in the poem - "mother to son", does the son have the same amount of determination like the mother? give reason.
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Answers
“Mother to Son” is a dramatic monologue about surviving in the face of American racism. The speaker gives her son advice about how to improve his lot in a racist society through an extended metaphor about climbing a set of stairs. While white people can climb up a “crystal stair”—meaning they enjoy a smooth and easy ascent—black people are forced to take a dangerous and dark staircase. In this way the speaker argues that racism makes it much more difficult for black people to succeed in society, yet she also suggests that they can overcome many obstacles through perseverance and mutual support.
The speaker of “Mother to Son” distinguishes between two different kinds of staircases—and, by extension, between two different kinds of paths through life. On the one hand, there’s the staircase that she’s had to climb—which is dangerous and falling apart, with loose tacks and splinters. Sometimes the staircase has even been “dark.” On the other hand, there’s a “crystal stair.” Crystals are smooth, shiny, and beautiful; they suggest glamor and wealth. In other words, the “crystal stair” is basically the opposite of the staircase the speaker has had to climb. Where her staircase is in disrepair, the crystal staircase is lovely and inviting. Where she has had to struggle to improve her life, the people who climb the “crystal stair” have no trouble getting where they way to go.
These two staircases aren’t meant to be taken literally: rather, they'e part of an extended metaphor for the unequal opportunities and challenges that black face in their lives. Where white people have an easier and smoother course toward realizing their dreams, the poem argues, black people like the speaker and her son have to fight through difficult, dangerous challenges just to reach the same level.
The speaker is realistic and straightforward about these difficulties; she doesn’t sugar-coat anything. She doesn’t suggest that racism will end—she never imagines, in this conversation with her son, at least, a world without the obstacles and dangers that she has endured. But she is also persistent, even triumphant. Despite everything, she announces, “I’se been a-climbin’ on.” In other words, the speaker believes that she and her son can still lead successful lives, despite the obstacles in their way. And she offers the poem to her son as encouragement: she wants to him follow her example, to be as persistent and determined as she’s been.
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