Empathy, Kindness, and Punishment Theme Analysis

Langston Hughes’s “Thank You, M’am” tells the story of a young boy, Roger, who meets an older woman, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, while attempting to steal her purse. When Roger is initially confronted by the firm and imposing Mrs. Jones, he clearly believes he will be punished for his crime; indeed, she takes him in hand, kicks him “square in the blue-jeaned sitter,” and shakes him “until his teeth rattled.” Yet it quickly becomes evident that punishment is not what she has in mind for Roger. Instead, Mrs. Jones engages with the boy to teach him why what he did was wrong, to discover what his motivations were in attempting to rob her, and to recommend how he should act with honesty and good faith in the future. Roger’s ultimate gratitude towards Mrs. Jones—reflected in the title of the story itself—suggests that her actions do indeed change Roger for the better. Hughes thus models how kindness differs from punishment both in method and in effect, ultimately arguing for the value of compassion and shared understanding in helping set people on the right path.

Mrs. Jones’s lesson in kindness begins through teaching Roger “right from wrong.” Rather than simply telling Roger his actions were wrong, though, she invites him to embrace this realization on his own. First, she instructs him to return her purse, which allows Roger to make his mistake right. She next seeks to activate his conscience. Her motherly query—“Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?”—sets the stage for the rest of their conversation and forces Roger to contemplate his actions. Her line of questions also reveals Roger’s desire to run away, suggesting that he does indeed feel guilty about what he’s done and thus is capable of distinguishing between right and wrong on his own. Rather than simply allowing Roger to disappear into the night, shaken but otherwise undeterred, Mrs. Jones then drags him home, learns his name, makes him wash his face, and feeds him dinner. By refusing to merely dismiss Roger as a bad kid incapable of learning from his mistakes, she implicitly honors Roger’s humanity and encourages him to do the same for himself—that is, to respect and listen to his conscience.

The decision to choose kindness rather than punishment notably develops from a sense of empathy, or being able to genuinely understand another’s feelings and desires. Rather than attributing his actions to some innate character flaw, Mrs. Jones seeks to learn the reason behind Roger’s crime. At first, she suggests that hunger lay behind his thievery, but Roger corrects her mistake, explaining he had wanted “a pair of blue suede shoes.” Mrs. Jones then surprises Roger by not immediately condemning his desire, saying, “I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.” Because Mrs. Jones can imagine how Roger is feeling and how this drives his actions, she judges him less harshly.

It’s notable that Hughes doesn’t fall back on tropes about poverty to explain Roger’s actions; Roger is a complex character who, like any other human being, may desire certain luxuries. Mrs. Jones continues to overturn Roger’s expectations for the typical order of a conversation after wrong-doing. “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you?” she says. “You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” She narrates the difference between judgment and kindness, explaining how most corrections (even those masked by kindness) come with “but” statements exonerating the speaker from similar wrongdoing. Instead, after a silent pause, Mrs. Jones empathizes with Roger’s actions: “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if He didn’t already know. Everybody’s got something in common.” Mrs. Jones’s empathy for Roger underscores that his impulse, though wrongly expressed, doesn’t make him an inherently bad person. And again, since Mrs. Jones never suggests that something is inherently wrong with Roger, she allows him the space to learn and do better in the future.

Mrs. Jones’s kindness has a demonstrable effect on Roger. While in her house, Roger has multiple opportunities to run away or to steal from the woman. Yet having been shown a modicum of kindness and respect, he does “not want to be mistrusted now.” This marks a dramatic shift from the beginning of the story when Roger is clearly afraid of punishment, signaled by his repetitive wish to run away from an uncomfortable situation.

Hughes’s story thus displays the transformational nature of kindness and empathy, which instill an invaluable sense of mutual trust. The openness that grows between Mrs. Jones and Roger further suggests that this lesson will not last for only one night. Rather, the implication is that Roger will change his behavior out of desire to be worthy of Mrs. Jones’s kindness. Moreover, based on the story’s likely historical context in diverse, urban New York, it’s not a stretch to imagine that Hughes imagined the lessons of this story shouldn’t just be limited to its two characters. Rather, it could serve as a broad call for greater understanding and empathy specifically toward black communities often singled out for crime and punishment.