"Mother to Son" is narrated by the eponymous mother, who implores her son to work hard and persevere in his life no matter how difficult or hopeless it might sometimes appear to be. The mother implores her son to work hard and persevere because she loves him, and this love is perhaps best demonstrated when she tells her son, "Don't you fall now - / For I'se still goin', honey."

The mother's message to her son is that her life has been very difficult, and that she has, nonetheless, persevered. To make the son understand how hard her life has been, she uses the extended metaphor of a house full of "splinter(ed)" and "torn up" stairs, and endless "corners" that she has had to turn "in the dark." The darkness here symbolizes perhaps the hopelessness or the fear that she has had to face in her life, and this darkness is emphasized in the poem when the mother repeats that "there ain't been no light." The corners that she has had to turn in the dark symbolize the steps she has had to take into the unknown, or, in other words, the risks that she has had to take in her life. The stairs that the mother has had to climb, "all the time ... a-climbin' on," symbolize the difficult, constant uphill struggle that her life has been.

At the beginning and end of the poem, the mother tells her son that her life has "been no crystal stair." The connotations of the word "crystal" suggest wealth, and so the implication here is perhaps that the mother's life has been so difficult in part because of the poverty she has had to endure. There have been no crystals in her life. She is aware that her son's life will be difficult for the same reason.

What is the theme of "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes?

In my mind, the most powerful element of Hughes' poem is the theme of struggle that seems to be passed down from one generation to another.  A trademark of Hughes' poetry is that he conveyed an authentic sense of struggle in his work.  For Hughes, being Black in America was synonymous with struggle and facing challenge and adversity.  Hughes was committed to presenting this aspect of social realism in its widest form.  It is in this that I see the theme of struggle and perseverance most present in the poem.  The idea of life "ain't been no crystal stair," reinforces how the mother has faced adversity and challenge.  Her only hope is that her son "don't fall now" as he climbs the same stairs and she did and still does ("I'se still climbin'.)  There is something particular persuasive about the theme of the struggle that is passed down from generation to generation.  Hughes is not making a statement that condemns people of color to fight and to struggle, but rather is suggesting that a part of the modern condition is to face and acknowledge adversity and to not allow it to overwhelm the individual.  It becomes one of the modern testaments to seek to overcome these obstacles and relay this narrative to children, who must do the same.  I find this as one of the most powerful elements in the poem.