Week 3 Discussion

Poetry is a written art form expressed with literature.  Poetry at times can be tricky, and hard to understand. At times you may not understand, but how Carlos Williams said poetry comes with challenges. He also stated that you must complete what the poet has began. By Carlos saying that phrase you must complete what the poet began means that the reader has to put hard effort and be open minded when they are reading the poem. You must put your imagination into the poem, and approach the poem in a different way. Also by finding the meaning of the poem by understanding what the poet is trying to express in the poem. For example the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a short poem with lines that really difficult to understand. In order to understand it you must complete the poem, and put an effort when reading the poem. The poem talks about a group of young men trying to be cool living life at young age by cutting class, being in the streets late at night, by doing that they will might end up dead at a young age. At the end it all depends on the reader to find and complete the poem with the effort of understanding the message of the poet.

  My idea about poetry has changed drastically after I read the readings in week 11. It has given me the idea on how to observe and evaluate the meaning of the hidden text of the poems. Poetry has also shown me ideas and structure on how a poem is created by using repetition, sound, rhythm, and imagery. It has given me the idea of how poetry that expresses emotions can help us to process our experiences, and how to describe beauty objects or things in a fashionable way. I love how the poem ” My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare clearly describes how beautiful a woman is by only using words and strong metaphors. For example in the poem William Shakespeare describes a woman he calls his mistress by saying “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”; “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;”in the poem “. He is saying in other words how beautiful the mistress’s eyes are and how her lips have a bright beautiful red color. It is just magnificent how poetry is put together to give the reader a creative meaning just by using words.

In Oedipus the King, the Chorus sang an ode between 181-230. The ode was about seeking help from other gods. They were seeking help because the God of War Ares had a plague against them, that the plague was spreading contagion death to their city. Children were born dead and laid naked on the earth. Having their people suffer just because a savage god wanting to burn them. The only one to blame was the God of War Ares. They were asking the gods Zeus, Apollo, Athena, and Artemis to go against any god that wants to burn them which would be Ares. They were asking to dishonor the god of war due to his actions against the city. The reason for asking these specific gods for help because as the chorus said in lines 193 and 194 that the gods once drove the flames of destruction away from their land.  

Discussion 5 “Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story. What is “Araby” really about? This story is about a young boy blinded by lust. The protagonist told his point of view story about is a young kid trying to obtain the love of his friend Mangan’s sister that lives across the street. The young protagonist narrator believes that he’s in love with his friend’s sister. He then heard his Mangan’s sister speak about how badly she wanted to go to a certain bazaar. The young boy thought that was his way to win the girl’s heart by going to that bazaar and getting her a gift. However, when he made his way to the bazaar he ends up going late at night, right when they were already closing. Arriving at the bazaar he then finds himself disenchanted with the reality of bazaar and the real world. He expected the  bazaar to be a extraordinary magical place , but it was mostly deserted. He then saw himself helpless in a dark place. As a creature driven and derided by vanity with his eyes burning with anguish and anger.

The short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes is centered around the ideas of transformation and faith. At the beginning of the story, the young and naive narrator has been taught and adheres to the image of faith. In place of faith, he mentally pictures Jesus as a human figure and expects him to be a real, tangible person. It’s not his fault he took this idea so literally. His entire environment supported this kind of idea. Upon learning that Jesus wouldn’t actually appear in front of him, he is so upset he denounces his faith all together. If anything, with his worldview, this seemed inevitable. The tone of the story changes to be more melancholic and helpless as his whole life was based on faith before he understood what that meant.

In Salvation by Langston Hughes the narrator starts off super naive in and gullible he had an obsession of being saved because it was what he was told for his whole life, he even got to the point of waiting for Jesus and he had an optimism to him but as the story goes on he starts to lose his sense of joy and optimism as he sees other children being saved while he wasn’t and by the end of the story he is lying to his family that the reason he is crying and hiding under the covers is because he was saved but the truth was he was the only one that didn’t get saved and didn’t know why. In the end he comes to the conclusion that because he didn’t see Jesus and that Jesus didn’t save him that he didn’t believe in jesus anymore because he didn’t see the point anymore after he felt abandoned.

