In Langston Hughes’ short story Salvation, the author describes the oppression of young people by religious people. Hughes also addresses the issue of miscommunication between an adult and a child. The little boy, who was told by his aunt that Jesus would come and save him from sin, sat and waited for all this. He was ashamed that he was the last person still waiting to be saved and was so engrossed in the idea that he felt expelled from the religious community when it did not happen. People cried and prayed for him at his feet. The boy decided to lie and said he saw Jesus. The little boy no longer believed in the existence of Jesus. He did not understand why they were able to save the other children. Yet he had no idea what his religious beliefs were, nor could he talk to anyone about it because the whole community believed he had achieved salvation that night. After that night, he lost the most important “faith” in human life.
Natia Pachuashvili Discussion
In Langston Hughes’ short story Salvation, the author describes the oppression of young people by religious people. Hughes also addresses the issue of miscommunication between an adult and a child. The little boy, who was told by his aunt that Jesus would come and save him from sin, sat and waited for all this. He was ashamed that he was the last person still waiting to be saved and was so engrossed in the idea that he felt expelled from the religious community when it did not happen. People cried and prayed for him at his feet. The boy decided to lie and said he saw Jesus. The little boy no longer believed in the existence of Jesus. He did not understand why they were able to save the other children. Yet he had no idea what his religious beliefs were, nor could he talk to anyone about it because the whole community believed he had achieved salvation that night. After that night, he lost the most important “faith” in human life.
4 thoughts on “Natia Pachuashvili Discussion”
Natia, I agree with you regarding the miscommunication between an adult and the child. I feel that is the culture we are born in to, adults try to paint a perfect picture to children, not thinking of the consequences this could have in the development of a child. In this case, the delivery of the message to Hughes by his aunt cause him so much anguish and pain that he lost his faith. A faith that he held on to so tight that when he lost that faith it feels like it destroyed his soul.
Natia, I agree with you regarding the miscommunication between an adult and a child. Unfortunately, that is the culture we are born into; adults try to paint a perfect picture to children, not thinking of the consequences on a child’s development. In this case, the delivery of the message to Hughes by his aunt caused him so much anguish and pain that he lost his faith. He held on to faith so tight that it felt like it destroyed his soul when he lost that faith.
Natia, I like what you write here about how the narrator loses his faith in other human beings, not only his faith in Jesus as a savior. And it’s true that he is very alone in this epiphany. There is no one with whom he can share these painful realizations.
I love that you mentioned the miscommunication between adults and children. That’s really what it was; a miscommunication. It makes you think about how you explain things to young kids and how their brain processes things. It’s sad that he lost faith and trust in his aunt, friends, priest, and god all together. And it all could’ve been avoided if they had explained it in a different way and didn’t get his hopes up. Good job summarizing the story and explaining his epiphany.