4. Which excerpt from the poem best captures the

speaker's message to her son?

Incomplete question. I inferred you are referring to the poem "Mother to a Son" by Langston Hughes.

Answer:

"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' "

Explanation:

This poem which was written at a time when blacks suffered immensely from racism tells us the encouraging message from a mother to her son not to give up in his fight and endurance.

So, in summary, the mother is telling her son figuratively to persist in his struggles as he climbs through stairs like challenges in a society that dispises or oppresses him.