"Thank You, Ma’am" By Langston Hughes
She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.
After that the woman said, "Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here." She still held him. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said, "Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?"
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, "Yes’m."
The woman said, "What did you want to do it for?"
The boy said, "I didn’t aim to."
She said, "You a lie!"
By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.
"If I turn you loose, will you run?" asked the woman.
"Yes’m," said the boy.
"Then I won’t turn you loose," said the woman.
She did not release him.
"I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry," whispered the boy.
"Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?"
"No’m," said the boy.
"Then it will get washed this evening," said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.
He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
The woman said, "You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?"
"No’m," said the being dragged boy. "I just want you to turn me loose."
"Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?" asked the woman.
"No’m."
"But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another though coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."
Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette-furnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the middle of her room.
She said, "What is your name?"
"Roger," answered the boy.
"Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face," said the woman, whereupon she turned him loose--at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door— and went to the sink.
Let the water run until it gets warm," she said. "Here’s a clean towel."
"You gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.
"Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman. "Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe, you ain’t been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?"
"There’s nobody home at my house," said the boy.
"Then we’ll eat," said the woman, "I believe you’re hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my pocketbook."
"I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes," said the boy.
"Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes," said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. "You could of asked me."
"M’am?"
The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!
The woman was sitting on the day-bed.
After a while she said, "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get."
There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned. The woman said, "Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that." Pause. Silence. "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable."
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner other eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
"Do you need somebody to go to the store," asked the boy, "maybe to get some milk or something?"
"Don’t believe I do," said the woman, "unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was going to make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here."
"That will be fine," said the boy.
She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beautyshop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, red-heads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.
"Eat some more, son," she said.
When they were finished eating she got up and said, "Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s—because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet. I got to get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in."
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Goodnight!" Behave yourself, boy!" she said, looking out into the street.
The boy wanted to say something else other that "Thank you, ma’am" to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely managed to say "Thank you" before she shut the door. And he never saw her again. "Thank You Ma'm"
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I think the woman was trying to hold the boy accountable for his actions. He failed to take her purse, so instead of leaving him, she held him accountable and wanted him to think about his actions.
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I agree with the fact that the lady wanted to teach him a lesson. With most people now-a-days they just let little things slide by and this is something that needs to be addressed and punished but not in a negative way, in a positive way that makes him think about his decision and use it for the rest of his life. He uses this as a lesson (hopefully)
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The woman in the story appears to not be fazed by the fact the boy just tried to rob her instead she grabs him and makes him pick up her pocketbook instead.
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Trey, I agree with you that Mrs. Jones seems to not be phased by Roger attempting to steal her purse. This makes me think this may be a common occurrence. I am curious to know what you think.
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It’s an immediate morality check here. He may not be. He may not know to be.
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I feel as it is a little ironic how the boy tried to steal the women’s purse, yet he felt bad for doing it. I feel that there could be a good reasoning behind his situation.
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Yes I agree with you that he felt bad after the fact, but it is after got caught. It is easy to feel bad for your wrong doings after you get caught.
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This metaphorical treatment of lie IS a judgement of the woman upon the boy. She is placing a blanket of judgement over the boy in calling him AND his action a “lie.”
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The woman asks if the boy will run if let loose. If the answer is yes, more than a pocket book may have been lost. This might be important to the themes coming out of the work.
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This is a quick choice, the motivation not yet clear. There is still an inclination that she might turn the boy in. It would be well within her rights as the victim to do so.
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Asking after the boy’s homelife seems a bit personal, but the woman is taking in surface details of the boy in coming to this question.
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This suggestion of intimacy of moving into a maternal role is suggestive of a Domestic Intimacy theme. There is also a recognition of the woman’s responsibility to the boy even though he is not a son.
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The boy tried stealing the purse and instead of the women getting mad or so, she is trying to teach him a lesson. She is bringing the boy home and having him clean himself up instead of turning him in.
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I wonder what this means in the context of the story. Did Luella have a child that she lost prior to this age?
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Her physical prowess is evident in a woman who has a “handle” on a young boy who wants to run.
But, from where does Luella’s strength really come?
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Luella points to a conscious choice the boy has made tonight. This will be echoed/mirrored by a conscious choice that Luella will make in response.
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The woman and the boy come together in a sudden moment. The woman seizes this as an opportunity to impart a lesson.
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Although the boy’s life interfered with Mrs.Luella Bates Washington Jones’ out of a wrong decision, Mrs.Jones is teaching him that she is going to now intervene with his. She is showing him that he is going to get a life lesson about what his actions have an effect on.
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I agree that Mrs. Luella wanted to teach Roger a valuable lesson. It is a very important note to make though that Mrs. Luella made mention to her past experiences that she was not proud of. This gives the lesson she was trying to teach Roger more meaningful in the way that she is choosing to show him how to choose ‘right’ over ‘wrong’, since someone wasn’t their for her, in her younger years, to teacher her this lesson.
