Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” is in the form of a communication between a mother and son. The words of a mother to her children are the most sincere and earnest form of utterance. The title “Mother to Son” exemplifies a one-to-one correspondence between the two where there is more give than take. The language in dialect form brings out the rawness of feelings in their original form. She conveys to him the reality of life throughout the poem in the form of an extended metaphor of a crystal staircase. The metaphor is indeed very symbolic. The symbol of the staircase echoes that to reach the top, one has to start from the bottom rung. It at once stands as a potent emblem of luxury. The crystal staircase also gives one the impression of it not being there though it is, there, thereby connoting ease. It also emblematizes transparency. Again, its texture represents smoothness. Life, she signifies is not always a “smooth ride.

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tack in it,

And splinter,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

But all the time

I’se been a-climbing’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.…