Langston+Hughes*

//**Life is Fine**//
- Even though the speaker has contemplated suicide, he realizes that he has to get past it and continue living. - The speaker's strong emotions are portrayed through his actions and the audience realizes the difficulty of his situation. - This difficult situation could revolve around a woman and the reason for wanting to take his own life could be because he lost someone he loved - Many people consider death as the easiest way to deal with something when times get tough, but the speaker discusses how difficult it is to actually go through with it. - After two stanzas there's a bold statement such as, "But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!", to emphasize what he had to overcome in order to continue living.

//**Mother to Son**//
- By utilizing the mother's dialogue, the poet is expressing her feelings of love in the rawest form. - The staircase is a metaphor for life and that for in order for someone to reach the top they have to start from the bottom and then work their way up. - She is being realistic about the difficulties that one has to encounter when climbing this "staircase" - The mother is telling her son that he should never "turn back" and lose hope in life. - There is an emphasis on the hardships that the mother herself has been through, and the wisdom that she has gained through her experiences, which she now wishes to share with her son. - Hughes incorporates diction such as "I’se", which was commonly used in black culture. This shows how women might not have been well uneducated, but they were wise and street smart.