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Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones insights fear in Roger after stating he’ll remember her. However, by the end of the text it’s clear that the way in which Roger remembers her is different than what is instigated. Roger will remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones as someone who showed him kindness and hospitality during a rough time.
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I agree she could have went about it a different way, and it would have made everything much worse, by yelling st him, but instep she was calm, and very nice.
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Mrs. Washington hopes to make a large impact on this boys life after he tries to steal her pocketbook. All she did was let this boy clean his face, gave him some food, and give him a $10 bill. Even though these actions may seem small, to Roger they meant everything, Roger has no family and no one to tell him what to do and what not to do. ¨When I get through with you sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.¨
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I agree with Kinsey’s thoughts on this because people often seem to forget how the smallest things can mean a ton to people who do not have anything.
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Our main character seems to have a surname: Bates. Followed by two more last names: Washington Jones. Could this be a clue as the life “Luella” has lived that she does not fully reveal to the boy and thus the reader?
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With this line, the reader think that Mrs. Jones will get Roger in trouble for stealing her purse, but instead, he will never forget her for the nice things she had done for him.
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Notice that no one stops Luella on the street during this “scuffle” as she drags the boy to her home.
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Because the others are laughing at what they are seeing, this may be suggestive of the fact that the woman has done something similar before. Otherwise, wouldn’t this present as peril to the onlookers?
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With the realization that Mrs. Washington lived with several other people, Roger might have not known whether or not she was a very given person or if she was not rich herself. I believe this is part of the reason why Mrs. Washington saw the importance of teaching Roger of not stealing from people, because they might be as unfortunate as he was with his home life.
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Isn’t the boy’s question here a logical consequence of his actions? He is asking about Luella’s intent.
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Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones decides to help Roger, after learning that there is no one at his home to feed him, making “help those who cannot help themselves” as possible theme from the story.
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In any piece of literature, the sharing of a meal becomes a form of “communion” between the two diners. It may not be an accident that this comment on morality and wrongdoing is anchored by a meal together.
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Instead of turning the boy over to the police, she invites him in to wash his face and eat dinner. This is her way of serving justice, but also shows a different side of her. Mrs.Luella Bates Washington Jones is a large woman who drags this kid down the street but turns around and displays kindness. She even gives him money for shoes which would be uncommon if this were to happen today. She knows what it is like to want something you can’t have so she turns this into a lesson. She kind of plays a maternal figure as well when she tells him goodnight and that she wishes he would behave.
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I think that it’s sort of crazy how instead of calling the police or getting super angry with the boy, the woman tells him that he could have just asked her to buy him a pair of “blue suede shoes.” Even though the boy had wronged her, she showed him some compassion and sort of took the boy in for a bit.
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You can see the kindness of Mrs. Luella Bates when she says “You could of asked me.” She is trying to teach the boy right instead of calling the police and being rough with him like everyone else. It is a different approach, fixing the problem on the spot rather than later on down the road.
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All Roger wanted to do was to get away from Mrs.Luella Bates Washington Jones. However, that changed most likely due to the kindness that Mr.s Luella had towards Roger. He no longer wanted to “run,run,run,run,run!” Instead, all he wanted to do was repay her back in whatever way possible. He felt a sense of regret ( connection to Tuesday’s with Morrie) trying to steal Mrs.Luella Bates’s pocketbook. Anybody can change in any way shape or form, you just have to be determined to change.
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At the beginning of the story, when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones asks Roger is he is going to run, he honestly says yes. Now he has the opportunity to run, there’s nothing blocking him from leaving. Yet, he hesitates and stays instead of running. Why? What is he afraid will happen to him?
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The woman reveals to the boy that she has known some element of wanting but lacking in her own life.
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“Somebody wanted _________ but _________ so __________.”
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Mrs. Luella seems to take a form of pity on Roger, and a sense of forgiveness.
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Perhaps Mrs. Jones can relate to Roger in some way, she may have been poor like roger and tried to steal things when she was younger. Because of this she feels pity for Roger and wants to help him.
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The woman presents a confession to the boy without revealing the nature of her sins that are between her and her higher power.
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I find the notion that Ms. Luella Bates Washington has done some things of her own in the past interesting, as she states, “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son…” It helps bring to light that everyone in their life makes mistakes, but it is not those mistakes and transgressions that define us, but rather the lessons we learn from these experiences and how it helps us shape our future. For Washington, it seems to have helped her grow as a person, and so instead of thwarting the boy’s future, she took him in, assisted him, and made an impact on his life so that he may change for the better as well. It is always better to forgive, teach, and show compassion, all which comes about by learning from the past.
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I agree very much with Lucas that we shouldn’t allow the mistakes we made in the past to define who we are or what we will become
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She tells him that regardless of what he’s done she has done things she is not proud of in her youth. She instead cleans him up and helps him on his way rather than punishing him. She seems to want to teach a lesson rather than a punishment which might drive him to do it again.
