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.
Powered by:
top