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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Sharing Food

Sharing food is an important motif in “Thank You, M’am.” Mrs. Jones’s insistence that Roger share her supper shows maternal care and an understanding of the power of shared meals to build relationships between people. Although Mrs. Jones is not a rich woman and has not anticipated a guest at dinner, she divides the food she has at home to share with Roger, refusing his offer to go to the store for her. Roger’s acceptance of her food, including cocoa with canned milk rather than fresh milk shows his willingness to enter this meal on her terms. At the end of supper, Mrs. Jones evenly divides the store-bought cake that is likely an indulgence, encouraging him to eat more as she addresses him as “son,” a moment in the text that cements her connection to him. Hughes work is often full of Christian allusions and themes, and this moment echoes a biblical story when Jesus, seeing the disciples coming to shore after fishing unsuccessfully, calls them to come and eat the food he has prepared. Shared meals are an important theme throughout the New Testament, and this story invokes a subtle Biblical allusion to show how the meal shared between Mrs. Jones and Roger creates a bond between them.

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