The narrator felt joy was expecting to experience and see Jesus for the first time because of his aunt. His aunt described to him how he was going to feel when Jesus will save him from his sins with the rest of the teenage kids. At church when he was sitting with the group he was waiting for the moment to see Jesus, but all he saw was all the kids being saved by Jesus except for him. So, in the end he had to lie to his aunt that had been saved by Jesus. He felt sad, hopeless and disappointed because he was never saved by Jesus  and had lied to his aunt. At the end he did not believed in Jesus.

In “Salvation” by Langston Hughes the narrator is different than he was at the beginning of the story. In the beginning he was told by his aunt about how she was saved by Jesus coming into her life and he believed Jesus would also come into his life, but he thought Jesus would come physically. While he waits for Jesus everyone ends up on the altar and he is left alone. Even though he doesn’t see Jesus he is starting to feel pressured by everyone around him and guilty for taking up their time. He ends up lying about being saved and everyone celebrates. The narrator who once was a young innocent child had changed for the worse. He once had faith in Jesus but he ends up losing that faith and is doubtful that Jesus is even real and also feels guilt for lying to everyone about seeing Jesus.

The young narrator is different from when the story first started because he was a lot more naive and gullible. He wanted to be saved and thought that this was going to happen, as this is what the people in the church have discussed with him. He was waiting to be saved. and was upset that there was no symbol of light that he could see, he was very doubtful of what is going on. When his aunt convened him to come and sing he decided to because he wanted what was best for him. Towards the end of the story, the setting was very happy and you can truly feel everyone’s joy and relief. They wanted to be free of sin and wanted to know that God was going to forgive them, it was very important to them. However because Langston did not see the light he had to pretend with them as well, He was very disappointed to know that he did not revive help and that help was not coming for him.

The young narrator was different in the beginning because he seemed hopeful and trusting of his elders all describing what one can feel and see when you get saved. They all described seeing a light and something happening inside of them, they expressed how they heard and felt Jesus and so Langston believed them. He believed that he was going to feel the same things everyone felt.   Langston took the “Measures” to be saved, after not feeling Jesus, he thought it was all a facade which led to completely losing his faith. He felt guilt for lying to everyone and losing his Faith to Jesus.

The story “Salvation” tells the pivotal point in the narrators (Langston Hughes) life when he loses his belief in Jesus. In his youth the narrator is told that when he is “Saved” he would see a light and experience a change of sorts followed by an appearance from Jesus. Initially the narrator is optimistic about receiving salvation. Having a clear idea as to what he will experience in that moment he awaits his “salvation.” As the evening goes on, we see that his faith slowly begins to waver. As he watches the other children leave the bench and be saved, his naivety is on full display which is expressed by his genuine belief that there would be visual cues for his salvation. The narrator soon experiences fear and shame. Fearful that he would be the “only lamb left in the cold.” Thus, failing congregation. He becomes ashamed that he had not experienced the “change” alluded to by his aunt. His belief comes into question even more as he hears Westley use the lord’s name in vain and (in his outlook) feign salvation without consequence. Although he does not experience the phenomena he was informed of, he chooses to act as if he does to appease his aunt and the rest of the congregation. Due to his adolescent innocence, he finds himself stricken with grief due to his dishonesty. At the end of the story, it is clear to the reader that the experience has left the narrator crestfallen by the lie he told to the point that he no longer believes in Jesus. 

