Salvation and Belief in God Langston Hughes ' "Salvation" is about the life of a twelve-year-old boy. The essay talks about an episode from his life, an episode that helps him re-create his understanding about his religious beliefs that were significantly different as compared to the beliefs of his Auntie Reed. The boy then narrates the incident that according to him "saved him from sin" and gave him an insight into the truth of religion and faith in God. The narrator begins by telling that there was a special church meeting that preached about religious revival. His Aunt Reed was a part of the meeting too. She used to tell the boy that when he attained salvation, he would witness the presence of Jesus Christ in the form of a divine light …show more content…
He chose to believe that God, in fact, excluded him and did not grant him the salvation he was seeking. This episode speaks volumes about what Hughes actually thought of salvation, a title that is nothing less than ironic. Young Hughes was initially, intensely religious. This incident where he would get rewarded for his faith actually turned out to be an event in which the boy lost his faith in Jesus Christ. According to him, “I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, and I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus any more, since he didn’t come to help me” (Langston, 112). The fact the boy did not understand the kind of light being talked about reflects how Hughes is trying to excite the logic of the readers pointing out to the fact that what actually matters is what you choose to believe. Scientific investigation is continually increasing our knowledge (Mead, 175). You being greeted with the inner light of salvation are something that results from your faith in God since there is no proof of the appearance of …show more content…
He doesn 't know any better and believes that in order to achieve salvation; he will see Jesus, who will appear in front of him in the form of a light that will be visible to his naked eyes. He is thoroughly disappointed because he thought that while everyone had seen that light, he didn 't. He could have spent days sitting there waiting for that to happen but he decided to finally rescue himself from the situation by pretending to see Jesus and get up from his place. Therefore, in reality, he was not saved by the grace of God and the love of Jesus or because he had achieved salvation. He was saved because, despite all of his beliefs being challenged, he pretended to let everyone think otherwise and walked away. He could have sat there for days, letting his disappointment grow and his faith being butchered but that would have led him to feel rejected, more than ever, and also disappoint the people who had their belief in God intact and
On the other hand we have a story that is also humorous; however, his literary devices achieve a more childlike tone and his story concludes with a sympathetic effect on the reader . In “Salvation”, by Langston Hughes he takes us back to his inner thirteen year old self and his experience with being “saved” in a church. He explains the internal struggle he faces when he is pressured by a whole congregation to “see jesus” and the ironic effect it has on his perspective towards Jesus.
The longer it takes, the louder the adults sing and pray, and eventually Hughes concedes. He stands up, and joins the rest of the children who were just looking down on him, and proceeds to lie about finding the faith of God. As a child, everyone is easily pressured by a society because they do not want to stand alone. Children learn at a very young age, that if you aren’t like the rest of the children it is easier to be singled out, humiliated, or even bullied. For example, what would have happened if Hughes had told the truth?
of children, rising up and teaching them. He says that salvation will come from the people
Langston Hughes was twelve when he was “saved.” He was at a revival at his Aunts church when he soon felted pressured to accept Jesus into his heart. He wanted to experience what everyone else was feeling but could not experience what others were. Soon he began thinking of what the other guy was feeling and began to become ashamed of himself, holding everything in for so long. Then Westley was sitting high on the thrown with Christ and Langston wanted that. Soon after Langston’s stood up to be saved, everyone started cheering and celebrating his salvation with him. Whenever he got home from the revival he cried alone in his room. His aunt thought he was crying because the Holy Spirit came into his life. Little did she know he was crying because he lied and said that he seen Jesus when he really didn’t (McMahan, Day, Funk, and Coleman 280).
attempts to remain a human. He didn't want to see that he, in fact, was
Langston Hughes's stories deal with and serve as a commentary of conditions befalling African Americans during the Depression Era. As Ostrom explains, "To a great degree, his stories speak for those who are disenfranchised, cheated, abused, or ignored because of race or class." (51) Hughes's stories speak of the downtrodden African-Americans neglected and overlooked by a prejudiced society. The recurring theme of powerlessness leads to violence is exemplified by the actions of Sargeant in "On the Road", old man Oyster in "Gumption", and the robber in "Why, You Reckon?"
