Cows, for the most part, have been perceived as innocent creatures throughout the centuries. In various judicial systems, humans, too, are thought to be innocent until proven guilty. As history has shown on many occasions during times of war, innocent people are killed needlessly. In “A Mother’s Tale”, written by James Agee, a mother cow warns her cattle of the gruesome deeds inflicted upon cattle who travel out onto the range through the telling of the tale of the One Who Came Back. The One Who Came Back went through numerous trials, such as the denial of basic necessities and the sensation of being skinned alive, when he was chosen to ‘retire’ on the range.…
Meaning of Life in Langston Hughes's “Mother to Son” In Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” the speaker explains that life is not easy but is worth fighting through. For example, when the mother of the poem states, “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up,”(L.2-5). The staircase represents an easy, even perfectly paved path through life.…
Slavery in Brazil began around 1532 and lasted until the 1800s. After Brazil abolished slavery, African slaves soon gathered in settlements in Rio de Janeiro. Favelas or shantytowns are inside and around large cities in Brazil, and homes are constructed with brick and cement. Due to poverty in the larger populated areas in the favelas, it was easy for a mother to grieve over her dead baby. People usually mourn when someone they love passes away, in Brazil, people no longer grieved over death.…
“To struggle up a never- ending stair” a line that resonated with me while I was choosing a poem to recite in front of the class. ‘Yet Do I Marvel’ by Countee Cullen is a masterpiece within itself, the poem goes over the astonishment Cullen has regarding God’s power and much more if you don’t take the time to carefully read it. This poem is one of his famous poems during his career and was published in 1925, during a difficult time for blacks- especially black poets. The type of poem ‘Yet Do I Marvel’ is, is a sonnet consisting of 14 lines that take you through an array of emotions that I express during my performance. I was nervous and overthinking the way I could bring this poem to life since Cullen used a bit of an unorthodox way to deliver…
A Raisin in the Sun Title Controversy; Emotion v. Plot Titles are not to be taken lightly as they are what a reader keeps in mind throughout a piece. “Mother to Son” and “Harlem” are both written by Langston Hughes and portray the struggles of maintaining a dream during difficult times. “Mother to Son” uses the extended metaphor of a staircase that parallels the struggles and overall actions in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, while “Harlem” uses graphic images in order to form a well developed motif and mood of the idealistic dream, which is matched in the play. As a title is meant to add to a piece of work, and enhance a certain idea the author deems significant, Lorraine Hansberry contemplated using the title The Crystal…
During the 1920’s the Harlem Renaissance was happening. This was an explosion happened in New York. So many African Americans wanted to move up north because there were more job opportunities their than the South. They would be able to make money, have a job, and be free from all the bad stuff that was happening. This was after the civil war happened.…
People sometimes are scared of failure or he outcome that will come out of it, but there’s a chance that one’s life can change for the better. It’s about moving forward and chasing goals, because in the end, that’s the purpose of…
She represents women oppressed because of their strength and sexuality. Because of her refusal to accept the role of slave and because of her knowledge of nature and female sexuality, she was given the title as witch. As an expression of natural forces and as an inheritance from the legendary mother of the community, when Sapphira Wade liberated herself from her white husband and master, Bascombe Wade, in 1823. Sapphira Wade initiated a tradition of female power as well as religious tradition like Candle Walk and strengthened the myth of the great conjure woman on hand at God’s creation of the island. She was also legendary for bringing into the open the unresolved tensions between men and women.…
From Mother, To Son The letter written by Abigail Adams to her son, John Quincy Adams, is meant to promote his continued success as an important virtue for himself and his family, as he takes his voyage to France, in his newly acquired role as an interpreter for matters regarding the US and French governments. While attempting to replenish and ensure her son’s moral in written sentiment, she heavily relies on the usage of appeals, extended metaphors, and diction. Abigail Adams’ letter uses multiple doses of appeals to elicit emotions of pride, resilience, and trust in her son. By mentioning, “some author” she ushers in an intellectual premise, in order to appeal to his sense of reason and intelligence, to realize the value of the work he is…
In the poems “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou both authors convey the same message which is overcoming hardships in life. In the two poems they show their similarities through repetition which will be shown in the first paragraph and literary devices such as figurative language,metaphors and similes, while also showing their differences through parallel structure of both the poems, and through rhetorical questions. Hughes and Angelou show their similarities through repetition which helps the reader grasp the key concept of both poems which is to overcome obstacles. In “Mother to Son” it repeats “Life for me ain’t no crystal stair” (Hughes 2). Meaning that life has not treated the narrator of the…
There are times where people feel alone, desperate, and unable to escape the poor living conditions they are in. An example of this was for African Americans during the Great Migration. The great migration was when mass amounts of African Americans moved north from the south. This was due to Jim Crow segregation that was prevalent in the south. Jim Cow were laws that were put in place after the Civil War legalizing segregation between blacks and whites.…
The general theme in Langston Hughes poem “Mother to Son” is even though life can kick you down and beat you up, you always need to get up and keep climbing. Langston Hughes supports this theme with many different lines and phrases. For example, the mother in the poem says, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” (Stanza 1, Line 2)…
The stairs of life has been notoriously harder for African-Americans due to segregation and slavery. This poem reiterates that life has been hard for African-American, and that they must be careful not to go backwards. They must remember the sacrifices countless people before them have, and understand that life isn’t going to be easy for them either. In general, life is hard and race and social class can make it even more difficult, and that is the tale of “Mother to Son”. “The Weary Blue” tells the fable of a weary African-American male singing the blues.…
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of The Study Poetry is one of genres in literature. When we try to define it, we will find out that poetry, just like love, is not something easy to be defined. Laurence Perrine in “Sounds and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry” (1969:3) defines poetry as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. From that definition, we can say that poetry contains a complexity of human’s feeling and mind.…
Life is about not giving up. The message of the “The Climb” is to show people to not worry about what you have accomplished. It's about the things that made them get there and the things they learned from it. “There is always gonna be another mountain I wanna make move” (Miley Cyrus). This shows that it's not about waiting for something to happen and not how long it can take them to get there.…