Critical Analysis

"Thank You, Ma'am' is a 1958 short story by the African-American poet, novelist, and short
story writer Langston Hughes (1901-67). In the story, a teenage boy attempts to steal a woman's
purse, but she catches him and takes him back to her home, showing him some kindness and
attempting to teach him right from wrong.
Langston Hughes is anotable writer of the Harlem Renaissance, and many of his poems and
stories take place in New York City. One can assume that "Thank You, Mam" is no different, but the
lack of aspecific setting suggests that the themes of the story are universal,specifically the story's
engagement with race in a pre-Civil Rights Era America.
Thank You, Ma'am is about a life of circumstance and personal choice. In the story, we see two
distinct personalities: one in control and one in turmoil., Mrs. Jones has lived a life of want, as is
evident by her statement, "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get." However, she
made different choices, and as a result, she has a home, food, and a job. She also chooses not to use
her situation to lecture further by saying, "You thought Iwas going to say but Ididn't snatch people's
pocketbooks." She admits that some of her choices were not good, but they were obviously not all
wrong. She seems to indicate to Roger that it is not too late if he turns from bad behaviour now.
Mrs. Jones does notinquire further into Roger's life. The moments they have together are briet,
yet teachable. Roger's background-why he is alone, who and where his family is-has no
consequence to the lesson that Mrs. Jones wants him to learn. Roger is old enough to begin making
his own choices, arnd this choice was not correct. Mrs Jones shows empathy by realising that asking
about his family may embarrass Roger and limit his receptiveness to the lesson. She wants to stop
the cycle perpetuated by a society that punishes and invades privacy. Mrs. Jones believes that
teaching and guiding with empathy and understanding is better.
 This story is also about taking responsibility. Without a solid family structure, Roger wanders
. . t t s . taking whatever he can so he can get what he needs. Mrs. Jones teaches him that he
should askfor what he wants and do what he can to care for himselfsimplethings like combing his
ndvashing his face. She implies that if he asks for something, he is more likely to find a way
it hust taking itwill get him "kicked" and "shaken." Here, Mrs. Jones is not just acting as a
wother incaring for Roger, she is symbolicof society and warns Roger of how life will treat him if
he continuesto do wrong.
Inhis hor with Mrs. Jones, Roger learns more about people, life, and circumstance than his
ownparents ever taught him. He learns that life is not fair and that some people have more than
others. but he also learns that he is in control of his destiny and that it starts with taking care of
basic essentials and presenting himself well. The rest comes from working hard, like Mrs. Jones,
and being empathetic. Roger learns that by lifting each other up, we can change society for the
better, one person at a time.
The story presents the details of the narrative in direct terms, with Langston Hughes' third
person narrator rarely passing comment or providing extra details which could help fill in the
gaps about the lives of the two central characters'.
One of the (several) wonderful things that Langston Hughes did with "Thank You, Ma'am"
to strike a perfect balarnce with the racial and moral elements of the story. The characters are
unmistakably African-American but it is not a story about African-Americans. Skin colour is
present and well represented in vernacular, but that is not the story's point. He draws our attention
to poverty why is an older woman having towork a job that causes her to walk home late at
night, why can't a young boy be properly clothed, fed, and cared for - but the poverty is part of the
story without ever becoming an excuse. And that sets the stage for the message of the story, that
respect, decency and love transcend race and cdass, that they are wonderful things that can cure all
sorts of difficulties and hardships.
The story may have some autobiographical elements for the author which definitely does not
imply that Langston Hughes was out mugging old ladies, but that he himself had been
his parents as a young boy and was separated from
forced to live with his grandmother who raised him. In simple
wordssome of his Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones' kindness was also present in his
and the hardships of his youth led to the grandmother
tremendous
The question of race relations in America is still
empathy he put into this story.
matter how difficult and complex that question decades away from being an easy one. But no
Smple short story by Langston Hughes that helps remains, it will always find some answers in this
us
mater now dificult any one personal situation may be,to see that we are all the same and that no
and improved with acts of it's probably a situation that can
kindness. changed
 Atthe same time, the narrator tells us that he never saw her again after this chance encounter
one night. This leads us to speculate: would Roger listen to her advice and learn from what had
happened? Would he, from now on, decide against stealing things because she had been kind to him
and he had had a narrow brushi with justice?
Of course, we can only speculate on this issue. On the one hand, Mrs Jones provides Roger with
both understanding and guidance: she tells him that she had done some things which she is so
ashamed of she would never tell him about them, implying that she has been in a similar position
in her own life before, but now leads a moral, honest life. Although Hughes never specifies the
ethnicities of the two characters, given Hughes' depictions of African-American life in Harlem, it
may be assumed that both are black, so this arguably brings the two of them together.
Buton the other hand, Mrs Jones will disappear from Roger's life after this night. His chaotic
home life will not. Whilst "Thank You, Ma'am' shows how kindness and
understanding may help a
youth who has fallen into bad ways recover his moral honesty and integrity, the ending of the
story remains ambiguous concerning the long-term fate of its adolescent
Hughes appears to suggest that all teenagers who have fallen into alife of pettyprotagonist.
erime need
Langston
to put them back on the straight and narrow path of right someone
thought and action