Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes has the central theme of life being a struggle for every generation.

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Life is not easy; however, many think that parents should make life easier for their kids. Parents are should level the playing field and clear the way for their children. Though, for some parents, who have their own struggles to deal with, this is not always possible. This does not mean that they do not love their children any less; they just do not have the ability to make things easier for their kids. The poem "Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes has the central theme of life being a struggle for every generation. The speaker in the poem is a mother talking to her son about a difficult staircase that she has had to climb. The mother in the poem says that the staircase is not a crystal staircase, but instead it is a rough, bare, wooden one that she has to climb all the time despite it having sharp things that hurt her feet like tacks and splinters and no carpet.

The stairs in the poem are figurative, symbolizing the journey of life. The stairs are used by the poet as an extended metaphor to show that life is a weary climb for every generation. The