In the Name of Justice

Name : Fatemeh Mirghasempour

Date : 98 / 07 / 07
Session : 1th
Number in class list : 22
Name of the story : Thank You Ma’m
Name of the author : Langston Hughes
English written

Summary
The story is about a woman with a large purse that had everything in it. one night when she
was walking alone, a boy about 14 tried to snatch her purse but he didn’t succeed and fell
on his back on the sidewalk. The woman kicked the boy right square then picked him up by
his shirt front and asked him : if I turn you lose, will you run? The boy said yes ma’m. Then
the woman said : so I won’t turn you lose and dragged the frightened boy behind her and
said if you were my son, I would teach you right from wrong. Then said : when I get
through with you, you’re going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. The
woman jerked the boy around in front of her and when she got to her door, she dragged
the boy inside. Then she asked boy’s name and he said : Roger. After that, the woman told
him you got to that sink and wash your face, then, said : I’m sure you’re hungry or been
hungry to try to snatch my pocketbook. Roger said : I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes and
she said : you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook. You could just asked me. I were young
once and I wanted things I could not get. I have done things too which I wouldn’t tell you.
Roger was amazed by this treatment. After that, when the woman was preparing supper for
Roger, she didn’t watch the boy if she was going to run and she didn’t watch her purse too.
But Roger didn’t want the woman to be mistrusted. After they were finished food, the
woman gave him ten dollars to buy himself some blue suede shoes and told him next time
do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s, coz shoes
come by devilish, will burn your feet. Then, she led him down the hall to the front door and
opened it and said: I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here.
The boy wanted to say something else other than “ Thank You Ma’m “ but he couldn’t. at
the end he barely managed to say “ Thank You” before she shut the door and never saw her
again.