In “mother to son”, which poetic device does langston hughes use and why?
a)
he uses similes to compare life’s hardships to ordinary, everyday things
b)
he uses a metaphor to compare life to a staircase
c)
he uses an extended metaphor to compare life’s hardships and successes to a staircase

The answer is indeed letter c) He uses an extended metaphor to compare life’s hardships and successes to a staircase.

Explanation:

As we know, a metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things in order to attribute some quality of one of them to the other. Metaphors do not employ support words such as "like" or "as". An extended metaphor happens when such comparison continues throughout a series of lines in a poem (or even paragraphs in other genres). That is precisely what we have in Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son". The speaker of the poem is a mother who's telling her son life has been really hard on her, but she has kept on going, and so should he. She says life hasn't been a crystal stair, but a rough one. It hurt her feet, but did not prevent her from climbing. This metaphor goes on for the whole poem.

The poem is as follows:

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

the answer is camped