In the story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes we see how the affects of one’s personal strife and pressure from your peers and elders compelled a young boy into lying to his Auntie. Before even arriving to the church weeks in advance his Aunt was giving him ideas on how being “saved” would feel and look like that you will know that you were saved when you saw a bright light and felt a feeling inside that once that happened you knew that Jesus was in your life. This set an expectation on what to expect on the night of the mass that he would know he has saved if only these 2 things happened to him. On the night the preacher talked about a story one little lamb left out in the cold and it’s refusal to come and be welcomed by Jesus. This story stayed with the boy as he did not want to be the one lamb who was left out in the cold. As the mass progresses all the kids were brought to the front where they sat at the mourners’ bench as the sermon went on more and more kids left the bench to come to Jesus until all was left was westly and the young boy. After sometime the boy whispered into his ear stating “let’s get up and be saved”. This affected the boys beliefs as he was all alone and the boy who did not see the light and be touched be Jesus was able to walk to the alter and be saved an no one was able to tell that he was not truly saved. The young boy still holding onto his Aunt’s words waiting to see the light and be saved stayed alone as the preacher now focused his attention onto […]

I think the narrator was different by the way he was in the beginning was very excited about going through this “salvation”. When his aunt was explaining to him on how he was going to see this light and feel it in him, you can tell that this was something he was looking forward too. He was anxiously waiting and yet didn’t feel anything or see anything. He was waiting and nothing. He was really trying to wait and actually feel it.  Yet he still got up because he felt like he didn’t want to waste their time. At the end he was crying, and he said that he didn’t find it in him to tell his aunt that he lied. I feel like he was disappointed that he lied and really didn’t feel like he was actually saved. I think the narrator’s faith was broken because now he didn’t believe in Jesus.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes was a very interesting read because it brings a lot of emotions and perspective into play. Throughout the story, it talks about how Hughes developed a fear over something he believed would be very positive for him. At the end of the story, he states “I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me”. His attitude towards being “saved” completely changed everything for him at the end of the story. At the same time, Hughes was only thirteen years old at the time, and he couldn’t have possibly known what it fully meant to be “saved”. This story also shows, in my opinion, peer pressure. One of the kids decided to just lie and go up and be “saved” and when Hughes decided to do the same, which ended with him feeling guilty and sad about it. And this brings me back to the sentence Hughes wrote at the end of the story because it shows how much his attitude and feelings towards Jesus changed in the end.

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.  

In the short story, ” Salvation” by Langston Hughes explains about the narrator losing his faith in religion and stating that he’s a sinner. It’s a controversial piece that leaves readers with an ongoing debate. In the beginning of the story, he places his setting at a revival at his aunt church. There was a special meeting for the children for them to meet Jesus. He really believed he was going to meet Jesus because all the older adults had told them so. When he sees the kids going, he starts to worry, but when he sees one if his friends using God name in vain and lying about see Jesus and God not doing anything about it, he starts to question. He values honesty. I say that because towards the end of the story he cries in bed because he lied, and the church lied to him. his trust is broken.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes is a short story about his coming of age. He starts the story full of faith believing in a god that his aunt had spoken of. Days before his “saving” his aunt had preached about a greater god that would come and save all the sinners. The older generation also preached and believed so with their age young Langston thought they had more legitimacy and knowledge. By the middle of the story he had been sitting at the bench waiting while all the other kids had already gotten up and seen the light of a greater being, That was not the case for young Langston he saw nothing and as time went on he had taken the advice of the boy next to him and to get up and lie that he had seen god. By the end of the story he had realized that there was no physical manifestation of god but rather a belief that everyone shared but now since he did not believe Jesus was real anymore he cries, never being able to see him and not receiving the help his aunt had promised him.

“Salvation” is one of the greatest short stories written by Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes is both the narrator and the protagonist of the story which is about losing his faith. While reading the story, we see the entire transformation of protagonist which gives us the main idea of the reading. We read about the entire experience Hughes goes through from his childhood till revival meeting. At the beginning, he is full of faith and confidence which entirely changes at the end of the story. Throughout the story, we see how Langston’s beliefs change once he realizes that there is no physical human being standing in front of him. He realizes that he is not feeling anything at the church, when he is supposed to feel enlightened and saved as taught in the childhood. All those unexpected emotions made Langston feel lost and confused. He was losing his faith which was so deeply written in his mind. He felt weird for not exactly experiencing what he thought he would experience. Hughes decided to make others feel like he had in fact seen Jesus which made him feel horribly guilty. Langston was a kid who once believed in Jesus and had a deep faith, which entirely changed at the end of the story.  From my point of view, deep inside, Langston always knew that there was something else, unanswered but because of how he was raised, he did not have much choice in life, but to saved by Jesus.

