Short Story Analysis
"Thank You Ma'am" By: Langston Hughes
Summary
Relating to a Raisin in the Sun
Thematic Link
Literary Criticism
Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist, most known forhis work during the Harlem Renaissance, when Afro-Americans were challenging white paternalism and racism.He was one of the first black writers in the USA to achieve literary recognition. Hughes was unashamedly black at a time when blackness was démodé. He stressed the theme of "black is beautiful" as he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths (Patterson 1969). His main concern was the uplift of his people, whosestrengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience.
Hispoetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverseculture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of allhuman kind," Hughes is quoted as saying (Rampersad 1988).The story under discussion is about an old lady walking alone in the dark, when suddenly a boy tries to snatchher purse. However, during the attempt, he loses his balance and falls down on the pavement, and the lady, who,of course, is annoyed by the boy’s behavior, picks him up and gives him a proper lesson. She decides to bringhim home to her house so he can wash his face and have a nice meal, before she hands him some money to buythe blue suede shoes he has wanted for such a long time.