Mother to Son, My reflection.

                       
                       I read the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, and I really enjoyed it.  I found the deeper meaning within this poem, it's not just any poem, it's not just a mother's words to her son. It's about hardships, this poem tells a life story if you really think about it.
        Mother  to son, by Langston Hughes
Well, son I tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor--
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on them steps
Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now--
For I'se still goin' honey,
I'se still climbin'
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair
        One thing that I noticed about the poem is that it starts off kind of like a conversation and throught the poem you can hear her voice talking to her son, it's firm and strong, yet soft and caring.  The mother is giving the son words of wisdom because she's telling him that she had to do the same thing and she never got a break and so to survive in this world he has to keep going.
   Some translations that I came up with for words in the poem is for the words: Tacks, Splinters, torn up boards, no carpet, and crystal stair.
    For the words Tacks, Splinters, Torn up Boards, and No Carpet I came up with this definition. It could mean that the person proably grew up poor, life wasn't easy for them,  had rough patches, damaged, and shows struggle. I came up with this because when I think of something so beaten down so battered this is the first thing that came to mind when I had read this poem.
   For the word Crystal Stair, I came up with this definition. It could mean that the person had a easy life, perfect, flawless, may mean the person was born rich. I came up with this because I felt that this meaning best represented this.
    Something else that I analyzed about the poem is that, she doesn't want her son to just give up, she wants him to keep pushing on like she did and still is. She's telling him that life isn't perfect and it's going to be rough and you're not always going to be able to stop you're going to have to keep going because time waits for no one.
   Some emotions that I noticed in the poem were, that she was stressed, tired, depressed, always busy, she wants a break, worried, lifeless, blank, sometimes there is no emotion.
    By the way that the poem is written, grammer wise, I assumed that this was a african american speaking to her son. I assumed this because the poem was written in 1922, and african americans back then used to grow up in poverty, and have such a rough life trying to survive, so I imagined that this would be an african american mother speaking words of wisdom to her son.
    These are some of the things that I noticed in the book.

What I love about Stuart Little!

  "When Mrs.Fredrick .C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was no bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse's sharp nose, a mouse's tail, a mouse's whiskers, and the pleasant shy manner manner of a mouse"   
     By this description you wouldn't think much of Stuart, I know I didn't. At fist I didn't think much of Stuart at all, actually by the picture above in that first page I thought of Stuart only as an average mouse. But as you read deeper into the book you can come to find out that Stuart is quiet the little pioneer. He goes on many adventures in the film and in the classic children's book. I think that Stuart is a very valiant little mouse, for example take this excerpt from the book:
    "One day when Mrs.Little was washing out the bathtub after Mr.Little had taken a bath, she lost a ring off her finger and was horrified to discover that it had fallen down the drain. ... "Why don't we send Stuart down after it?" suggested Mr.Little. "How about it Stuart, would you like to try" "   
   I feel like Stuart was kind of like the Little's  family tool because since he was small enough he was able to fit in places where the Little's couldn't fit at all. As you continue through the book you'll find that the Little's send Stuart on many "Journeys" as you would put it, he goes underneath the radiator to get the pool ball that had rolled underneath by accident. Another time, Stuart is asked that he hold the key in the piano that won't play right. I feel that all these small actions make Stuart brave because for any little mouse to have to go somewhere which is not dangerous for humans at all, but  is somewhat of a battlefield for a mouse is very fearless of him. Stuart could have gotten burned in the radiator, and Stuart could have been hit on the head with that piano key, but Stuart doesn't care because he's brave and he's selfless. Throughout the book you'll come to learn that Stuart Little is more that just a mouse, he's a friend to all.
      While I was reading the book one thing I noticed was that Stuart is a very brave, and valiant mouse, he's very selfless and will go out of his way to save his newly found best friend Margalo. As seen in the movie and read in the book, Stuart little goes on this dangerous journey to save his new best friend Margalo.
         On the way he faces many challenges, for example, when he first starts out Stuart went to his newly found friend the owner of the boat the Wasp.  There he was given a small car and when he went to set it up he accidentally hit the invisible button and the start button, Stuart could have gotten run over by that invisible car. 
       Then right after Stuart had gotten his small invisible car he met a very sad man on the road, and Stuart being Stuart wanted to help him out. The man said that one of his teachers was sick and he needed someone to substitute classroom number seven, Stuart said he would do it. Stuart was so small that when he went to substitute the class he could have gotten trampled by his own students. 
      After he's finished substituting the class, Stuart enters this whole new little town and he learns about a girl almost his size who maybe shorter, named Harriet Ames. Stuart is frightened at first and he doesn't want to introduce himself to her but then he overcomes that fear and actually does it. I appreciate that Stuart is not afraid to try something new and no matter what the challenge he’ll always make it through.

      Stuart goes to dangerous places all the time and is almost never scared. One thing is that Stuart lives with Snowbell the cat and he’s not afraid of him.  Stuart is a very confident mouse.

       The author created Stuart little in such a way that people all over can relate to him, Stuart can do anything that he puts his mind to. Kids love to read this book as a bedtime story, and adults sometimes love to read the classic as a pastime. Stuart goes on many adventures and I can connect to him because when I was little I would sit at home and watch the movie and read the book. I wanted to do what he did; I wanted to be independent and go out into the world on my own and do what I wanted to do for a change. Stuart got to do all of these things.

Another thing is that Stuart doesn’t let his size get to him; he doesn’t let it define who he is. Stuart is small but mighty at the same time, if I were his size I don’t think that I would be able to do half of the things that he does. Sometimes whenever Stuart would walk on the street or go to buy something people would stop and stare but Stuart ignored them and kept his head high. Stuart uses his size to his advantage and doesn’t really think much of it as a disadvantage.

One thing that I came to find really interesting was the author's reason behind creating the classic childhood book Stuart Little. This is a question that is most commonly asked, so before the author passed away, he wrote an online letter to all his readers answering many common questions about his book. Many years ago he went to sleep in a railway car, and during the night he had a dream about a boy who acted like a mouse. This is how he came to write the book Stuart Little.

            I would recommend this book to everyone because it's so timeless. This book has been such a joy to read and I just adored it! I hope that anyone who comes to read it enjoys it too.