Langston Hughes
Weener 1
Steven Weener
Mr. Moore
English 3
January 20 2009
Langston Hughes: Mother to Son
Biography
Langston Hughes was born on February 1st 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Langston Hughes lived in an African-American community with his mom and dad until his dad left him and his mom because of the non-stop racism in the country, which pretty much left Langston and his mother to have some serious financial problems. Soon after, Langston’s mom would have to leave Langston with his grandmother so his mom could go find a job in order to make their life better. Langston’s mother, who has had plenty of experiences of racism, gives Langston pride of his race and to not let it bother him and discourage him. When he was in high school, Langston Hughes became a fan of poetry and was announced as the class poet… Years later, in the 1920’s, Langston joined a group of African-American writers called the Harlem Renaissance. To sum it all up, Langston Hughes was a man who was encouraged mostly by his mother to end the discrimination between blacks and whites through his writing.
In the poem “Mother to Son”, it seems like Langston is using the poem’s name as a metaphor to show how his mother would tell him that she has been down the many roads of racism and has experienced it all before. This poem also seems to tell its readers to not give up on life during the hard times. On lines 14, 15, and 16, “So Boy, don’t you turn back-Don’t you set down on the steps-‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.”, shows a fine example of how the poem tells its readers to not give up on life during the hard times because Langston’s mother would push him to not give up on reaching his goals. The background of the poet plays a big role in his writings
Weener 2
because, a poet who came from a poor African-American community that went through a lot of racism against them, it has most definitely influenced African-American artists and writers all around the world to devote their lives and artistic...
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