In the short story “Salvation” written by Langston Hughes we can see the change that the he is going through from the beginning and the end of the story. The narrator is telling about the experience he went through when he was 12 years old. His aunt Reed’s church had a special meeting for children in which Jesus comes to them and saves them. The way he writes about it at the beginning of the story is very enthusiastic, using many exclamation points. This experience, as he tells it, was not good and even painful; he was pressured to see Jesus, and because he couldn’t see him he chose to lie. At the end of the story he cries because he had to lie at church, but also because what he believed in for so long, what he was told all his life was not true. Not only that his faith was questioned but he had to do something against what he felt.

I found this story to be both incredibly familiar and somewhat relatable. When you read the short story, you can see how children have an innocence about them that can be shattered by the ways of the outside world. Although he entered the church as though it were routine for him, the following occurrences caused him to reevaluate both himself and his thoughts. You can see how he lies to appease people since he wants to fit in so badly. Being a naive youngster, he felt wrong and upset after taking that action. His confusion was completely understandable; throughout many instances in this world, people aren’t willing to be forward in explaining or interrupting the course of events. He was simply expected to do as he was instructed. Come to Jesus and God. By the time the story is over, you can see how he was still unsure of his feelings and what he ought to have done instead of lying. He progressed from being unaware and innocent to hurt and disturbed.  

In the beginning of the story the narrator sounds excited, enthusiastic and full of faith. He believed that Jesus is going to save him and was calm and confident in his faith. He listens to the stories of his aunt and other adults and anticipates the same experience of a light shining down on him and having a transformative experience. But none of that happened to him. And as the story goes on we witness how the narrator’s outlook changes. He starts getting worried as nothing is happening and Jesus didn’t appear to save him. After his fellow friend Westley got up and was saved, the narrator starts feeling ashamed for holding up the ceremony and falls under the pressure of lying just to get it all over with. And in the closing paragraph we see the narrator going through the struggle of feeling ashamed for lying as well as loosing his faith in Jesus.

   In the beginning of “Salvation”, the author Langston Hughes came across as innocent and naive, anticipating the event that his aunt told him about as well as other older people. He expected this bright light to shine and to meet Jesus but by the end, he ends up questioning his belief and even states that he didn’t believe in Jesus anymore. He also ends up feeling bad that he lied about having the experience because he felt like he had to after how all the church members acted when he was still sitting waiting for something to happen. He waited so long that he started to feel ashamed and got up just to get it over with. This really speaks to the follower mentality that people usually have because they feel pressured to be like everyone else just like how Langston Hughes was singled out by the minister for still sitting down so he just got up to have it done with. This led to him losing his faith since he didn’t experience what many people told him he would and only did what everyone else did out of the feeling that he needed to conform with everyone else.

In the beginning of  “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, 12 year old Langston Hughes had a sense of excitement in wanting to be saved because he was told that he would see Jesus when it was time to happen. His Auntie Reed told him that and the elders conversations about the same thing gave him confirmation. Sitting next to his friend Westley in church while other children were going up to the alter gave him a sense of comfort because he knew that Westley had the same feelings as him. Once Westley went to the alter without seeing Jesus, Langston felt deceived. How could Westley go to the alter and be saved without even seeing Jesus? That’s not how it suppose to happen. The congregation prayed and cried over Langston, in which he felt obligated to go to the pulpit. However Langston knew in his heart that was not right. His aunt along with the congregation pretty much peer pressured him into doing something that he did not want to do. His excitement to see Jesus vanished and he had a feeling of sadness because of irony he felt. He felt like everyone around him lied which led him to be a non-believer.

