The short story “Salvation” from The Big Sea by Langston Hughes is a reminiscence of Langston’s childhood, and an example of how social groups or individuals are able to work their way through coercion and intimidation to make them act in a way they might think is valuable, or to think in a certain way that pertains to the collective.
In the beginning of the story, Langston shows himself as a hopeful and faithful thirteen year old boy, waiting to be saved by Jesus in the revival at the Reed’s church through rhythmical preachers and sermons. He was placed on the bench with all the other children his age, while seeing one by one being able to accept Jesus and to be saved. Further, Langston testified Westley, one of his friends, lying and turning over to be saved as an attempt to get out of the bench and not deal with the embarrassment of having his faith questioned.
Langston himself also could not deal with the pressure from his aunt and the church which at that point were all thriving and praying for his salvation. He felt coerced, so he lied and stood up, claiming to have found Jesus. At the end of the story, we can notice that the faith and excitement are not there anymore. Langston then proceeds to cry throughout the night over the shame of lying to his aunt, and for feeling that Jesus was not there to show himself, and to save him from his sins.
One thought on “Hayra F Guimaraes, Discussion 3”
Hey Hayra, I think you did a great job on your post. You organized the paragraphs on what you had to say really well and sounded very well developed. I agree with what you had to say because Langston did not know how to take in the pressure that he was receiving from his aunt and also everyone at church, causing him to snap and simply get up to just “get it over with”.