In ” Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the young narrator changes from being hopeful, naive and excited at the beginning of the story to feeling turmoil and grief at the end of it. At the beginning of the story Hughes is shown to have trust in what the adults around him say and believe, this trust fed into his excitement at attending the church meeting. This trust fueled his belief in God, and it was put to the test during his church’s prayer night. During that night, Hughes was forced to lie about his belief in God by the pressures of the people in his church, he followed another who also lied about seeing Jesus. This traumatic event caused him grief and turmoil since he lied to the congregation and, more specifically, his aunt. This turmoil grew further when his aunt recognized his crying as being happy for having found God and not for having lied about it. This shows a further disconnect between him and his aunt, and also with himself from the beginning of the story.
Saraelle
The short story ” The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was chosen as the first story of the course in order to demonstrate the attitude the students should have as the class continues. An attitude of of willingness to change. In the short story, the villagers were hesitant to interact with the drowned man, the viewed him more as an inconvenience. It was after cleaning him up and looking at him that they were able to empathize with him and give him the name Esteban. By naming him they showed their acceptance of him as part of their village, and thus created changes that could better accommodate someone of Esteban’s stature. This forever changes the towns facade and their reputation. This relates to me as a student because this course’s goal is to help me become a better reader and writer by helping me improve my analytical, research, and other literary skills. I can only learn if I’m willing to go beyond what is presented and incorporate what I’m learning to future lessons.
