Wanting the Best ("Mother to Son" Response)

         Parents are what keep everyone on course. With the perfect balance of friendliness and severity, their philosophical teachings come a long way in life’s stairwell. Lessons are learned and splinters and tacks are avoided. They do the best they can, of course, and sometimes they wish it was more. “Mother to Son”, behind the strong lesson of keep moving forward and metaphorical ways of explaining the hardships of life, shows the struggles of people less fortunate. Within her statements of encouragement as in, “Don’t you set down on the steps” you can see the regret in her accented voice. “Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it and splinters and boards torn up….” Seeing through these statements is regret. She knows that her life has been hard and the stairwell twisted, and all she wants for her son is to make it better for himself. She can’t do anything for him except to tell him to grab hold of that railing and never go back to a life of tacks and splinters as hers was. I see regret, remembering, enlightenment, encouragement, hope and belief in that order. Not only are these emotional qualities found in poor mothers but in all parents, I believe. Of course not everyone has the same poor lifestyle as the mother and son in the poem, but all parents want the best for their children. They believe they can take their stairwell to the best quality and extent possible because their children are possible of even crystal stairwells.