The young Langston Hughes is different than he was at the beginning of the story because he now lacks this belief in God, Jesus, and religion. At the beginning of this short story, he is looking forward to accepting God and Jesus in his life. He trusted the grown-ups in his life. He trusted them whole heartily that Jesus would come and save him because he was told by his family and other adults that this would happen. He had no reason not to believe them at this point. Then he waits and waits to see this light, to see Jesus come to him, and he watches as all the other children leave him. It then gets to this point where he accepts the fact that Jesus isn’t going to come to him in this way. By the end, he no longer has this religious belief anymore. Also, by the end, the young Langston Hughes would sure doubt his family and other adults and not accept whatever they said as fact and truth because now he has trusted them and they have seemed to lie. I would also think that he would have doubt and shame in himself. Maybe there was something wrong and different with him and that’s why Jesus didn’t come to him.

The young narrator is different from the way he was at the beginning of the story to the ending of the story because in the beginning he was more hopeful and intrigued with what the outcome would be. But as the short story goes on he slowly starts to lose faith. At first he was so full of spirit and he wanted to be saved by christ because he heard everyone else’s story so he felt like well if god can do that for them then he can do the same for me. The narrator looked at the situation like that and it allowed him to be hopeful but when he went to the church and tried to experience this for himself it just didn’t happen. It’s very ironic when we want something so badly but we don’t end up getting it. Believing in Jesus and really putting your complete faith and trust into God isn’t something that comes easily to people and that’s okay. In this short story the narrator is very young at the time and he doesn’t realize just how deep religion really is so to try and fit in with the crowd he fakes it. This alone could have many consequences because now he’s feeling guilty, he could have doubts in god, and this could potentially affect his aunts trust in him in the future.

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes recalls an experience that left the narrator deceived by Jesus. Starting off, it seems as if Langston is ready to be brought to Jesus as he believes what his aunt is telling him about the whole celebration. All around the church are moans and shouts for these mourners on the bench to come and see the light of god, but it’s as if they are forced to do it. Langston states a man said “Won’t you come? Won’t you come to Jesus? Young lambs won’t you come?” which caused the little girls to cry and go meet Jesus right away. What Langston describes is that the adults are acting obnoxious to these kids and the experience sounds forceful for them to meet Jesus. After some time, Langston was all alone on the bench and he states that he just couldn’t see Jesus, even while being pressured by his aunt and the minister to come and be saved. Finally, he rises up and gets led to the platform as everyone shouts and rejoices as the celebration comes to an end. Importantly, Langston states that he had a sense of guilt because he didn’t see Jesus or even felt his presence, meanwhile his aunt thinks he met the Holy Ghost. 

Corey Lei, ENG 201, Sec 0516 At the begging of the story, the Author Langston Hughes was automatically made to believe he was with Jesus (1). She stated, ” you were saved. You saw the light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! “(1). Langston was put with a group that hadn’t felt the connection with Jesus, and he was placed in the front role on the mourners’ Bench with his age group. He and another child name Westley were the only ones who hadn’t gotten up to the so-called light they saw. Westly lied and pretended to know Jesus to avoid being preached, singing along with the songs. Seeing the light meaning is believing in Jesus. Then Langston stood and stood up, and everyone in the church celebrated that Langston had finally seen the light. His Aunt was thrilled. Later the night, he cried, while his aunt thought it was just the Holy Ghost getting to him.  In the beginning, Langston was brought to the church and was convinced Jesus had brought him to life and gave him a chance. The church was a test to see his belief. The Author was confident in the beginning but confused in the middle because he was the last to ” see the light. ” In the end, he felt hopeless and horrible because he lied and still hasn’t seen the light.  

