Arghya Jana Literature Guide

  Three themes present in "Thank You, Ma'am" are Forgiveness and Empathy, the Power of Love and Trust, and Christian Charity. Forgiveness and Empathy : When Roger first snatches the purse of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, she wrestles him and drags him to her furnished room at the rear of a house. Once insides Mrs. Jones asks the boy his name and tells him to wash his face in the sink? "You gonna take me to jail?"....  "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?" Perceiving that Roger is neglected and hungry, Mrs. Jones forgives him and with her motherly nature --"You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong"--she forgives Roger and cooks him a meal.  She also tells Roger that she, too, has done wrong, an...

     Roger, the young boy who tries to steal a purse from the wrong woman in this Langston Hughes short story, feels shame and regret after he is forced to return to her home. While there, the large woman, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, treats the boy with respect and gives him a hot meal. She does not question him about the purse again, but only asks if he wanted the money because he was hungry. No, the boy tells her; he only wants to buy some blue suede shoes. She tells him that she, too, has done things for which she is ashamed. Mrs. Jones gives him $10 to buy the shoes, and shows him the way to the door. As he leaves, he wishes that he could think of something else to say, but he only tells her "Thank you, ma'am." Because the woman, who obviously has little money herself and has to cook a simple meal on a hot plate, is so kind to the boy, and treats him with dignity, she earns his trust and his respect--quite a change from how the two first me...

The Harlem Renaissance: The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s. At the time, it was known as the " New Negro Movement ", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke . The Movement also included the new African-American cultural expressions across the urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by the Great Migration (African American) , of which Harlem was the largest. Though it was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City , in addition, many francophone black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris were also influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem became an African-American neighborhood in the early 1900s. In 1910, a large block along 135th Street and Fifth Avenue was bought by various African-American realtors and a church group. Many more African–Americans arrived during the First World War . Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride tha...

Date of composition:   September 3, 1802 ( July 31, 1802 in another opinion) Year of publication:   1807 in “Poems in Two volumes” Westminster Bridge :   It is a bridge in England crossing the river Thames near Westminster Abbey and leading to the road to Dover. Occasion of composition: While going to Calais, France to pay a visit to Annette Vallon, ( a French woman whom Wordsworth met in 1791 in France fell in love   and in 1802 Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, visited Annette and Caroline in Calais. The purpose of the visit was to pave the way for his forthcoming marriage to Mary Hutchinson) on his way from London to Dover, Wordsworth looked at     the city of London from Westminster Bridge. It was early morning (31 st July 1802) and he was moved by the beauty of the city. He stopped his horse carriage on the bridge and wrote the poem. Poet’s companion: Dorothy, the poe...