One way I personally relate to the young narrator in “Salvation” is with his love for honesty and truth. That is a personality trait I can say I’ve carried on with me since childhood into my adulthood. If we look at the last paragraph of the story “Salvation”, we see the narrator crying and feels totally distraught because he lied to his aunt and “deceived everybody in the church” that he had seen Jesus. I feel I can relate to how he must have felt. There has been times when I’ve told lies that felt so wrong, I just couldn’t bear caring on the lie, I wanted to tell the truth. All the day long I’d just be thinking about the lie I told and think about how much better I’d feel, how much a load would feel lifted off my chest if I just admitted the truth. Also I can see how much he values when other people speak the truth to him. For instance his aunt had told him “that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on!” He felt it was all a lie because at the night of the big revival when the children were going to the altar “and were saved” he knew the kid Westley had lied; he knew he didn’t see Jesus but lied just to get over with the ceremony. The narrator wondered why God didn’t struck Westley right there and then for lying. In that moment the narrator felt like everything he had been told about Jesus by his aunt and all the old people had told were lies and that dwindled his faith in Jesus. I’ve had similar experiences where people would say to me they believe in God but yet their conducts would say otherwise and I would just wonder what does God think of these people, why do they get away with doing all those bad things and here I am trying my hardest to do what’s good in his eyes.
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5 thoughts on “Fils Stephen Discussion 2”
It’s justifiable the way that you can connect with the storyteller’s obligation to genuineness and truth, as well as his subtle conflict when confronted with misleading and fraud. The heaviness of conveying an untruth and the yearning for truth reverberate profoundly with many individuals’ encounters. It’s additionally normal to scrutinize the activities and convictions of others, particularly when they appear to go against their purported values.
Do you find that snapshots of deceitfulness or fraud in others influence your own convictions or confidence? How would you explore circumstances where you experience disparities between what individuals say and how they act, particularly in issues of confidence and ethical quality?
This is a really interesting take! I did not even consider relating to the narrator with positive traits such as honesty. I also enjoyed that you referred to the concept of empathy and how readers such as yourself would feel remorse for lying. As a child, I know it must have been confusing for the narrator to dwindle in his faith in Christianity especially since it was a central focus in several aspects of his life! In response to your last comment, the only response I could truly think of is that humans are paradoxical creatures. In some cases, we unintentionally contradict our selves, but in that specific scenario, those individuals sound like hypocrites lol.
Hi , I personally agree with you because lying isn’t always right. Sometimes it probably feels right at the moment but in the end you start to feel wrong about it . It’s always good to get things off your chest . It should never be a moment where you have to carry a heavy load on yourself because it tends to cost stress on you after a while .
I understand where you’re coming from, it can be tough when we value honesty and truth, and it feels like others aren’t living up to those values. It’s natural to question and feel off when we see contradictions between what people say and how they act.
Khalil, it’s not enough to just agree with another student. Your response should enlarge the conversation in some way.