Langston Hughes's short story "Thank You, Ma'am" opens on a dark street around 11:00pm. A young boy sneaks up on an old lady and tries to grab her purse, but he accidentally breaks the strap and falls over on his back.
When the lady orders the boy to pick up the purse and hand it back to her, and especially when she says "Now ain't you ashamed of yourself?", readers might guess that the woman will march the boy straight to his own parents to inform them about what happened and see that the boy is properly punished.
Yet that isn't what happens.
With determination and physical strength, she takes him to her own home--to wash his face, because no one is at the boy's home to do this for him. (We could definitely interpret the face-washing as a powerful symbol: Mrs. Jones is cleansing his soul.)
She learns his name (Roger) and cooks him a meal. (Again, check out that awesome symbolism! Eating together is a powerful symbol of union. It's a hint that the people who are sharing the meal also have something important in common.)
She finds out why he was trying to steal the purse: he needed money for shoes; she gives it to him. Then she sends him on his way.
The question is, why is she so kind to him?
Let's look at what she says to him before the meal: "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get." Mrs. Jones sympathizes with Roger because she, too, used to be young and in need, and so she shows him kindness.
She also says, "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son." She means that she's also done things she's not proud of, but she doesn't say what, whether it was stealing, lying, or something worse. Again, she sees that her past mistakes and Roger's recent one are similar, and that sympathy inspires her to treat Roger with kindness and set him on the path to better behavior.
Here's the clincher! "Everybody's got something in common," Mrs. Jones says. That's the point of the story, and why she shows kindness to a boy who tried to steal from her.
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