An analysis of Langston Hughes’s Thank You M’am

       

By NoumanAyub…

Introduction

Thank You M’am,is a very interesting moral story written by Langston Hughes.  Everyone makes mistakes in his/her life but there are very rare people who learn from their own mistakes. The story features two characters; Roger and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

They meet when Roger attempts to steal her purse as she is walking home late at night. Roger loses his balance, and Mrs. Jones, who seems to be a substantial woman, first kicks him in the behind as he is sprawled on the sidewalk, and then hauls him up and shakes him. She has the boy pick up her purse, and begins to dress him down. Then the story takes a turn,

"Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain't you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?"

"No'm," said the boy.

"Then it will get washed this evening," said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.

And with those simple lines, Hughes affects a magical transformation turning a tough old black woman into everyone's mother and a young hoodlum into everyone's friend, brother or son. By explaining the crime -- it's out of a child's impoverished necessity -- and humanizing the characters, he makes us understand that Roger is not a bad kid as much as he is a kid trapped in difficult circumstances.

After a bit more physical and verbal trouncing, Mrs. Jones' course of action is clear:

"But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."

Sweat popped out on the boy's face and he began to struggle.

Mrs. Jones puts the boy in a half-nelson and drags him up the street and into her house where the "tough love" lightens up on the toughness and starts to load up a bit on the love. She feeds him, lectures him gently, and gives him the money he was attempting to steal so that he may buy the blue suede shoes that he needs.

Then the story concludes:

She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Goodnight! Behave yourself, boy!" she said, looking out into the street.

The boy wanted to say something else other than, "Thank you, ma'am" to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but although his lips moved, he couldn't even say that as he turned at the foot of the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. Then she shut the door.

Theme:

Theme of the story is, everyone makes many mistakes in his/her life and what we do with our mistakes either learning from them or continuing to make them. That is on us. And that thing makes an individual unique.

Characters:

There are two main characters.

1.   Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones is a static character who is a large African-American woman lives in somewhere in America. She lives in an apartment. She is a kind, generous and forgiving and works at hair saloon.

Roger, a dynamic character. Roger is protagonist. He has no family. He has wearing tennis shoes but not dressed well. Not presentable according to Mrs. Jones. He looked as he were fourteen or fifteen.

Narrator:

This story is written in third-person narrative. And narrator in this story is Omniscient.

Narrative level:

Narrative level of this story is “Extradiegetic” because narrator is not the part of the story.

Kind of Narration:

As we can se that story is written in a past event and past events are recounted in the Ulterior narration. So the kind of narration in this story is “Ulterior Narration.”

Conflict:

The conflict in the story is person vs. self-conflict. It is between Roger and himself. Roger, in the beginning of the story urgue to steel a woman’s purse to be able to buy something for himself. As the story processes, he realizes from Mrs. Luella Jones that stealing is not good.

Plot:

Plot of the story is linear. Setting: Eleven o’clock at night  on a deserted dark street and the rooming house in which Mrs. Luella Jones lives.

Rising action:

Mrs. Jones makes the boy pick up the purse.

She tells him that he will remember Mrs. Jones after she is done with him. She puts him in a half-nelson and continues to drag him to her house.

Tells him to clean his face off with rag and that she is going to feed him.

“The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her.”

Climax: The climax of the story is when Roger has a chance to run from her apartment of Mrs. Jones but he doesn’t.” The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run”

Falling action:

Mrs. Jones feed the boy. She tells him about her job at a hotel beauty-shop. Also tells him that she herself has made many mistakes.

Conclusion:

Thank You M’am is an interesting moral story by third person extradiegetic narrator who teaches us to be generous and forgiving for human beings. Narrator gives us an important lesson through his writing thateveryone makes mistakes in his/her life and we also made many mistakes in our life. So we should be kind in with others.