Discussion Topic

Literary Devices and Analysis in Langston Hughes's "Thank You, M'am"

Summary:

Langston Hughes's "Thank You, M'am" uses various literary devices to convey themes of trust and compassion. Imagery, hyperbole, characterization, colloquial diction, and symbolism are key elements. Mrs. Jones's large purse, described with hyperbole, symbolizes her preparedness and formidable nature. Her interaction with Roger, characterized by kindness and understanding despite his attempted theft, creates situational irony by defying expectations of punishment. The blue suede shoes symbolize Roger's desperation and aspirations, highlighting the impact of poverty on youth. Overall, Hughes crafts a narrative rich in vivid imagery and character development.

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What literary devices are used in "Thank You, M'am"?

Langston Hughes uses a variety of literary devices in “Thank You, Ma’am,” such as imagery, hyperbole, characterization, colloquial diction, and tone.

From the start, the reader is very comfortable with the character of Mrs. Jones. Hughes characterizes her as a tough woman who is unafraid to walk alone late at night. When the boy tries to steal her purse, she is further shown to be caring and compassionate. Instead of turning him in to the police, she takes him home, feeds him, and gives him money to buy the shoes he wants. Mrs. Jones is understanding and loving: she wants the boy to learn the right behavior, and she also can relate to his wanting something he cannot have.

Hughes further characterizes Mrs. Jones via the use of colloquial diction. She speaks to the boy in a firm tone but caring tone: “Ain’t you got nobody...

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home to tell you to wash your face?...Maybe you ain’t been to your supper either.” The reader relates easily to the characters because of the comfortable, conversational tone. We do not need to stop and think about what is being said, because the conversation flows so easily that we understand it. We immediately like Mrs. Jones because she genuinely cares.

The author also utilizes hyperbole to characterize Mrs. Jones—her purse has everything in it “but hammer and nails.” Such hyperbole suggests that she is quite prepared for any situation. We can visualize her large purse and maybe even laugh because we know someone who also carries such a purse. Also, Mrs. Jones shakes the boy “until his teeth rattled.” Hughes exaggerates again here to tell us just how upset Mrs. Jones is with the boy, and also how the boy feels being shaken up by the person he just tried to rob.

Hughes’s use of imagery also helps the reader to visualize Mrs. Jones’s character. For instance, Hughes includes descriptions of her purse and how she carries it, how she fends off the boy’s attack and turns the tables on him, and how she drags him down the street and into her apartment building. These images help the reader to understand more about Mrs. Jones’ strong personality. She does not have much, but she will share what she has—and she will teach the boy a valuable lesson too.

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As the previous Educators has noted, Hughes uses a number of literary devices in this story. Another device not mentioned so far is symbolism.

Perhaps the most potent symbol in this story is the blue suede shoes which Roger wants to buy. The shoes become symbolic when we look at their meaning in the wider context of the story. Remember that Roger comes from a poor, deprived background. Blue suede shoes are not the kind of item that somebody like him would ever own.

Looking a little deeper, the blue suede shoes are not just a luxurious and fashionable item that any boy might like to own—they are also symbolic of the desperation caused by poverty. The fact that Roger would steal from a stranger for these shoes shows us as much. He is prepared to break the law and face the full force of Mrs. Jones’s anger just to own a pair of shoes.

Hughes is, therefore, using the shoes to suggest that poverty creates misery and desperation. It is particularly dangerous for young children, who might be driven to extreme behavior in order to try to live a better life.

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As the story opens, Mrs. Jones's purse is described (using hyperbole) as having "everything in it but hammer and nails." It is also hyperbolic to describe Mrs. Jones as shaking Roger "until his teeth rattled."

Hughes employs vivid imagery to describe how Mrs. Jones treats Roger after he falls to the ground: "she reached down, [and] picked the boy up by his shirt front." As she dragged him home, "sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle."

Hughes uses vernacular diction to capture the way Roger and Mrs. Jones speak, such as when Roger answers Mrs. Jones with "yes'm" and "no'm" and when she tells him "I would not take you nowhere."