A time comes in everybody's life where they need to be "saved." When this happens a spiritual bond is formed with in that individual. In Langston Hughes' essay, "Salvation," that bond is broken because Langston wasn't saved. It is because Langston turned to Jesus, and in his eyes Jesus wasn't there. This creating a conflict within himself and the members of the church, with the end result being Langston's faith being destroyed.
He continues his spiritual journey with other questions such as, “Was Jesus a Lord, liar, or lunatic? Could it be possible that Jesus really believed that He was the Son of God but actually was not? If He were not, how could He have been able to perform the miracles that He did and forgive those who had sinned against others?” Only God has the authority to forgive someone who has wronged someone else. Only God can perform the miracles that were witnessed by
We have seen his glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”1 John is describing the Son of God. The Son of God who will carry out the word in the proper context. He will show the world how living in the light will lead to a fulfilled life. Jesus showed the people of the time, how interacting and loving creation brings hope to the darkness, moving out of sin and impurity and into the beauty of the light of God. God kept his covenant with Noah, and instead of wiping out the earth filled with darkness, he sent Jesus to purify the sins of the earth. Jesus would be able to seek out the darkness and being a shining light in those times. John Calvin said in his commentary, “Yet the Son of God stooped so low as to take to Himself that flesh addicted to so many wretchednesses.”4 God made it a priority to enter into the darkness, and move mankind into the light. Through moving into the light, people can live a fulfilled life in the Kingdom of
...fighting his feelings about not seeing Jesus. He feels that he is lying to God and himself by getting up and being saved even though he cannot see Jesus. Even though the reader knows that he truly is being saved from sin. He is doing something good for himself. Therefore, we can see that he truly does not understand the meaning of God. He is a child on the verge of adulthood. He has every right to be confused and misinterpret religion because he is learning. Religion is metaphorical and imaginative; it is what you believe it to be.
In Langston Hughes 's definition essay entitled "Salvation" he discusses the social and emotional pressures that effect young people. He pulls in his own experiences from being an active member in his church, and the moment he was supposed to experience revival of twelve. Hughes 's purpose for writing this definition essay is to show the peer pressures and internal conflicts that come from both church and the religious community, and his personal experiences that led to the pressures that were put upon him in his youth. The audiences that “Salvation” was pointed towards are adults; it shows the pressures that are put upon the youth, while the child does not fully grasp the idea being expressed to them. Langston Hughes 's overall message to
1920’s Harlem was a time of contrast and contradiction, on one hand it was a hotbed of crime and vice and on the other it was a time of creativity and rebirth of literature and at this movement’s head was Langston Hughes. Hughes was a torchbearer for the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and musical movement that began in Harlem during the Roaring 20’s that promoted not only African-American culture in the mainstream, but gave African-Americans a sense of identity and pride.
“I was saved from sin when I was on thirteen. But not really saved. (Salvation, By: Langston Hughes). “They should have put the men in the lifeboats. Men can marry again, have new families. What’s the use of all those widows and orphans?” (Carpathia By: Jess Lee Kercheval). Both of these quotes retrain from two short stories by Jesse Lee Kercheval and Langston Hughes. Jesse Lee Kercheval is a professor of writing at University of Wisconsin. She writes dozen of books. ”Carpathia” is a short story she wrote for a textbook called “building Fiction. Langston Hughes was an American poet, participated in the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz poetry. He also wrote a dozen books. ‘Salvation” is a narrative story he wrote to express his experience at a revival. “Salvation” and “Carpathia” will be explained in the following paragraphs of a 12 twelve years belief’s and a grown man perceptive of the importance of woman and young child.
Langston Hughes and Religion Langston Hughes in several poems denounced religion, inferring that religion did not exist any longer. In reading these poems, the reader can see that Hughes was expressing his feelings of betrayal and abandonment, against his race, by religion and the church. Hughes had a talent for writing poems that would start a discussion. From these discussions, Hughes could only hope for realization from the public, of how religion and the church treated the Black race. Hughes wrote two poems that generated a lot of discussion about religion and African-Americans.
to become one of us. Jesus walked along the same roadways and experienced the same trials and tribulations as other people. Accepting Jesus as fully human is as important as accepting him as fully divine. Jesus experienced stress, anger, frustration and loneliness but he chose never to respond sinfully to these experiences. Given the choice between popularity and telling people the truth, he chose the path that ultimately turned people against him and led to his death.