Arly Alvarado

For my research essay I will be focusing on the short story written by Langston Hughes, “Salvation.” The reading centers on a young boy who attends church with high hopes of being “saved by Jesus,” only for circumstances to change when he is the last child sitting on the mourners bench and has yet to be rescued. In fear of wasting any more time, he stands- though he goes to bed later that night with the lack of faith in Jesus and feeling remorseful for lying. From the beginning to the end of the story, readers are able to see the change in his thought process as well as feel his emotions. The secondary source information I will use to support my thesis will be the journal article “The American Dream of Langston Hughes” published by Southern Methodist University. [JSTOR] This article supports my thesis because throughout the reading, readers are informed on everything Hughes had experienced. From being a victim to racial discrimination to using poetry to make ends meet and than making poetry his voice. Readers are able to witness the character development.

Just by reading the title of Emily Dickinson’s poem, The Wife, I predicted that it will be from the perspective of a woman telling her readers how life has changed on her behalf after marriage. Dickinson’s states, “She rose to his requirement, dropped the playthings of her life. To take the honorable work of woman and of wife.” Within the first paragraph, the writer makes it clear that she has changed her ways to live up to his standards. Further throughout the poem, she mentions that “It lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed.” She would repress her emotions and freewill to be the wife she believes she is supposed to be. This theme connects to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour.” In the beginning of the story the news of her husband’s passing is broken to her. She is filled with grief, locking herself away in her room. Though as shes processing reality as a widow, she sees beyond that- a free and independent woman. She was accustomed to living for someone other than herself. It seems to have filled her with excitement.”There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” Shortly after, Mrs. Mallard passes away after the moment she evidently yearned for was taken from her when Mr. Mallard walked through the door.

“Arbay” is not a love story. In my perspective, it serves to distinguish between objective reality and subjective feelings. Throughout the story, the narrator uses multiple metaphors, hyperbole’s, similes, etc. All of which makes us use our imagination. In the beginning of the story he states, “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.” He is evidently infatuated with her. He thinks of her constantly which clouds his judgement and view on anything that’s not her. Later on in the story, after being held up by his uncle- he took the train to the bazaar. He even mentions that he has to “remind himself with difficultly” why had came, as if it had not met his expectations. He seemed to be unsettled throughout his visit, wandering around he realized that his stay served no purpose. “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” Towards the end of the story, the boy’s perspective starts to shift.