Hughes uses a lovely metaphor to describe Roger as "willow-wild," as he stands before Mrs. Jones in fear.

Hughes utilizes a literary archetypeof the African American matriarch or strong black woman in developing the character of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. The matriarch is generally an aged character who offers wisdom gained through age and experience.  Since Mrs. Jones lives on her own, she could also be the powerful black woman, a fiercely independent, single, and fearless woman.

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Literary devices are the tools an author uses--such as foreshadowing, imagery, hyperbole, characterization, and metaphor, to name a few--that provide the reader with details and bring the text to life.

In "Thank You, M'am" Hughes expertly uses many literary devices to capture the encounter between Roger and Mrs. Jones.

To bring the characters immediately to life and engage us in the story, Hughes starts the story with a characterization and conflict. Woven together in the first paragraph of the story, these devices invite us quickly into the world of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

"She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o'clock at night, and she was walking alone..."

In these words Hughes provides a brief but effective characterization of Mrs. Jones as a powerful, imposing, and fearless figure. Right away the author moves on to create a conflict when Roger dares to try and steal Mrs. Jones' purse, a device that draws the reader in, engaging him or her with the characters.

Lastly, along with characterization and conflict in the first paragraph of the story, the author provides the reader with effective imagery. The scene in which Roger attempts to take Mrs. Jones' purse is so graphically described that the reader immediately paints a picture of the confrontation in his or her mind.

"The strap broke with the single tug that the boy gave it from behind. But the boy's weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance...the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk and his legs flew up."

Throughout the remainder of the story, Hughes effectively uses other literary devices that allow the reader to effectively experience Roger's encounter with Mrs. Jones.

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In the first paragraph of "Thank You, M'am," Langston Hughes uses hyperbole and auditory imagery to create a vivid picture of the encounter between Roger and Mrs. Jones. The purse Roger tries to snatch is described as having "everything in it but hammer and nails," conveying a sense of how large and well-filled it is. When Mrs. Jones picks Roger up, she shakes him until his "teeth rattled." Both these details suggest that Mrs. Jones is a formidable personality. The repetition of the word "large" to describe both Mrs. Jones and the room where she lives also conveys a sense of both her physical stature and her generosity.

The author also uses symbolism when describing Roger's dirty face. At first, the dirt on his face seems to represent his criminal nature, but Mrs. Jones asks him whether there is anyone at home to tell him to wash his face. When Roger says there is not, it becomes clear that he is neglected, and the dirt comes to symbolize lack of guidance, which Mrs. Jones decides to provide for him. The blue suede shoes Roger wants to buy are also a symbol, representing the rock-and-roll lifestyle to which he aspires but which is beyond his grasp.

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What does the first sentence in Langston Hughes' "Thank You, M'am" mean?

This first sentence is an example of hyperbole (an exaggerated statement) because it is impossible to carry around a bag so large that it contains all of your personal possessions. However, by using hyperbole in this manner, the author makes an important point about Mrs. Jones. Specifically, he indicates that she is a prepared and experienced woman. She is ready for any eventuality, and, no matter what trials and tribulations she encounters, she knows exactly how to handle them.

By characterizing Mrs. Jones in this way, the reader knows that she will not react in the expected way when the young boy tries to snatch her purse. She is not going to simply hand it over to him. This also foreshadows her kind reaction to Roger, in which she takes him to her home, feeds him, and gives him some money.

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Langston Hughes creates the image of a strong, no-nonsense woman, who is ready for anything with the first sentence of his short story “Thank You, M’am.” He says, "She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails."

In this story, the woman is mugged as she walks home from work late one evening. Her perpetrator is a young man who grew up on the streets of Harlem. He sees an opportunity to steal money when he notices a woman with a large purse walking alone at night. Little does he know, the purse is heavy enough to drag him to the ground, and she is a formidable opponent. When he grabs the purse, he is taken by surprise when it breaks free and its heaviness drags him to the ground. He falls at the woman’s feet. She is a woman who is familiar with life on the city streets, and she is prepared to address any problems head-on, as she does with the boy.

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Langston Hughes’ story “Thank You, M’am” is filled with creative language and interesting metaphors. Let’s look at the metaphor in the quotation to help you understand it.

