The struggles of a single mother are insurmountable. In the poem “ Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes writes prolifically about his mothers struggle. Tupac in his music video Dear Mama presents another strong argument on the struggles of a single mother. Both of these works deal with the struggles their mothers went through. However they present a different argument when it comes to the source of the struggle. Hughes poem doesn’t identify what exactly caused the struggle but it is reasonable to assume it was external circumstance. Tupac on the other hand repeatedly identifies himself as the cause of the struggle. Thus the arguments diverge. One argument deals with the struggle caused by external circumstances while another deals with the struggle of single motherhood caused by the children. I feel that the argument Tupac presents in his video is a more realistic and persuasive argument for singe motherhood. In the video “Dear Mama” Tupac uses his lyrics to tell the story behind the video. He uses realism in the lyrics as well as in the video. When the video opens up Tupac’s mother speaks about being seventeen, pregnant, and in jail. After she speaks, Tupac opens up the song by saying that his mother had nowhere to stay at seventeen once she was released from jail. The combination of the words of Tupac’s mother and Tupac himself creates a strong emotional appeal to the audience. This combination of rhetoric advances his argument on the struggle of a single mother. In the lyrics Tupac says, “I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell huggin on my mama from a jail cell”. Suggesting that his mother was very supportive and loving of him even though he was incarcerated because his mother wanted a better life for him. These two aspects of “Dear Mama” transfer into the poem “Mother to Son”
