For this I read the story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes .One of the most striking scenes in the story is when the narrator finds himself as the last child on the mourners’ bench, surrounded by a congregation praying fervently for his salvation. The lines “And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting – but he didn’t come” encapsulate the disconnect between the overwhelming external pressure and the quiet internal truth he felt. This dichotomy paints a vivid picture of how external pressures can lead one to act against their innermost feelings or beliefs. Additionally, the story’s conclusion, where the young Hughes lies to appease the church and his family, speaks volumes about the lengths one may go to in order to conform. The ending is particularly heart-wrenching because it’s clear that the act of lying has a profound impact on his self-perception and beliefs.In essence, I connected with Hughes’s story cause it serves as a powerful reminder of the complexities of growing up, the challenges of navigating societal pressures, and the internal conflicts that can arise from trying to fit into expected molds. Through the lens of young Hughes’s experience, the story offers insights into the universal human experience of grappling with external expectations versus personal truths. James Joyce’s “Araby” resonates with me in many ways. The meticulous depiction of North Richmond Street depicts a quiet and serene environment, which anyone who grew up in a quiet area may be familiar with. This silence is broken only by the boys’ play. This scene evokes anecdotes from my own childhood and personal memories of the sheer joy of free play. What I really felt was the description of a winter day “Dusk approached before we could eat enough dinner.” It vividly depicts the dark and cold days and the […]
Daily Archives: September 8, 2023
In the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, I felt connected to the narrator in this scene “Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting, as they saw me rise. Waves of rejoicing swept the place. Women leaped in the air. My aunt threw her arms around me.” Even though, my history is a little different. But when I was 7–8 years old, I was a bad kid. I used to fight, curse, and all those bad stuff. But one day my aunt took me to the church. I never thought of going to the church at that age. And everyone at the church was amazed that I was calm and not fighting. And when they baptized me, I stopped doing all those bad things. Post data, I didn’t see Jesus either. In the short story “Araby” by James Joyce, I felt connected to the narrator in this scene, “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.” Even though my history is a little different. When I was a teenager, I had a crush on a girl who was in the eighth grade, I was in the sixth grade. I never told her anything because I Knew she was going to make fun of me in a good way. But I knew she was not going to take me seriously. She and I used to spend a lot of time in middle school. Before she went to high school, she kissed me, and we took a photo together. I was seeing that picture night and days for weeks. Post data, I didn’t become obsessed with her.
I liked the story “Salvation” the most between both stories. I can relate more to the narrator when it comes to disappointment and feeling guilty when giving in to peer pressure. Langston was waiting to be saved and to see Jesus at the same time. When that never came he initially refused to lie to everyone until he realized that the only outcome to it all was for him to be “saved”. He then cried in bed because he couldn’t admit that he never saw god, resulting in him not believing in god at all. Langston’s inability to lie, his disappointment, and his feeling of guilt compared to how Westley didn’t seem to feel anything at all is ironic. I find myself feeling like Langston in certain situations where I can’t ignore my feelings yet I see others choose to feel nothing so easily resulting in me being disappointed in society. In “Araby” I realized that the narrator remained in a state of delusion. He was in love with a girl he didn’t actually know well enough to love. He was only in love with the idea he made of her in his head. On a deeper level, being caught up in a state of delusion is how I connect to the narrator. It is easy to fully immerse yourself in the beliefs you make up of someone or something. Towards the end of the story, the narrator realizes that the bazaar he was looking forward to wasn’t like he expected. He couldn’t find anything of value to gift his crush even if he really wanted to. At some point, realization hits, and with that can come feelings of self-anger.
This week we read the story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. In the story the narrator talks about his childhood experience in religion and faith. When I was 9-12 years old, there is a church next to my house and I used to go very often. At that time I could not understand very well about religion, since in Dominican Republic people practice different religion, making the people who didn’t have any religion believe in theirs and act like the others religion are “bad” or “fake”. The church I used to go was a christian church, therefore my religion or believe was christianity. All my christian neighbors used to say that if you want to be save you have to repent and convert to christian. Once I was in church and the paster pointed at me and asked me if I was ready to repent and convert to christian and I said yes, even though I didn’t want to be christian yet. After i got home I felt so guilty because we can never play with god and his rules, and I ask for forgiveness, because I knew that what I did was wrong. In the story of ” salvation”, the narrator says “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved”, this connects with me because like Langston, I also lied to the church and everyone in the church, I felt guilty and embarrassed. Also we read the story “Araby” by James Joyce. the story shows desilucion, emotion and sensitiveness. The narrator has an active imagination and a sense of wonder. He imagines that the bazaar he could get a gift for the girl he’s attracted to, he is met with the truth that life is often disappointing. In fact, he knows so little […]
Despite growing up in a Buddhist family I can somehow relate to this week’s story. I was five when my parents moved to Nagaland, India. I attended a Christian school for 14 years. Unlike other states in India majority of the people in Nagaland are Christians, therefore you could imagine I was surrounded by Churches, retreats, revivals, fellowships and etc. When I was a junior is middle school I had to attend the summer retreat program. A lot of different people had come from different places including foreigners, to worship God, to pray and to talk about their stories of salvation. I vividly remember the last day when it was time for the prayers, people in the corners started screaming and crying. “And he held out his arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners’ bench. And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there”. (Hughes para3) Similar to Langston Hughes I was one of the people who just sat there feeling ashamed of myself or more so nervous to how my friends will perceive me. Like the narrator in the story Araby I also had a crush on this cool senior in high school. I would stalk his IG and Tiktok until my data was over (back then we didn’t have wifi) but It felt like I was more so like a fan observing her Idol. My story is rather different than the narrator’s story, however like the girl was the only light in his gloomy world I think my admiration for my crush was the only reason I went to school. “I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, […]
