The Strive for the Crystal Stair

"The Strive for the Crystal Stair"

Although the life of a famous person may seem perfect, there are hardships in life that people must overcome. The poem, "Mother to Son" written by Langston Hughes, compares life to a long, tedious stairway. The speaker of the poem tries to encourage her son to keep on moving up the stairway of life even though the plights of their life journey are difficult. Even though the conflicts of life may slow down one's destination, one must find the strength and courage to climb higher on the stairway of life.

The speaker of the poem tries to explain to her son that her life is not perfect and that she encounters hardships in her life. She compares the perfect life to a crystal stair. A crystal stair is a suitable description of a perfect life because crystal is elegant, shiny in appearance, and often used by wealthy people. The comparison of crystal to a perfect life is also deceiving because crystal by nature is fragile, showing that even a perfect life may not seem ideal. She says, "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair". The Mother's stairway is not made out of crystal, but made of ordinary wood. Again, the material of the stairway shows the social and financial position of the speaker. Wood is very common, very inexpensive to obtain, and it does not look as majestic compared to the crystal. Her stairs are made of wood because of the obstacles she faces. She says,

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor

Bare.

But the speaker refuses to be intimidated by the conflicts within her life. She says,

But all of the time

I'se been a-climbin' on

Despite the difficulties she faces, she finds internal determination and bravery to defeat her fears and move on with her life.

The Mother tries to pry into her son's imagination, trying to inspire her son to also make progress on his journey up the stairs of life. Although there is pain and fear of moving into an area of unfamiliarity, she provokes her son to keep on moving possibly for higher goal at the top of the stairway. She tells him,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been light.

Also, there are examples of diction where the mother talks in slang.