Thank You Ma’am - By Langston

Hughes
The story starts when Roger a teenage boy and Mrs. Luella
Bates Washington Jones, who is walking home from work late
one night comes in contact with each other. Roger attempts to
steal her purse, but because it is so heavy, and Mrs. Jones is
quite stout, he merely ends up breaking the strap instead. She
kicks him and grabs him by the shirt, asking if he feels ashamed
of himself. Roger admits that he does. Mrs. Jones notices that
his face is dirty and his hair is uncombed; she asks if there is
anyone looking after him. When he answers 'no', she drags him
home with her. When Roger and Mrs. Jones arrive at her house,
she asks if he's had supper. When Mrs. Jones tells Roger that he
could've asked her for the money, he doesn't quite believe her.
Mrs. Jones explains to Roger that she was young once, too, and
also couldn't afford the things she wanted. She confides that,
like the teenage boy, she used to do some pretty shameful
things, too. While they eat, she refrains from embarrassing
Roger by not asking him anything else about his life; instead,
she talks about her job in a hotel beauty shop, where she meets
women with all different colors of hair. At the end of the story,
Mrs. Jones gives Roger ten dollars to buy the blue suede shoes
and tells him not to steal her purse or anyone else's for that
matter, as shoes purchased with stolen money cause more
trouble than they're worth. When she leads him to the door and
bids him good night, Roger wants to say something other than
'thank you, ma'am,' but nothing suitable comes to mind. As he
turns to look at Mrs. Jones in the doorway, he can barely get the
words, 'thank you,' out of his mouth before she shuts the door.
According to Hughes, Roger never sees her again.

At the time, ten dollars would have been quite a lot of money.
This is a major moment of generosity on the part of Mrs. Jones,
and, based on his behavior thus far, it’s safe to assume that
Roger will try to prove himself worthy of it (even if he can’t
quite find the words in this moment). The parent-like guidance
attached to this surprise encourages Roger to be thoughtful
about his decisions moving forward. By giving Roger cash
rather than supervising his purchase or placing limitations upon
her gift, Mrs. Jones shows trust in his choices and underscores
that he must take responsibility for his actions

"That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and
yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing."
- Simone de Beauvoir.
This is a great quote I found. It is really linked to the characters
of the story.
Even if you give whatever you have and don’t feel like you gave
anything then that is a generous mind we can see the same
character aspect of Mrs. Jones in the story. Mrs. Jones is a very
kind and loving women she gave a parent-like feeling to Roger.

Conclusion
Mrs. Jones's actions shows her guidance like a parent-like
figure. By gifting Roger $10 and not placing any limitations on
what he should buy with it, Ms. Jones also gives the boy room to
make his own decisions and ultimately understand the meaning
of responsibility for his own actions.

There are some books which are similar to the book “Thank you
Ma’am”
Some are
*“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
*“Simple takes a wife”

I surely liked the book a lot even though the story is very short
and simple it’s really fascinating for the new generations to
interpret every aspects of the story. If I was to give a rating I
would give it a 5 star rating. I cannot give any less because I
have not found a reason to give it below a 5 star rating.