Figurative Language

There were a some figurative language used in the poem Mother to son.  For example the mother said "Life for me ain't no crystal stair."  This would mean that her life was definitely not easy and you just have to keep going forward or as the poem would say climbing those stairs.  Another example is "Places with no carpet on the floor."  This means that she was poor when she was growing up because there apartment was floor less. The mood and tone in this story affected it because the mother spoke like she was uneducated because she wasn't educated because when she was younger she didn't have an education.  Also the mother is giving her son a slight scolding because he must be going through a hard time and might want to give up but she keeps on telling him to keep going forward.  A book that can relate to this poem is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, it relates to this poem because the Indian is going threw a really hard time and his parent are trying to support him and to help him move forward with his life.