：Thank You, Ma・m；Essay
Was it ever in your knowledge that the human mind was a brittle fragile thing- so easily manipulated and swayed by such things as kindness and trust? In the short story ：Thank You, Ma・m； by Langston Hughes, one will find that it・s not such a bad trait. Sometimes, it・s just what we need. Knidness and understanding can change a person・s life for the better. Knidness, trust, and understanding might be just what a person needs. It was like the unfurling of a peel in an onion, and you could almost see her turning over a new leaf. ：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?・； One could observe the change taking place, for no longer was the woman aggressively striking the boy, no longer did she shake him. As the woman・s anger faded, so did everything else, and perhaps, perhaps at that moment she saw herself within that boy. So she was kind to him-motherly in a way. ：・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.