Wyman Siu, Eng 201, Sec 0516 In the text, “Salvation”, by Langston Huges, it is portrayed at the beginning that his younger self was always told. For example, his aunt told him, “My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!”(Paragraph 2). He was told to believe, he never thought about what he was told. Just what was God? Throughout the text, he realized that god wasn’t a person but a belief that many people see. It is not only leaving doubt and questions in his mind and that is what gives into his mindset at the end of the text. It is an irony, a situational irony to be exact, that what’s giving other people including his family (aunt) hope is giving him doubts. I thank this also highlights his change from the beginning of the text to him as a young adult.

The narrator on “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the young narrator is different from the way he was at the beginning of the story, by showing the way he believed everything he was told when he was young because as we read the story we can see clearly he is told that those young lamb who’s sinners are able to see Jesus and believe he would go inside you and and forgive them. But after the event he pass through were he didn’t see or felt nothing he felted he was lied and he couldn’t believed it, cryed in the night and he learn that there was no God and that he was lied. He also felt bad on telling his aunt that he had lied on the event because he got up and went to the altar as if he saw and felt god presence which was a lie, he changes from believing everything he was told to not believing and not knowing what to believe or think.

The story, “Salvation”, by Langston Huges, portrays that the young child was believing in something that has been told him by since he was a kid by his family and when he was in church with his aunt he experience a lot different from what he has told because he was believing that GOD will be sent down and help him forgiving his sins but he never see Jesus so he was upset about it and he acknowledges that there is no Jesus who comes down to saved him yet the lord of the church was calling him to come and be saved and he wasn’t sure if he goes up and then gets ashamed by others because he didn’t see any GOD there. So starting to believe that it’s a whole lie about Jesus that comes down to save him when he never sees anyone.

“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.

“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.

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.

The first sentence of the story, Langston Hughes describes the experience as being saved from sin, but not really saved which expressed little credence in the notion of salvation through Jesus.  As an adult, It seems as though his beliefs had shifted.  When describing the events from when he was a child, he followed along with the traditions taught to him.  However, he also took a lot of it literally. His aunt described the encounter with Jesus as one that would involve all of his senses, seeing, hearing and feeling Jesus in your soul. For a young boy raised within a family of deep faith, so much so his aunt and the congregation at church all wept during the ceremony,  there was no reason for him to doubt or question the description of the events that they were preparing him for.   According to the video that we were assigned to watch, I believe this part of the story falls under dramatic irony.  Where ‘we’ the readers know more about the events of the story than the character.  Although it is being told through first person narration, he explains his expectations of actually seeing Jesus and as the reader we already know that is not what would happen.  Otherwise, it would probably fall under crime/horror genre.

This read on Salvation was a great one. Salvation makes you question your faith and beliefs in Christianity and your faith in people and Jesus. He believes that he would see Jesus if he got saved, when he finally got up the church rejoiced and his Aunt was happy,  but he was disappointed because everything his Aunt told him never happened so he cried. The fact that he was 13 it made me questioned, what sin he committed at that age? he was just a boy, and  He was believing the hype because all his life he was told if he’s save from sin he would see Jesus. I can also understand that because gowning up as a little girl i was told certain thing about Jesus but I never experienced it.

Alex Barrios  Professor Conway  ENG 201 Sec. 0517  August 31, 2022  In the beginning young Langston started off as a believer in which he assumed Jesus was a physical being who would appear to those who are willing to be open with him. This is also supported by the fact that he was twelve going on thirteen at that time–which meant he was still considered a child.   However, by the end of the night he was left with a great sense of guilt and remorse. Not because he didn’t see Jesus or the light but due to him lying to his family and to all the adults in the church. The idea that he had to lie to his aunt who at one point was crying because she wanted her nephew to be “saved” didn’t sit well him later when he was home. The story also brought to my attention the notion of conformity. Langston and Westley for the most part seem like very honest kids. However they had to fake a religious experience to get out of a hot church, which leaves a person with a lot of questions and places much doubt on one’s faith overall.