In one of his early poems, Mother to Son, Langston Hughes tells his readers that one must have courage and determination to overcome life's obstacles. This poem is best known for its dramatic use of monologue and “crystal stairs” symbolism. However, the poem also uses other literary devices such as metaphors, repetition and dialect to create a certain characteristic, impression and image. Of all the different techniques and literary devices manipulated by Langston Hughes, I would like to discuss his use of age, gender, and memory in uncovering multi-layered meanings from Mother to Son. On the surface, the poem is a monologue of a tired mother telling her son about life's difficulties, as illustrated in the title. Why did Hughes choose to use a mother's voice instead of a father's in this poem? I take the absence of the father in the poem as a clue. This absence and the speaker's account of his struggles likely imply one of the many struggles that the child in the poem will experience and further the speaker's struggle in raising a child and facing the harsh reality without a husband. Considering such a complex situation, the narrator's age and gender add a story to what the poem tells and determine the atmosphere and tone. Furthermore, age and gender characterize the entire poem creating the narrator's maternal voice. This, combined with the use of dialect in the poem, Hughes managed to create a certain impression of the narrator: a warm, approachable, middle-aged woman, with no formal education but full of life experience and wisdom. Through such manipulation of the speaker's age and gender, Hughes chronicles a mother's personal struggle and also offers encouragement and life advice... at the center of the card... literary devices that can be used as symbolism, metaphor, repetition and language , Hughes uses age, gender, and memory to set the tone, create a unifying voice and theme to overcome struggles with determination and courage. The age and gender of the speaker in this poem are especially significant as they not only set the tone, but also give voice to the poem's most dominant and important theme: the collective memory of African Americans. Thus, Hughes's use of age, gender, and memory transforms Mother to Son into more than a short narrative poem of a tired, worried mother giving life advice to her son. Works cited "Collective memory -". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Network. February 19, 2010..Hughes, Langston. “From mother to son”. Collection of poems by Langston Hughes. New York: vintage, 1995.