme of perseverance, and a push to keep climbing up the staircase of life no matter what pitfalls it may contain.

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In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, the "crystal stairs" serve to symbolize a person's journey, essentially their life. In theory if we were to see someone's journey of life as a series of crystal stairs that just go straight up, it would mean that that person didn't really have obstacles in their path, or they didn't face many problems in their life. On the other hand, the speaker says that life for them hasn't been a series of crystal stairs, but rather that their stairs have had splinters, boards torn up, and corners, meaning that this person has faced many obstacles in their life.The point the speaker is trying to make is that although their life has been hard, they never turned back, but rather kept going up the stairs. It is essentially a message of never giving up despite the obstacles and difficulties one may face.

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In the poem, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, the speaker's mother is talking to them about the trials and hardships of her life. She chooses to symbolize this with the use of a staircase. She introduces the staircase by saying, "Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair." The inclusion of the word crystal further tells the reader that the stair that she is going to describe was beat down, and worn (not at all the quality of crystal). She then describes her life as having splinters, tacks, and bare, again tying it with that visual representation of the staircase. Just like the ups and downs of life, the staircase can represent that idea in a more abstract sense.

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In the poem Mother to Son by Langston Hughes the use of the symbolism was to describe the difficulties of life for the mother's son. the concrete was the crystal stair(case) and the abstract idea it represented was that life isn't easy and that he needs to work past the things that make it hard like she is. she says "It’s had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up," showing how her path up the stairs, and in life, was not easy. she also says "And sometimes goin’ in the dark / Where there ain’t been no light." continuing to symbolize that her life was full of hardships.

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The author uses the stairs to symbolize life and its path. This is evident as the speaker says her life hasn’t been a set of “crystal stairs” meaning that it wasn’t an easy life for her and she faced many hardships along the way. Words and phrases such as “tacks”, “torn up”, and “no carpet” provide imagery for the stairs making them seem rough and hard to traverse which the mother’s uses to say that her life wasn’t the easiest to go through

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In Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son," the speaker employs a symbolic stair motif to convey the difficult yet hopeful path they and their son face in life. To begin, the speaker first mentions the symbol in "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." As crystals are sought-after, typically luxurious items indicative of wealth or indulgence and stairs are a means of ascending, the "crystal stair" phrase is likely symbolic of the ideal; the speaker's use of the phrase demonstrates how their ascent through life has been anything but ideal, as they further reveal in their development of the symbolism in the following lines. With "It's had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards turned up," the speaker contrasts the immaculate crystal stair with broken pieces and imperfections like "tacks" and "splinters". As these imperfections make ascending a staircase considerably more difficult and painful, they are likely symbolic of adversity and difficulty in life. Thus, the speaker's use of them demonstrates how their ascent up this staircase of life has been far from smooth and instead has been filled with setbacks, challenges, and difficulties that tested their perseverence. The speaker concludes the symbolism with "I'se been... / Reachin' landin's, / And turnin' corners." Further developing the staircase symbol, the speaker uses landings and corners to symbolize the hope that drove her through life, as landings and corners are both places of respite in stairs (since they offer a break from climbing stairs) and indicative of progress because they help make evident one's concrete ascension up a staircase with. The speaker's employment of these symbols thus communicates that the symbolic staircase of life is not only filled with adversity but also offers tangible evidence of progress and stirs hopes in its climbers.

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This idea that the speaker is "...still climbin’"is a great introduction to the idea that no matter how beat down or torn up one's "staircase" is, there sis always a way to climb up and out of those situations. This poem's outlook on life is also a great way to think about perspective. Despite the physical and emotional pain that life may bring it is the pushing forward through that where one will find fulfillment.

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Abstract idea of the poem contributes to the big idea or theme of perseverance and determination. Through her statement of, "Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair." her life has not been an easy journey as she faced hardships all through her journey of the stairs that she climbs. Her journey has never been easy, however, she does not plan on giving up, in her statement, "So boy, don’t you turn back./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’," she encourages the son to keep going since she is still going.

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The symbolism of the staircase leads to the overall theme of perseverance, as the author encourages everyone to see the journey of life to the end regardless of any obstacles or hardships that may stand in their way.

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The symbol of the crystal stair representing the abstract idea of life's hardships contributes to the big idea of privileges that some people have and others do not have and that no matter the obstacle, individuals must persevere and push through it in order to get through life.

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Hughes' use of the symbol of the stairs to the idea of hardships and perseverance, allows the author to convey a bigger idea of encouragement and continued determination in order to overcome any and all hardships to achieve what one desires.

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The abstract idea contributes to the big idea or theme as the idea of the poem where life is represented as stairs leads to the idea of determination and tenacity to keep going when dealing with the hardships and difficulties of life

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This abstract idea of the stairs serves to show that some people will have crystal stairs and others will have wooden stairs that are falling apart, but they are unique to the person and will ultimately lead them to the right destination if they just keep going no matter what. Although some people's paths to life might be harder than other's, if the don't look back and continue to go forward despite any challenges that may come their way they will reach their goals. This also brings up the idea that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes these bumps in the road shape us and help us become who we are meant to be.