The narrator tells us that the woman carries a large purse that has everything but hammer and nails in it. Essentially, this means that the purse is filled to the brim with all kinds of useful things. We can tell that this is a practical woman who is ready for anything and likely knows exactly what to do in any situation. She comes prepared. We might even wonder if there are a hammer and some nails in that big purse, and we might emphasize the size of that purse. It can fit a lot of stuff!

We can also see by this metaphor why that purse is so tempting to Roger who is in need of so many things. He must think when he looks at that purse that there is plenty in there he can use. Certainly he wants money, but he may also be thinking that he can do something with whatever is in that big purse.

Of course, Roger gets a big surprise when he tries to take that purse, for the woman who carries it is not about to let the thief get away.

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What is the irony in Langston Hughes's "Thank You, M'am"?

Langston Hughes particularly weaves situational irony throughout his short story "Thank You, M'am." Situational irony is created when an author leads the reader to expect a different outcome based on the action within a situation than what actually happens in the next situation (Kansas State University, Critical Concepts, "Situational Irony").

Hughes begins to create situational irony in his description of Mrs. Jones's reaction to the attempted theft of her purse. Mrs. Jones reacts somewhat violently, kicking the boy named Roger, then picking up by the front of his shirt and shaking him "until his teeth rattled." Hence, by the time she starts dragging him home with her, saying, "When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones," the reader predicts she is about to dole out more punishment. Prior to what sounds like a threat, the reader is not even sure how to interpret her comment, "I got a great mind to wash your face for you." However, contrary to expectations, once Mrs. Jones brings Roger home, she makes every effort to show the boy he can trust her and showers him with kindness, care, and compassion. She shows him compassion by relating to his urge to steal to get something he felt was important to him, blue suede shoes, telling him that she too had to struggle with being young and wanting things she couldn't get, even resorting to doing things she wouldn't confess to in order to get them. She shows kindness and care by making him wash his face, comb his hair, giving him dinner, and even giving him 10 dollars to buy his blue suede shoes.

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The central theme in Langston Hughes's short story "Thank You, M'am" is that there is a need to show compassion because compassion can generate change. Hughes supports his theme through the actions of Mrs. Jones and through Roger's reactions towards her treatment of him.

In the short story, Mrs. Jones shows compassion when, after Roger tries to steal her purse, rather than calling the cops, she drags him home to her one-room apartment, makes him wash his face, and shares her dinner with him. All of these actions show that she perfectly empathizes with Roger's situation of growing up poor and practically abandoned. One of her most empathetic and compassionate moments is when she makes the following confession to Roger after he says he tried to steal her purse so he could buy blue suede shoes he wanted:

I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.

She further confesses that she too did things she was ashamed of, too ashamed to tell him about, too ashamed to tell even God. Her greatest, most compassionate moment is when she hands him the ten dollar bill from her purse so he can buy his shoes and tells him to behave himself. She does all of these things even though she is evidently very poor, showing us how much she is willing to sacrifice just to show compassion to one equally in need.

Though we are not told much about Roger's reaction, we are told he was rendered near speechless, so speechless "he barely managed to say 'Thank you' before she shut the door." His near speechlessness and ability to say "Thank you" show us he has been deeply moved by her compassion and generosity. For the first time in his life, he has seen that there are some people in the world who truly do care. This revelation will help him feel that his life is less of an uphill battle, which will help him behave himself, ensuring that he, too, will develop into the sort of person who can show compassion and generosity to those in need, just as Mrs. Jones did. 

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While Langston Hughes never grew up surviving on the streets the way Roger seems to in Hughes's short story "Thank You, M'am," Hughes certainly did have experiences with parental neglect and poverty. The battle with racialprejudices was a huge contributing factor to Hughes's parental neglect.

Hughes spent much of his childhood under the care of his maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. Hughes had been born to his parents, Carrie Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes, in Joplin, Missouri, but his parents soon separated. Hughes's father moved to Mexico, where he could practice law freely, without the constraints of racial prejudices, while his mother roamed looking for work, leaving Hughes to the care of his grandmother. Because Hughes's father left the US to escape prejudices while his mother struggled to find work due to prejudices, we can say that Hughes suffered from parental neglect, and racism was largely to blame.

