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A reflection essay on salvation by langston hughes
Langston hughes and religion discussion questions
A reflection essay on salvation by langston hughes
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from the short story “salvation” by Hughes he narrated his experiences at the church when he was in his thirteen. Most people have more expectations of how things are going on in life; therefore, they usually want to have a real view or seen of certain. In this poem Langston Hughes share his expectations and experiences of seeing Jesus Christ. in this short story, there are some experiences, thoughts and lessons that can be learned. In the short story "salvation,” Hughes explains his experiences and feels that he went through in the church about lying seeing Jesus. This is was uncomfortable for him, but this was an experience that has happened to me before. When was in the 6 grade I had to lie about my grade in order for my parent to allow
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.
As a child, when it is time for him to join the children at the front of the church, would not think about twice about pretending to find Jesus in order to relieve the focus quickly narrowing down to only him. As the last child left young Hughes, he whispered, “God damn! I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.” (Hughes, 111), which leaves Hughes kneeling before the entire church.
In Langston Hughes’s narrative essay “Salvation”, Langston talks about how his experience at church caused him to crack under pressure and pretend to be saved from Jesus, which leads him to not believing Jesus is real anymore. I personally felt like he relates to real-world problems when it comes to Salvation. How you're expecting to feel this tidal wave of emotions to flourish and have these signs of repent to show up but doesn't happen. Another thing is, I like how he explains how tense the room felt when it was just him alone on the mourning bench and how the pressure to be “Saved” makes him lie to everyone. Within the essay, Hughes touches on many different types of ideas and feelings that most people can relate too.
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).
First, both short stories have two similar motifs. In both Langston Hughes’ and John Cheever’s short stories, expectation and disappointment. Langston Hughes is expecting Jesus to come and see the light that his aunt told him he would see once he is saved. In Langston Hughes’ “Salvation” he states, “I didn't believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn't come to help me” (643). Hughes is disappointed at the fact that he is expecting Jesus to come, yet he is not.
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.
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.
In Langston Hughes’s Salvation, Hughes makes describes many differences between the his and the congregation’s perception of biblical acceptance. As a boy, Hughes was vividly told by his aunt that in accepting Jesus, he would “see a light, and something happened to you inside”. Being young, he believed that he had to actually see an incarnation of Jesus in order to be saved. When surrounded by the older crowd in church, Hughes anticipates a kind of “great awakening” but his expectations are met with nothing. He does not understand why he can not find Jesus while the congregation is in the midst of praising.
Langston Hughes expresses his poems with the connection of jazz blues music and African Americans expressing themselves by dancing and following the beat to the music rhythm describing flashbacks of the past and comparing them to present day using imagery, figurative language describing and punctuation, which makes the reader think about African Americans in the past and how they are treated different today.
James Mercer Langston Hughes was conceived on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His folks, James Hughes and Carrie Langston, isolated not long after his introduction to the world, and his dad moved to Mexico. While Hughes ' mom moved around during his childhood, Hughes was raised up by his maternal grandma, Mary, until she kicked the bucket while he was in his teens. After that, he went to live with his mom, and they moved to a few urban communities before they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. During this time is when he started to write poetry. He graduated from high school in 1920 and spent the following year in Mexico with his father. Around 1921 Hughes returned to the states and enrolled at Columbia in 1922 and worked multiple odd jobs.
In Salvation, a short story by Langston Hughes, he depicts how religion affected his entire life. Hughes describes his aunts’ church during their revival, along with how the entire congregation “rocked with prayer and song” however, he still “kept waiting to see Jesus” (Hughes). Hughes never did see Jesus, but he got up and went to the altar anyway. He felt the pressure of an entire congregation and as a child; he felt he had no other choice than to pretend. The congregation inadvertently pressured Hughes into joining the church. Peter Pufall, in the book Rethinking Childhood, stated, “Throughout history religions have looked to children for the survival of both the community of faith and the faith itself” (57). In Hughes’s case, the overwhelming power of the church and the fear of going to the alter affected the rest of his life,...
“On the Road”, by Langston Hughes is a short story that tells of a homeless man (Sargeant) struggling to find shelter from a snowstorm during the Great Depression. Turned away from every relief shelter, Sargeant decides it would be a great ideal to spend the night at a church. However, the church doors are lock. Determined that is the best place for him to sleep he tries to break down the church doors. After much effort, the doors finally break way, but before he could enter, he is pulled back by the police and with the help of by standers. Refusing to give up on his plans to sleep in the church he holds on to a pillar. The police beat him, but Sargeant continue to pull until the church crumbles down on top of them. Sargeant, get out from under
Critical Essays on Langston Hughes.
Langston Hughes in several poems denounced religion, inferring that religion did not exist any longer. In reading these poems, the reader canes 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, Hugh es could only hope for realization from the public, of how religion and the church treated the Black race.