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In this poem, Hughes uses a staircase as a symbol for the challenges of life. A clear, crystal path is one without these obstacles, but it is expressed that the life of the narrator is a much rougher journey described with splinters, nails, tacks, torn up boards, and patches of no light. Although her life has presented these difficulties, she has kept climbing in spite of the difficulties to send a powerful message.

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Hughes uses symbolism of the crystal stairs, which represents an easy or maybe an ideal life with no struggle. The author describes it as being made of “crystal”, maybe to describe it as a luxurious or easy-going life that he never had. He then compares the crystal stairs to his own life, which had “splinters” and “tacks” in it, showing how his journey had been painful and full of struggle. The comparison of a worn down and uncared for route compared to the crystal stairs emphasizes his reality compared to a dream.

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The abstract idea of the poem contributes to the theme about determination and not giving up. the mother tells her son that life may be hard but that he has to keep going despite all the trouble he has to go through. the mother had to persevere through her hardships and is trying to tell her son the same thing.

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The symbolism of the staircase leads to the theme that life will inevitably bring challenges and pains, but one needs to push forward and persevere past them. This idea of perseverance closely aligns to message from the abstract idea of symbolism explained in question one. Regardless of how old or beat up one’s “staircase” is, there is always a way to continue climbing up.

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In “Mother to Son”, Langston Hughes effectively uses the symbolism of stairs. Stairs within the poem are used to represent the hardships of life. When the speaker says “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”, the speaker is saying that their life was not easy. Through describing these stairs to have “tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up”, it emphasizes the hardships that the mother had to go through to be where she is today. Which also shows that the stairs can also symbolize the time we’ve spent living our lives. “But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on”.

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The abstract idea of the stairs shows how different lives can be, with some people have the grand and trouble-free route while others deal with the painful and difficult route. Despite the mother’s reality not being the life that she imagined, she continued to persevere and treck through, displaying strength and determination for her son.

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The object of symbolism used in the poem is the crystal stair which is used to symbolize the path of life. When the speaker states, "It’s had tacks in it, ; And splinters, ; And boards torn up," It is meant to show that there were obstacles/complications in going forward with life.

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the abstract idea behind stairs, being that they represent the hardships of life and the time within life, helps to portray the idea that life isn’t easy, but we must keep going and climbing the set of stairs in front of us. for the speaker, their set of stairs were not easy at all, they had their own set of hardships that they had to go through to get to where they are now, and at the same time, they are still climbing. the speaker delivers this idea to their child that, although life may seem difficult, you have to keep living and find a way around these obstacles in your life that are there to stop you, mentally and physically.

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The damaged and difficult-to-ascend yet promising staircase's symbolism of adversity and hope suggests that struggles and challenges are inherent to all things, especially for those who lack the privilege of an easily traversable, well-maintained path, but hope is present in them too. The poem suggests that, even if life appears painful, one should always look up to find hope in their hardships in order to persevere.

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In this poem as the speaker's mother is describing the events and hardships in her own life she relates them to a staircase. The phrase "Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair." indicates that her life was not particularly glamorous or straightforward. She describes that going through her life like walking up a staircase was met with splinters and tacks. Here she uses the staircases to emphasize the quality and hardships of her life.

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In the poem the speaker takes the abstract idea of climbing though the hardships of her life and further emphasizes that she intends to continue climbing. Essentially this idea leads to the potential theme that there is always something to continue climbing for even when it's difficult. The idea of a staircase itself implies that there is eventually something higher to reach and this promotes the idea to the reader that they should continue persevering even when the climb is difficult.

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Within the poem, Langsten Hughes used symbolsim in the use of stairs. The speaker gives different descri[tion to the sets of everday stairs yet they only describe a very broken set of stairs that they walk on. When the speaker descirbes the stairs it had seem to symbolised the overal life they continue to pursue.

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The abstract idea contributes to teh idea in how the descriptive idea is presented. What I mean is how the abstract idea is described, wether it being a negative or positvie thing. In this case the abstract idea, "stairs" is described as old and almost broken yet they continue to walk and continue connecting it to their lives, and despite the harsh condition it is, they continue to move.

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In the poem, "mother to son' by Langston Hughes, he uses symbolism to help shows the different hardships that he went through, as well as his mother. One major symbol is when the author compares the their life to crystal stairs. crystal stairs are typically seen as pretty, elegant. This could hint that his life is the complete opposite and how she had to go through a difficult journey.

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The abstract idea contributes to the big idea because it is showing/ telling to never give up when it is hard and sometimes your life will be difficult but you have to learn how to push through it.

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The abstract idea behind the meaning of the stairs to contribute to the theme that perveance concurs all hardships.

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In the poem, Langston Hughes uses the symbolism of a "Crystal stair" and "tacks" to represent the good and the bad in the journey through life. In line 2, the mother tells the son that life isn't no "crystal stair", and the reality of what life is is represented through the mother's experience. She uses the symbolism of the "tacks" and "ripped up boards" to contrast the fanciness of the crystal stairs. The crystals stairs represent a clear path full of no obstacles and the tacks and ripped up boards represent the challenges along the way.

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The abstract idea contributes to the big idea of continuous effort leading to success. The mother tells the son to never set down on the stairs, she encourages her son too keep preserving just like she did. The use of the crystal stair symbolism will make it easier for the child to remember, and when challenges come his way he knows to keep going just like his mother said.