Advice in life: Love and Marriage Essay -- Literary Analysis, Hughes,

Conventional wisdom has it that advice given from the older generation is endlessly helpful. Common sense seems to dictate that since the senile engage lived life longer, they are wiser. Speaking as a voice of the younger generation, although the elderly have lived life longer, the advice they give to the younger generation is not always beneficial. One of the most popular Harlem Renaissance poets Langston Hughes and the idolized novelist Zora Neale Hurston, both wrote pieces revolving around the idea of giving advice on life. Both literary works present characters that in offering advice to the young demonstrate their own distinct personalities. Hurston and Hughes explore the idea of using life experiences to offer advice to the younger generation through active subprogram of literary techniques. Mother to Son by Hughes depicts the struggles in life of a hardworking uneducated black Mother that attempts to give guidance concerning life to her son through her limited experiences. To take a case in point, Hughess poem Mother to Son the poets character Mother, describes her life metaphorically by relating it to a staircase. Through this metaphor ane realizes that Mother has always been climbing up a staircase, meaning she has been overcoming obstacles in life and rising. Similarly, Hurstons novel, Their Eyes Were watching God explores the life of the emotionally weak black woman, Janie, who is continuously pressured to make life decisions based on the opinions that her Nanny has amassed throughout her entire life as a slave. In Hurstons novel the authors character Nanny, describes a woman metaphorically as a mule. Throughout the narrative, this metaphor allows one to understand the role of women in society. This description of women N... ...cation that refutes the claim that advice from the elderly is always beneficial is when Nanny tells Janie to marry a rich man. Janie corroborates the age-old adage that advice from the elderly is always helpful. In so, she claims that advice rests upon the questionable assumption of oneself. By focusing on her own feelings and not the advice of Nanny Janie was able to marry a man she in truth loved. Janie reminds us that, it is simply not true that advice is given from the older generation is helpful. These conclusions that Janie reaches in life, add weight to the argument regarding advice from the elderly. These findings challenge the idea of people who embrace that advice from the older generation is always helpful. Janies discoveries will have significant applications in life as people decide whether to put advice from the elderly to wasting disease in their own lives.