The Big Sea Movie Vs Book

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In 1993, Langston Hughes released his memoir called 'The Big Sea'. Years later, Chapter Three, 'Salvation', would be turned into a movie directed by Bruce Schwartz in 2003. Though both the movie and the story focus on Langston's experience as a child in his aunt's church, the movie gives the reader a wider view and feel for the emotions that went through young Langston's mind at the time. The book does not do the actual events of the story as much justice as one would expect it to, but the movie certainly does. The book is set in Auntie Reed's church in the dead of night. The setting plays a huge party within both the story and the movie, allowing the reader or viewer to see that the differences between the two are significant. When reading chapter three, the reader is never introduced to any outside world, other than the church. In the movie, the reader gets a glimpse of Langston's home and the farm that his Uncle Reed takes care of regularly. Langston is shown as having multiple responsibilities, as an avid reader, and as a happy child. In the book the reader can only see Langston as a scared and disappointed child, nervous about how and when he will see God the contrast to how he felt when he was on the farm before going to church is not present. …show more content…

The reason why Langston is left living with Auntie and Uncle Reed is not explained in the book. In the movie, the viewer is informed that Langston's parents abandoned him, and his grandmother passed, so with no one else to look after him, he is taken in by the Reeds who are not at all blood related. The movie answers all of the questions that the book forces the reader to ask, giving a bit more insight to the character's development, presenting where Langston has come from and what direction he is headed

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