Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes
Well, son, Iāll tell you: Life for me aināt been no crystal stair. Itās had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floorā Bare. But all the time Iāse been a-climbinā on, And reachinā landinās, And turninā corners, And sometimes goinā in the dark Where there aināt been no light. So boy, donāt you turn back. Donāt you set down on the steps āCause you finds itās kinder hard. Donāt you fall nowā For Iāse still goinā, honey, Iāse still climbinā, And life for me aināt been no crystal stair.
Q.91 What kind of life does the line, "life for me ... no crystal stair," signify?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 2
Logic: A "crystal stair" implies something smooth, transparent, and easy. By saying life "ain't been no crystal stair," Hughes uses negative imagery (tacks, splinters, bare boards) to represent a difficult, painful journey through poverty and racial struggle.
Q.92 Which one of the following is an "extended metaphor" in the poem?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 3
Logic: An extended metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. Here, the staircase represents life's journey from start to finish.
Q.93 Which colloquial form of English is used in the poem?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 4
Logic: Langston Hughes was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously used African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)āseen here in phrases like "ain't been no," "I'se been a-climbin'," and "kinder hard"āto provide an authentic voice to the black working class.
Q.94 What advice does the speaker give to her son in the poem?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 1
Logic: The core message is one of resilience. The mother uses her own continued climbing ("For Iāse still goinā, honey") as a model for the son to follow, telling him specifically not to "set down on the steps."
Q.95 Which rhetorical device has been used by repeating "And" at the beginning of many lines?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 3
Logic: Anaphora is the repetition of words at the start of consecutive lines. By repeating "And," Hughes emphasizes the cumulative, never-ending nature of the obstacles the mother has faced.
The Fund of Surplus
(Analysis of Man vs. Animal in Intellectual Commerce)
The most important distinction between the animal and man is this: that the animal is very nearly bound within the limits of its necessities... Like a retail shopkeeper, it has no large profit from its trade of life; the bulk of its earnings must be spent in paying back the interest to its bank. Most of its resources are employed in the mere endeavour to live. But man, in life's commerce, is a big merchant. He earns a great deal more than he is absolutely compelled to spend. Therefore, there is a vast excess of wealth in man's life, which gives him the freedom to be useless and irresponsible to a great measure... Upon this fund of surplus his science and philosophy thrive.
Q.96 What, according to the writer, is the basic difference between animal and man?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 1
Logic: The passage contrasts the animal's "retail" survival (necessary activities) with man's "wholesale" pursuit of higher truths. Animals know only to survive; man knows to be free.
Q.97 What gives man the freedom to be useless and irresponsible?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 3
Logic: "Wealth" here is a metaphor for the surplus resources man has after meeting basic needs. Because he earns more than he "spends" on survival, he has the luxury to pursue "useless" (non-utilitarian) interests like art or philosophy.
Q.98 At what stage does knowledge become freedom for man?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 4
Logic: The passage states that animals stop once they have "useful" knowledge. Knowledge becomes freedom only when it is "knowledge for the sake of knowledge," existing in the surplus tracts of the human mind.
Q.99 What does the metaphor "a big merchant" stand for?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 3
Logic: In the context of "life's commerce," the merchant isn't trading money, but human experience and thought. Man is a "big merchant" because his capacity for intellectual accumulation far exceeds his physical needs.
Q.100 What does the author mean by "Man also must know because he must live"?
View Answer & Logic
Correct Answer: 1
Logic: While man has a surplus, he still shares the fundamental biological requirement of knowledge for survival. However, the author implies that for man, this "knowing" is not just a chore but a vibrant, essential part of being alive.
š Section Analysis: Reading Comprehension (June 2024)
The final section of the June 2024 (Shift 1) paper tested two distinct areas: Stylistic Poetry Analysis and Conceptual Prose Interpretation. These passages weren't just about finding facts; they required an understanding of tone, dialect, and philosophical metaphors.
š Poetry: Voice & Device
The use of Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" emphasized the importance of Sociolinguistics (AAVE) and Structural Devices (Anaphora and Extended Metaphor). Students were expected to connect the mother's struggle to the broader African-American experience through her specific "staircase" imagery.
š” Prose: The "Surplus" of Man
The second passage focused on Philosophical Prose, contrasting the utilitarian "retail" life of animals with the "wholesale" intellectual freedom of humans. The key was understanding the metaphorical commerceāwhere "wealth" equals knowledge and "freedom" equals the ability to pursue the "useless" arts and sciences.
š” Exam Tip: When tackling RC, always identify the Dominant Metaphor first. In Hughes, it was the "Staircase"; in the prose, it was "Commerce/Merchant." Once you decode the metaphor, the specific questions on "wealth" or "splinters" become much easier to answer accurately.