“Salvation” by Langston Hughes is a good read chosen by Professor Conway. I feel as though the narrator is noticeably different from the way he was in the beginning of the story since at the end of the story he said “I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me”. The narrator thought the comment from his aunt “you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul”. literal after his aunt told him he will and it ruined his beliefs because of it, and I believe he understands it as an adult now. According to the video that was assigned, this story falls under dramatic irony. I believe it falls under dramatic irony since the narrator believed everything that he was told but ‘we’ the readers know the aunt did not mean it literally but he doesn’t understand she meant figuratively because he was 12 years old.
Daily Archives: September 6, 2022
“Salvation” by Langston Hughes was another very interesting read by Prof. Conway. I think Hughes was different by the end of the story because he then developed an even greater fear about being “saved” which he initially thought would be a positive experience. He became even more confused because being “saved” turned into him lying but by lying he made the congregation happy because they thought he was “saved”. I think Hughes was overthinking what being “saved” actually means but he was also only thirteen years old so what could you expect. I thought it was really funny when his friend decided to just go up and be saved because he was tired of waiting, so he didn’t take it too literally and just went up and gave the people what they wanted, which is essentially what Hughes did but he ended up having a really guilty conscience about it.
There are many viewpoints that I have read when it comes to this story. Though in my perspective, I believe this might have been assigned to open our minds up to the ability of change and imagination. These women knew absolutely nothing about this man – who they called “Esteban.” Yet because their mind created many scenarios that this man may have not been satisfied with his life, they change their surroundings in honor of him. “..everything would be different from then on, that their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban’s memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams..” Pg. 8. They showed compassion for a stranger and that reflected on their own being. I feel like this can factor into today’s class. Despite being strangers, we can help each other grow. To help each other adapt to change and open a mind to a wider imagination.
At the beginning of “Salvation”, we see a young hopeful child getting ready to go to church with his aunt. Often in churches, people like to take children to churches to become acquainted with the religion at an early age to worship. In the text, it’s described as bringing the young lambs to the fold. When people are in church, specifically black churches, they’re very high energy. People can be found singing, preaching, and fainting. Since the adults are accustomed to religion, they’re able to have faith in it and connect deeply with it. Compared to the adults in the church, the children didn’t feel anything. Langston believed to be saved he had to vividly see Jesus. His aunt explained that when he was saved, he’d see a light, and something happened to him inside. He was expecting a physical being instead of a feeling. Religion is a very nuanced topic that is hard for children to grasp. There are a lot of open-ended questions when it comes to religion that would make it hard as a child to fully understand how you’re supposed to act and feel when you’re worshiping. Throughout the story, we see how Langston’s excitement and childlike wonder dwindle once he starts to not feel or see anything in the church. He saw his friend also not feel anything but went up anyways to get it over with. Later he did the same but felt guilty as if he were lying because he did not feel anything or see any light and lost that faith he once had. The dramatic irony in the story stems from the vague sense of religion.
I think Professor Conway assigned “The Handsomest Drowned Man” because Gabriel Garcia Marquez depicts all the qualities people strive for in one person. The man, Esteban, Is tall, strong, and handsome. Despite being dead, the people admire the man’s qualities without really knowing him. The man had an impact on so many people without even doing anything to move them. He, himself, moved them, almost like a sense of leadership. It’s interesting to take into account Marquez’s cultural background considering he is Colombian. Machismo culture in Latin America is a very strong sense of masculine pride, though having negative connotations, it is ingrained in a lot of people, especially at the time of publication, 1968. To have one person embody that would be truly admirable for the people in the village, specifically men, as something to strive to be. There are themes of vanity and unity, bringing all sorts of people together in the village. I think this shows how easily a group of people can react when a manifestation of all attributes they find attractive come to life. In real-world examples, we see how figures with a large diverse audience such as political figures, celebrities, etc. have a charm to them that people are drawn to. They could do good, bad, or nothing at all and still have an effect on people’s behavior. The story helped us put ourselves in the character’s shoes and connect the descriptions given in the text to how we as the reader would react to get a better picture of how the characters in the story felt.
