Hughes's poem, "Mother to Son," depicts a black mother advising her son to remain hopeful despite all the hardships one encounters in life. The mother informs her son that life has not always been easy for her, yet she is still carrying on. The poem communicates the message of staying hopeful despite the obstacles one encounters throughout life. Hughes employs the use of metaphors, such as a "crystal stair," color imagery, such as a contrast between light and dark, and dialect to express this idea.
             The mother in the poem compares her life to a stair and states that it "ain't been no crystal stair." In other words, she is telling her son that life has not always been easy and pleasant. Life is not the ideal fantasy that many conceive it to be. The mother continues to say that "[It has] had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor." These splinters and tacks are metaphors for the obstacles one encounters throughout life. These splinters and tacks represent the harsh reality of life, as opposed to the ideal fantasy life. Through the use of the mother, Hughes uses a stair as a metaphor for life in order to communicate this message.
             In spite of these hindrances, the mother has managed to overcome them. She has "been a climbin' on, and reachin' landin's, and turnin' corners." She still struggles onward, despite what may have been the bleakest moments of her life, where there seemed to be no hope; "sometimes goin' in the dark where there ain't been no light." This contrasting color imagery of dark and light emphasizes the idea that it's always dark before the dawn and bad days precede better ones and just when it seems as if there is no relief in sight, something occurs to alleviate your burdens.
             The mother then advises her son not to give up and let life get him down just because the...