Similarly to Lorde's poem, Langston HughesHughes' poem " Mother to Son" communicates both the themethemes of innocence, experience, and family life. The poem is about a mother explaining to her son that, even though life has not been easy and forgiving to her, there is hope and encouragement to move forward, despite difficulties. Langston Hughes uses many different techniques including mood, poetic devices, and the extended metaphor of a staircase to symbolize the hardship of the mother's life. The poem communicates "Innocence" because one can infer that the son is a young boy, not yet developed and exposed to the real world, basebased on how the mother is giving him advice, so therefore. Therefore, his innocence about life is still intact, sincebecause he didn't experiencehasn't experienced any hardships yet. Since the mother has effectively confronted the difficulties of life, she wishes her child to be persistent and strong in the face of difficulties that life will bring to him. "Experience" can be seen as a theme of the poem, because the poem is grounded in the memories and "experience" of the mother. The poem begins by presenting a comparison between the mother's life and a "crystal stair" to demonstrate that her life has not been easy. The mother begins by addressing her son: "Well, son, I'll tell you,: Life for me ain't been no crystal chairstair" (Hughes line 2). Her life was full of obstacles such as "It's had tacks in it, and splinters" which goes back to her "experience[s]." However, she gave him words of encouragement when she said, "But all the time I 'se been a-climbin' on" (Hughes line 9), demonstrating that, despite her struggles, she kept moving on and climbing staircases, indicatingrepresenting going up.