In the beginning of “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, twelve year old Langston was excited to be saved by Jesus. Langston’s aunt told him that when you were saved, “you saw a light, and something happened to you inside!”. Langston believed his aunt and the stories other people had about what happens to you once your saved. He calmly waited in the church for Jesus to come to him. Langston waited for a long while to see Jesus and he watched as all the young people got up and were saved. He was the last person left still waiting for Jesus to come and save him but eventually he gave up waiting. He realized he wasn’t going to be saved and felt ashamed, but he got up and lied. By the end, Langston was brought to tears by the fact that he had lied to his aunt and deceived the church, about being saved. Twelve year old Langston went from being so excited to be saved by Jesus to questioning if there even was a Jesus anymore.
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2 thoughts on “Anais Salcedo Discussion 3”
I concur. Langston undergoes a noticeable transformation from beginning to conclusion. Langston and the congregation are all excited about the prospect of being saved by Jesus. He believes everything his aunt tells about what happens when a person is saved. Thus, it’s heartbreaking to watch how disappointed and upset he is not to have “seen the light.” I believe that his rising and feigning salvation is an example of peer pressure. Langston was humiliated of his lack of salvation and, like his friend Wesley, became weary of waiting and joined the rest of the redeemed. It’s also heartbreaking to observe how he loses faith in Jesus.
Anais, you describe the course of the protagonist’s change well. By the way, in literary terms, we refer to characters who change during the course of the story as “dynamic characters.” Characters who don’t change but might serve some supporting role in the story are known as “static” characters. In good literature, most characters are dynamic.