Freed from Innoncence in Salvation" by Hughes, The Lord of the Flies by Golding, and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Lee

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“Salvation" by Langston Hughes is the story of a young boy who has an experience of revelation or realization. While attending a church revival, he comes to the sudden realization that Jesus can not physically come save him and isn’t truly there for him . In the first few sentences of the essay, Langston adopts a very childlike style of writing. He uses simple words and keeps the sentences short, similar to the style of an early aged teenager. But since the text is written in the past tense and the narrator mentions that he was "going on thirteen" (P#1), we know the speaker is now older. After reading a little further, we find that the style becomes more complex, with a more select choice of words and longer sentences. The contrast between simple and complex styles is present all through the rest of the essay, and creates a more personal atmosphere. As it got further into the story is said all of the grown ups in the building were praying for his salvation. “The old woman with the jet black faces and braided hair”(p#4) and “the men with the work-gnarled hands”(P#4) giving the mood of almost fear and distress portraying that Langston is going through something. In the end, Langston stood up along with the boy who stood up so he was accepted- “Goddamn! I'm tired o' sitting here. Let's get up and be saved." (P#6) the boy said. After sitting for hours Langston stood up realizing he wasn’t going to be saved, and he cried all that night, because he had lied and with never be able to believe in Jesus anymore, thus illustrating him loosing his true innocence.
Another work of literature that really exposed the loss of innocence in people was The Lord Of The Flies, written by John Steinbeck. This story is about a plane full of British pri...

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... a real shock when Bob Ewell attempted to kill both her and Jem, just to get to Atticus because he was representing the black man on the defense. This was malice in its purest form. In the end, these were all defining moments for Scout and Jem, and their innocence was lost as she had realized the real bitterness in the world.

Works Cited
"English 103: Langston Hughes "Salvation"" English 103: Langston Hughes "Salvation" N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Screenplay by Horton Foote. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perfs. Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Mary Badham. 1962. DVD. Universal, 2005.Foote, Horton, Screenplay. To Kill a Mockingbird. Based on the Novel by Harper Lee. Dir. Robert Mulligan. Perfs. Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Mary Badham. 1962. DVD. Universal, 2005.

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