Free Will In Cora Unashamed By Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is unique because he steadily asks rhetorical questions like “The free?” and “Who said the free? Not Me?”(Hughes). With this Langston shows us that from his personal experience, he jokes about the United States of America as a land of freedom and then questions the people who said the United States of America is the land of the free. Because Langston Hughes has experienced the life of African Americans, Indians, and other immigrants have felt in the United States of America.

In “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, he recalls a time from his childhood when he was at church. All the children of the church were being “saved” until he was eventually the last one who wasn’t. Feeling tired and pressured, Langston stood, declaring he had been saved. He felt horrible for lying, but the pressure placed upon him by the entire church outweighed the feeling of guilt. Similarly, people of all types experience a feeling similar to Langston’s; something called peer pressure.

We know we are beautiful… If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves” (Hughes). Langston Hughes showed young Black artists that they could be proud of themselves and for them to not be afraid of showing that pride in their artwork.

In “Salvation,” Langston Hughes presents his momentous coming-of-age story as a dark and saddening ending to his childhood that provides the reader with understanding of the loss of innocence; and faith he faced and how it impacted who he came to be. Hughes makes a strong implication that children become less and less innocent over time. Hughes himself proves that through the tone of his entire essay. It begins with a light toned; yet still ironic introduction, but ends with a dark, depressing final line. Hughes supplies his reader with multiple literary devices such as imagery, flashbacks, and irony to present this comparison of his younger self and his older self.

After seeing everyones’ hopes for freedom being crushed just outside a hole in her cramped attic,Cora begins to reflect on her sense of independence she felt through her garden, “Cora thought of her garden back on Randall, the plot she cherished. Now she saw it for the joke it was—a tiny square of dirt that had convinced her she owned something. It was hers like the cotton she seeded, weeded, and picked was hers” (184). Cora begins to wonder if she ever had owned her garden after witnessing black people like her being killed for believing they had the same rights as white people. She talks about how she felt like she owned the garden despite the fact that she was living and working on a plantation.

When she arrives at Valentine Farm, a seeming utopia for blacks in Indiana, she immediately receives flak from Mingo, a long-time resident. Mingo argues that in order for the racially uplifting project of the Valentine Farm to last, the farm must do with a “severe reduction in those they sheltered: the runaways, the lost. People like Cora” (Whitehead 249). And some residents agree with him. Even within the comfortable, idyllic confines of the Valentine Farm motto “Stay, and contribute” (Whitehead 253), Cora is undesirable and unworthy by the residents who claim to follow that motto.

Langston Hughes 's shifting attitude toward salvation in his essay was disappointing and at the same time upsetting. He 's disappointed and upset because he was forced to believe in the situation that something will happen to him inside before he accept Jesus but instead it did not happen. Most of the time we are pressured to accept an idea of what others belief, not because we agree to it but instead we intentionally do it for them to stop asking. Some felt the guilt after, and do something about it but most of the time we just let it go and move on.

“Salvation” is a short story by Langston Hughes describing a boy when he discovered a significant truth about faith and religion. The last paragraph of “Salvation” functions as an epiphany for the boy. An epiphany is an experience of sudden and striking realization. It can also mean the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi. This event helps shape the boy’s religious understanding far differently from what his Aunt Reed believes.

Langston Hughes was a very famous poet but also a dreamer during the 1920s when discrimination and racism were main problems in the society. He was a civil right activist who proposed the idea of equal opportunities between all races by writing poems, books, and playwrights; many of his famous literatures affected Americans in many crucial ways. Hughes’s main idea against the society was equality however he discovered that it is difficult to change people’s “norms” and stereotypes. Therefore, his humorous and serious type of writing effectively appealed to many audiences which eventually played a big role of achieving racial equality and equal opportunities.

Hughes was a product of a mixed union that of a poor black mother and a rich white father (Meyer). Although he can from too different backgrounds, Hughes chose to embrace his African American heritage. In a review of Langston Hughes’s poem, Donald B. Gibson states that Hughes had an “new contemporary audience” that “ recognized Hughes as someone who speaks for African Americans and someone whose work and career formed a basis for pride…”(Gibson). Comparatively, Langston Hughes experienced a different but very similar form of being an outcast as Claude McKay; not only was he an outcast in America, but also among his own due to his mixed

People in their youth have events that affect the type of person they are in the future. It can range from a simple argument to a life threatening situation . One such event that many people have gone through is peer pressure. Langston Hughes is one who can argue for that. In his essay “Salvation” He argues that a person should not be forced into believing or feeling a certain way towards something,rather the person should make should make choices themselves based on their own reasons.

In our lives, we lie often times to escape intense situations. This correlates to the story, “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, which is about a twelve year old boy who lies about seeing Jesus. His lie allows him to be seen as a good christian. However, he soon discovers that he has questioned his beliefs and is unsure about them. “Salvation” is a serious story due to a little boy being peer pressured, which leads to challenging christian believes and sitting through a great deal of mourning.

In particular, Whitehead’s use of imagery, character interactions and figurative language brings to attention aspects of race relations that were and are still often misunderstood or disregarded by society. It is important to note, however, that the oppressed do not remain oppressed forever as demonstrated by heroine Cora ’s persisting efforts to break free. Thus, through his uncensored narrative of slavery, Whitehead sets precedence for the impassioned social resistance movements in the modern era by arguing that the most enduring road is

Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.

We can define the word salvation as deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ. One can be saved by accepting Jesus Christ into your life, but this wasn’t the case for Langston Hughes when he wrote “Salvation”. Having portrayed himself as a young teenage boy when this piece was written and using the first person perspective, the pressure he felt wanting to actually see and feel Jesus is the main reason why he ruined it for himself, and he was not “saved”. The first two lines even say “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved.”