Similarly, in his short story, Roger suffers from parental neglect. We learn he is neglected when Mrs. Jones asks him, "Ain't you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?" to which Roger replies, "No'm." We further see his neglect when Mrs. Jones asks him if he has been home to have dinner, and he replies, "There's nobody home at my house." Though skin color is never mentioned in the story, we can tell from the characters' dialect that they are African American characters struggling with the poverty and neglect that are frequent consequences of racism, just as Hughes struggled with poverty and neglect in his childhood due to racism.

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What are the literary elements in "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes?

The point of view from which the story is told is third-person objective. This means that the narrator is not a participant in the story's events and can only tell us what is visible (not what any characters are thinking or feeling). With this kind of narrator, readers must infer how characters feel or what motivates them because the narrator does not tell us.

The conflict of the story is of the character vs. character variety: Mrs. Jones vs. Roger. Roger tries to steal Mrs. Jones's purse, and she forces him to come back to her house with her so that she can make him wash his face and eat a good dinner. Mrs. Jones feels a lot of sympathy for Roger and exercises a great deal of compassion by giving him the money he wanted (and for which he tried to steal her purse) to buy a pair of blue suede shoes.

The shoes seem to serve as a symbol. A symbol is often an object, but it can be a color, character, or even a situation that carries both a literal and a figurative meaning. The blue suede shoes, for example, do actually exist on a literal level (or they will once Roger buys them), but they also figuratively represent the love and kindness that Mrs. Jones shows for Roger. She could turn him in to the police, but she'd rather win him over, convincing him not to treat others without compassion by treating him with compassion.

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When looking for the literary elements in a story, it is necessary to break down the story into its parts or elements. These include the plot, the characters, the setting and the theme. Typically, the literary elements are the what (plot), whom (characters), who (narrator), where (setting), when (setting), how (tone) and for what reason or why (theme, purpose)?

In "Thank You M'am" by Langston Hughes, it is Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones who stands out as a character who takes every challenge and turns it into a positive learning experience. She and Roger, the boy who steals her purse, are the whom of the story, and it is around them that the plot develops. The story is a life lesson, intended to teach everybody about humility, kindness, and to show that there is no excuse for bad behavior, regardless of circumstances or desires, and certainly not in the case of Roger's "blue suede shoes." This is therefore the theme, revealed by the characterization and plot development and Mrs. Jones's compassion and understanding of Roger's circumstances. 

There is a third person narrator and Hughes ensures that this narrator understands his subject well, using colloquial language. The story takes place at night, between the street in a working class neighborhood and Mrs. Jones's home (the setting). Mrs. Jones surprises Roger with her attitude and the tone is such that, at first, the reader is not sure what to expect - much like Roger does not know what punishment is about to be metered out to him. Mrs. Jones is clearly a woman of strong moral integrity and she expects a high standard from others. Roger's response also develops the plot of the story as he, reluctantly at first, accepts her kindness and recognizes the position of trust she impresses upon him. He appreciates this and responds positively to Mrs. Jones.  

The reader realizes that Mrs. Jones is a self-effacing woman, of modest means but very generous with her money and time and the reader finishes the story hopeful that Roger has learnt his lesson and not only will he not steal but he may even extend that same courtesy to another person in need. Hence, the purpose of the story is clearly understood. 

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What words describe the topic of Langston Hughes's "Thank You, M'am"?

Lanston Hughes's short story "Thank You, M'am" is about compassion and progress. Due to the compassion Mrs. Jones shows young Roger, we know that Roger will progress in life to mature into an equally humbled and compassionate young man, the type of person who helps others of his race find the same progress.

Mrs. Jones demonstrates compassion by, instead of turning Roger into the cops when he tries to steal her purse, recognizing he is a poor and neglected child, marching him home to her small rented room, making him wash his face, and sharing her dinner with him. She further shows compassion by acknowledging the following to Roger:

I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.

