Novelist, Langston Hughes, in his short story, “Salvation,” recounts a religious experience where his views are altered on the existence of a god and describes the guilt that comes with a faked saving. Hughes purpose is to portray how religion is forced on children of society with no say of the child. He adopts a confused, but guilty tone in order to gain recognition regarding forced religions in society. Hughes begins his short story by addressing the complications that come with forced religion and how the effect on children can be life changing causing mixed emotions some of which become negative. Hughes appeals the conflicting emotions of the audience by saying “he was saved from sin” at the young age of thirteen but arguing that he was “not saved”. He states this in order to reveal that all along he hasn’t been saved when he was put on the front row with all the other “young lambs”. The conflicting emotion from Hughes conveys the forced religious traditions of his church and foreshadows the unsuccessful saving. Hughes than moves to his experience and the complications that came with the saving itself. He describes the loss …show more content…
Hughes examines his situation as being very distressful and unwanted deceit of his family when he states he “had lied” and that he “had deceived everybody in the church”. He conveys this idea of deceit in order to describe the negative feelings he felt toward himself and his actions when the saving was faked, and without justifiable cause, the blame fell on Jesus when Hughes states “he didn't come to help me”. He cries during this time of regret to show the pain he felt after lying, but also to show that he had a loss of faith for a deity who his family had believed in for generations. This relates to those with any situation where a there has been a loss of faith whether it being religion based or
In Langston Hughes’ piece “Salvation,” he implemented personification to amplify the impassioned, but manipulative, environment of the church during the revival. 2. “And the church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be saved” (par. 4). “And the whole building rocked with prayer and song” (par. 4).
Few religions outline the exact steps towards salvation. They follow this practice with the belief that no mortal can truly know whether they will see heaven’s pearly gates, even if he or she spends years knocking on doors with tracts and Bibles in hand. In Langston Hughes’ “Salvation,” however, a church in the midst of a revival pleads and shouts that a young Hughes simply needs to see Jesus to be saved. But when Hughes can’t see Jesus, he loses faith in both salvation and himself. To help his readers understand his younger self’s reasoning for his loss of faith, Hughes manipulates his syntax to immerse the audience in his naive 13-year-old mind.
Langston Hughes short story “Salvation” epitomizes what is an internal struggle for many people, especially children, who want so badly to believe what they have been taught all their lives by their relatives, elders in the church and the preacher; that to have a relationship with God, you must be saved and only then will you be able to see him. Hughes’ Aunt Reed paints such a vivid picture of that idea beginning in the story’s second chapter: “My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul.”
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.
By not including anything that might be offensive to a reader of a different religion, Hughes expanded his audience to a wide array of readers. Incorporating this religious experience to your own life experiences can be beneficial when relating to similar situations that you might have faced, or will face in the future. This story of a young man realizing that things may not always be as easy as others make it seem, and that at some points in life you must rethink everything you thought you once knew, is an important life lesson to all readers. Forming your own opinion on controversial subjects, such as religion, is something that one must do several times throughout their lives. This reason itself is what makes this story by Hughes interesting and unique in the way that it can relate to so many subjects not regarding
In Hughes’s short essay, which he ironically titles “Salvation,” he tells the reader about one of his most significant childhood memories. Hughes provides background about a huge revival at his aunt’s church. He flashes forward to the day where he was supposed to be called upon by Jesus and greeted by a bright light his aunt repeatedly tells him about. Hughes recalls that he sat on the mourners’ bench right in the front row with the rest of the unsaved children.
McDowell begins the book with an anecdote of his life; a familiar story of the sceptical university Agnostic, ready to fire back a retort at the slightest mention of God, Christianity, and anything (or anyone) within. He recounted the all too common feeling of a meaningless life, the seemingly innate itch of human existence, and how it brought him to various places in his life—until he stumbled upon a particular group of people and was changed forever. This introduction, though short, is crucial to understand, for it sets the stage for the remainder of the book. It tells not only the story of a former non-believer, but the story of everyone—it presents us the life of Jesus Christ, not as a gentle sermon or a feel-good retelling, but as an assertive, rational reply to the accusation: ‘Christianity is a myth, and so is your God.’
The one being saved here is the Misfit through the grandmother, her words. Before he killed her, she considered him as one of her children, we could say the grandmother recognized him as a human being who can be saved by the grace of
Langston Hughes used rhetoric words in his story “Salvation,” to provide foreshadows, and emotional appeals to his struggles in becoming religiously saved. Hughes began his story by stating “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen (179).” The irony in this opening is that Hughes initially believed in the presence of Jesus, but unexpected pressures pushed him to betray and deceive his faith. The setting of Hughes struggles took place in a religious ceremony in his Auntie Reed’s church. In this service, many young children like Hughes were gathered to be spiritually cleansed by the light of Jesus.
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.
Hughes getting up and lying shows the reader Hughes has lost faith and no longer believes in religion, as he resorted to lying. From these experiences, Hughes goes on to tell the reader “That night, for the first time in my life but one for I was a big boy twelve years old - I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn 't stop.” (Hughes 187) Here, we can see how the events that occured that night impacted Hughes in a negative way that same night.
In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.
In the two short stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Prodigal Son,” by St. Luke there is a parallel struggle of faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown” is a very dark tale of mystery and deceit that surrounds a young man’s test of true faith in his battle against the evil one. In the parable of “The Prodigal Son,” Christ gives the reader a picture of God’s unfailing love toward His children and His ever constant surrounding presence. Faith is tested in each of these stories and the choice becomes to either succumb to this evil world, turn to God, or perhaps something else altogether. Although each story differs in climactic endings, both protagonists in each story reflect the struggle of one’s very soul by their reluctance to fully submit to God.
That’s the beautiful thing about irony. You expect one thing to happen and then the complete opposite ends up taking place instead. Hughes went into church that day with the expectation that he was going to see Jesus because that’s what everybody told him was going to happen. Instead, he left disappointed, guilty and even disbelieving in Jesus all together.