“Salvation” was written by Langston Hughes. The story of Hughes’ faith crisis is told in the article. Hughes, who is “going on thirteen” at the time, attends a church revival with his Auntie Reed. He expects to see Jesus at the revival because the adults in his life have told him that he will. Hughes goes through a variety of emotions, but he eventually lies and claims to have seen Jesus. The “waves of rejoicing” have a profound effect on him, and he sobs alone in his bed for the final time in his life that night. This encounter devastated Langston’s beliefs; he felt differently at the beginning of the story than he did at the end. He was perplexed as to why, if there was a God, he had not been saved. He cited Despite the chaos, Hughes responded, “And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting, but he didn’t come.”
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