In Salvation, Langston Hughes recounts the story of how he lost his fate, which changed him by the end of the story. In the story, 13-year-old Hughes attends a church revival with his Auntie Reed. Hughes’ Aunt told him that he will see Jesus during the revival, and he literally expected to see Jesus. You can also tell how optimistic Hughes was at the beginning by the way he adds exclamation points in his writing. Hughes was sitting there at the church with a group of people, and one by one they would go up to the altar until it was just him and a boy named Westley. Eventually, Westley gives up and lies about being saved, leaving Hughes alone. Hughes by that point starts to feel ashamed of himself for holding everyone up, so he ultimately decides to lie about seeing Jesus. You can clearly see how disappointed he was. The amount of guilt he was feeling was too much for him that he cried alone in bed that night. Hughes does not only feel betrayed by Jesus, but also by his elders who lied to him.
Daily Archives: February 10, 2022
In Langston Hughes’ story Salvation, the author was a 12 to 13-year-old boy who was inspired by his aunt’s remarks. His aunt was always bragging about how Jesus rescues everyone and how inspirational her remarks about Jesus were. Langston wished to be saved by Jesus himself after hearing these words of magnificence. Langston was a devout follower of Jesus at the time, but after a period of attempting to persuade Jesus to save him, he developed a profound hatred for him since he couldn’t understand why Jesus didn’t save him while saving everyone else. As a result, the behavior change in the beginning of the story vs. the end of the story was that he was excited to see what Jesus would do and was happy, but in the end of the story, when he lied to everyone by saying that Jesus saved him when he wasn’t saved, he became a lier and felt bad about himself deep down. When Langston didn’t receive salvation from Jesus, he began to doubt his faith.
Langston Hughes explained that he was first saved from sin without actually feeling the presence of Jesus. On the last day, the children were supposed to receive salvation, he went to the revival with his aunt Reed. His aunt told him that if he was saved, she would see the light that symbolized Jesus. Having said that, she sat there waiting to look at the lights. While the preacher was preaching very well and everyone else was crying, kneeling, and praying for all the children to rise and receive salvation, Langston did not see the light of day. Most of the kids got up and were saved, except him and his friend Westley, who finally got up because he was tired of sitting there, not because he felt Jesus. After Westley woke up, Langston was the last child not to be redeemed, though his aunt continued to pray for him. That made him feel ashamed, he thought that he could do the same as Westley since he didn’t get scolded for lying. That night, he wept with shame. His aunt thought his tears were the Holy Spirit coming into his life, but he wept because he had not only deceived himself but his aunt and the congregation. He felt that if there was a God, why not come and save him, which made Langston question his beliefs.
In the story Salvation by Langston Hughes the author was a 12 year old kid going on to 13 who was inspired by the words of his aunt. His aunt was always talking about how Jesus saves everyone and how her words about Jesus were so great. When Langston was hearing these words of greatness, Langston wanted to be saved by Jesus himself. During this time Langston believed in Jesus so much but after a while trying to get Jesus to save him he felt that deep hateness because he was confused on why Jesus didn’t save him but is saving everyone else. Therefore the behavior change in the beginning of the story vs the end of the story was that he was excited to see what Jesus would do and was happy but in the end of the story when he lied to everyone by saying that Jesus saved him but in reality he didn’t get saved, so when he told that lie he become a lier and felt bad about himself deep down. When Langston didn’t get saved by Jesus he questioned his beliefs.
At the beginning of “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, he uses imagery to make readers picture a young boy named Lanston attending a church revival to be saved by Jesus. His aunt told him to be saved, you must see light. Lanston couldn’t wait to get saved like all the young people in the church. As time passed he got anxious about seeing Jesus. He lied about being saved to avoid embarrassment. The irony is Lanston begins crying and his aunt believes it’s the “holy spirit”. When in reality it’s guilt from sinning. Lanston lies about being saved to his aunt to avoid feeling shame from those who had been saved. In the end, Lanston questioned his belief on if Jesus is real and why he hadn’t been saved by Jesus. Hughes’ message is we shouldn’t force religion on children; the pressure can affect a child. Causing them to lose faith in Jesus.
