Jerry’s discussion 3

Religion in the Poetry of Langston Hughes,” Mary Beth Culp addresses several long-running themes that she asserts are a significant and typical feature of the way Hughes views and presents religion. Religion was an inherent part of the black experience in Hughes’ perspective, yet Hughes himself was a seemingly a-religious man, who led to a complex and multifaceted understanding of religion as both a means of indoctrinating and anesthetizing the masses of African Americans, and a means of providing security, community, and hope to this population. in “Salvation,” this mixed quality of religion is quite clearly seen, with the young Hughes at the center of the story happily waiting for Jesus and at the same time bitterly disillusioned by his absence. Religion does provide hope, and for the characters around Hughes such as his aunt it provides an avenue for fulfilling hopes and providing connection, but ultimately Hughes sees this as a false hope built by a people willing to fool themselves if it means not facing the truth. By reading this story I realize that the black culture and social experience, have a great connection to Africa because as a Haitian I experienced religious manipulation when I was in Haiti.