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Luella demonstrates that to say one thing would be to cast judgement on the boy. Instead, she switches tact and reveals something of herself.
Zora Neale Hurston writes of her protagonist, Janie: “She was engaged in the oldest of human longings: self-revelation.”
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In this sentence, Mrs. Jones tells Roger that she also did things she is not necessarily proud of when she was a kid because she wanted things she could not have. This statement was made to let Roger know she understands why he felt the need to try to steal from her, although that does not make it right.
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I agree this sentence was used to give the reader evidence as to why Ms. Jones was acting the way she was to Roger, while suggesting she had gone through a similar situation to him as a kid.
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The boy is now more conscious of his place within the apartment. Not running impulsively. Sitting. Measuring.
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In this paragraph we see that Mrs. Jones is more trusting of Roger and likewise Roger now wants to have that trust and would not want to lose it. I think this also shows a change of character in Roger because in the beginning, he did not necessarily have good intentions but we learn the real reason behind why he acted in the way he did and instead of turning him into the police, Mrs. Jones shows kindness by teaching him a much needed lesson and in return he is now more respective of others.
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Gas plates vs. Stoves.
Screens vs. Partitions and Walls.
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I think these economic clues Mr. Hankins has pointed out could be important in the story because while Mrs. Luella may be rich and have the nicest things she is still showing compassion to Rodger even though he tried to steal her pocketbook
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Even though Roger previously tried to steal her pocketbook, Luella still left Roger unattended with her purse, signifying she trusts him now they have shared similar pasts. Roger also doesn’t run, which shows he is more comfortable than he was a first, establishing his trust with Mrs. Bates.
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After Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones showed grace towards Roger, he realizes he wants her to trust him. At this point, he has only washed his face and he is already more than grateful for this woman and wants to earn her trust.
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I agree. It is clear that Roger does not have anybody to really care for him. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones goes out of her way to ask him questions that would allude to this. Roger replies with answers suggesting that he does not. So, when Mrs. Jones welcomes him into her home, cleans him up, and generally cares for him, Roger is grateful. Roger has, seemingly, never known such graciousness.
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The boy who might have stolen is now suggesting an act of service.
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Not digging into what might be hurtful to the boy, the woman reveals more of herself, perhaps to frame herself as the would-be victim. She is building in familiarity here.
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I found it interesting to read that even though Roger tried to steal Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones’s purse, she still found it in her heart to give him the money that he needed to buy the blue suede shoes that he wanted.
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Mrs. Washington was really nice to the boy because she was understanding of his situation and knew he was not a bad kid but a desperate kid.
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The gift of the money here is more than benevolence. There is a lesson tied to the gift. And the mention of “the devil” is compelling here.
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This is where I’m seeing the theme set in place. The women is explaining to the boy that even if you successfully steal something, it wasn’t earned so it doesn’t matter. It reminds me of the phrase, “what goes around, comes around.” Now they have formed a relationship that will maybe even prevent him from doing it again in the future because he won’t have that bitterness anymore.
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Luella sends the boy forth now with a “commission” of behaving. Part of that behavior set would be not to steal.
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While the boy was leaving the house after Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones made him dinner, gave him a place to rest and wash his face, he was left speechless at the front door. With all the thankfulness and gratitude left in his body from this one woman, he could only manage to say “Thank you, ma’am,” but never got the chance. The boy was only able to let out “Thank you” before Mrs. Jones closed the door.
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The more learned a valuable lesson from Mrs.Jones. He needed shoes, so he thought stealing was the best option for him. She taught him different as we can see.
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As the boy is leaving Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones’ house, the boy is struggling to come up for words to give towards Mrs. Washington. This paragraph shows how shocked the boy was at this time.
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While is might be a bit lacking to the reader outside of the story, it might be more than the shoes for which the boy has been made to feel grateful.
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Roger is grateful for the shoes however Ms. Jones gives him much more to be grateful for such as her kindness and willingness to share what she had like her food.
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Ms. Jones could have dragged Roger to the police, but instead she took him home and fed him from what little she had herself. This shows her compassion and maybe gives the reader a hint into what her young life was like.
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I see a psychological theme coming out here. The fear and shame of being caught stealing, the empathy Mz. Luella shows him, her kindness and trust, along with their shared bond of wanting.
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In Thank You Ma’m, Langston Hughes highlights emotions, understanding, and empathy, as opposed to hatred and spite, as crucial to moving forward and growing in life.
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I agree with Ella in regards to finding the theme of “Thank you Ma’am,” by Langston Hughes. Mrs. Jones expresses empathy and gives pity to Roger, even stating, “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son-neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” She is able to understand Roger’s situation because she too made mistakes she’s not proud of. She takes him in, feeds him, and hopes he would learn from his mistakes.
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