She further confesses to Roger that she, too, committed acts she is too ashamed to admit to in order to try to get the things she wanted, even too ashamed to admit them to God. Her compassionate confessions to Roger help him see that he is not all alone in the world, that others have been in the same boat he is in.

Mrs. Jones's most astonishing act of compassion is handing him the ten dollar bill from her purse and telling him to go and buy the blue suede shoes he wants, while also giving him the following plea:

But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.

While we don't know much about Roger's outcome, we can presume that Mrs. Jones's act of generosity changed his life. For the first time in his life, he was shown that people, even strangers, can care enough about him to show compassion and to want him to have the things he wants. No longer does he see the world as a cold, dark place he has to fight in, tooth and nail, just to survive. He now knows that there are people in the world he can go to for help, and those people will help him progress into a happier, healthier, more productive life. What's more, he now has the strength to help others he sees in need progress to achieve better lives for themselves.

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Can you provide an example of personification in Langston Hughes' "Thank You, M'am"?

It's pretty tricky to find personification in "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes. In fact, I would be inclined to argue that there isn't any. Personification is typically defined as the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities or objects; you'll be hard pressed to identify any object being given human characteristics in the story.

That said, if you're determined to find something like personification, you might be able to make a case for the reference to the shoes at the story's conclusion, when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones says,

"And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else's—because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet."

While having the ability to "burn" something isn't really a uniquely human characteristic (fire and hot things "burn," too), you might argue that the "burning" described here is intentional, as if the shoes will know they were not lawfully purchased but rather stolen and so choose to burn the wearer; having the intention to burn is a uniquely human characteristic.

Still, this interpretation is stretching things, especially given that Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones seems to imply some supernatural force (perhaps the Devil) might be the one causing the shoes to burn (as opposed to the shoes making a decision themselves). The safest answer to this question is there is no personification in "Thank You, M'am."

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Which literary element is strongest in "Thank You, M'am"?

Langston Hughs’s short story “Thank You Ma’m” has strong literary elements of setting, plot and theme, but what drives the story’s meaning is character.

The literary element of character involves how the people in a story are developed.  In this short story, the theme is mostly strongly conveyed through the interaction between two strong characters: Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and Roger.  Through their interaction we develop the theme that we are defined not by our challenges, but how we react to them.

Mrs. Bates is a very strong woman.  When Roger tries to rob her, she reacts by capturing him and taking him back to her apartment to feed him.

"But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming.”

Mrs. Bates is a remarkable character.  She reacts in completely the opposite manner than we would expect.  She might be expected to have Roger arrested, or scream and let him have the purse.  She does neither.  She invites him into her home, has him wash his face, and shares her story.

She tells Roger she was “young once” and wanted things she “could not get."  He is so surprised he does not know how to react.

There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.

She surprises him by not telling him she never stole.  She implies that she might have done worse things.  In sharing this, she develops from just a fascinating woman to a character of remarkable depth.

Roger too is a developed character.  He reacts just as unexpectedly to her as she does to him.  He wants her to let him go, but he actually struggles very little.  He goes into her apartment and washes his face.  He treats her respectfully.  He makes sure to sit where she can see him.

He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.

Roger amazingly responds well to Mrs. Bates’s motherly care.  He is not a bad kid, he just made a mistake.  When she gives him the money for the shoes he robbed her to buy, he is stunned.  But he takes the money, because to not do so would be ungrateful.

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In "Thank You, M'am," what does Hughes mean by "a large purse with everything but a hammer and nails"?

In his short story, "Thank You M'am," Hughes uses this description of the purse to better give the reader an image of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones herself. "She was a large woman with a large purse." Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was also a hardworking woman, and she would have had a large, utilitarian handbag. It would not be filled with fingernail files, perfume, or cosmetics. It would be filled with the accoutrements of her daily life bus tokens, bank books, lifesaver candy, and other simple, down to earth items (and could, if she chose, have handled a hammer and nails as well). These would be items that represent this down to earth woman. Nor was her handbag new. In fact, it was old and worn as is indicated when "The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind." Had it not been old and warn, the strap would not have broken, as Roger was small enough that she could pick him up and shake him. 

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