Salvation Langston Hughes Analysis

'Salvation', by Langston Hughes is part of an autobiographical work written in 1940. The author narrates a story centering on a revival gathering that happened in his childhood. During the days leading up to the event, Hughes' aunt tells him repeatedly that he will be 'saved', stressing that he will see a light and Jesus will come into his life. He attends the meeting but when Jesus fails to appear, he is forced by peer pressure to lie and go up and be 'saved'. Hughes uses his story to illustrate how easy it is for children to misinterpret adults and subsequently become disillusioned.

In most people's lives, there comes a point in time where their perception changes abruptly; a single moment in their life when they come to a sudden realization. In Langston Hughes' 'Salvation', contrary to all expectations, a young Hughes is not saved by Jesus, but is saved from his own innocence.

Langston Hughes’ short essay, “Salvation,” is a controversial yet interesting story that brings many conflicts between people in society. He discusses his personal point of view about his religious experience. Although religion has impacted many people throughout the years, it is still an extremely debatable topic. Many people believe that if you go to church you’ll be good for the rest of your life and just because you convince them as kid to behave a certain way, it will stop them from making poor choices, but it does not always work that way. Religion has historically been a problem for so long; it has divided humanity in so many ways. This story represents how much religion can use fear to gain power, but it also brings a sense of hope

Langston Hughes’s personal narrative “Salvation” is a recollection of Hughes’s experience with salvation at a religious revival at his aunt’s church. He recounts his experience in order to describe how it led to his enormous guilt over deceiving his aunt and the congregation and how it stemmed his disbelief in religion. His ironic tone and vivid imagery plays a key role in the development of the conflict and the complications that he faces. In order to dramatize suspenseful moments and magnify key points, he uses an array of rhetorical devices.

Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz

In most people's lives, there comes a point in time where their perception changes abruptly; a single moment in their life when they come to a sudden realization. In Langston Hughes' "Salvation", contrary to all expectations, a young Hughes is not saved by Jesus, but is saved from his own innocence.

Faith and conformity can go hand in hand. When one has family members that belong to a religion it is easier to conform to keep the peace then to rebel and strain relationships with one’s family. One may ask if this conformity is worth the guilt that comes with lying to one’s family and self. Saying one thing but doing another can inflict an enormous amount of guilt on a person, especially a young child. In Langston Hughes’s story, “Salvation” (1940), the reader gains insight into what happens when a twelve year old conforms into a religion they do not truly believe in.

Salvation is defined as the deliverance from sin and its consequences. In a Christianity sense, salvation is when a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, and they believe the fact that he died for the sins of Christians. The term of salvation is often referred to as being “saved”. Salvation is when one delivers not only their body in a physical to the church and God, but it is also a committee to Jesus mentally and spiritually. Getting saved can be a very pressuring and life changing decision. That is sometimes forced upon young adolescents. Ultimately it can cause one to question their spiritually sometimes even damaging their belief in Jesus. In Langston Hughes’

Personally, I can relate to “Salvation”, as I had a similar (confusion of) religion as a child. When I first read Hughes’ story, I was angry at the adults that had put him and the other children through such an experience. It reminded me of the time my foster parents forced my sister and I to go to church at least twice a week, sometimes more because they were quite involved in the community. Before then, I had grown up in a non-religious household, and was intimidated by the idea of church and God. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to choose my faith simply because I was a child, or even because I was an ‘unfortunate’ child. Unlike me, Hughes was raised religious and afterwards lost his faith, but he is relatable to me because he is

“Salvation” is a wonderful narrative by Langston Hughes explaining his first time attending church. The story is portrayed in both a book and film version. Both versions do their jobs by explaining how Langston felt when he falsely claimed he was saved by Christ. Each version has different strengths and weaknesses, but the book is dull compared to the film. The film gives a better insight into Langston’s life;therefore, the film version is superior to the book.

Langston Hughes is one the most renowned and respected authors of twentieth century America not simply one of the most respected African-American authors, though he is certainly this as well, but one of the most respected authors of the period overall. A large part of the respect and admiration that the man and his work have garnered is due to the richness an complexity of Hughes' writing, both his poetry and his prose and even his non-fictions. In almost all of his texts, Hughes manages at once to develop and explore the many intricacies and interactions of the human condition and specifically of the experience growing up and living as a black individual in a white-dominated and explicitly anti-Black society while at the same time, while at the same time rendering his human characters and their emotions in a simple, straightforward, and immensely accessible fashion. Reading the complexity behind the surface simplicity of his works is at once enjoyable and edifying.

Moving to America was the biggest change in my life. Before, I know very little of this world and my thoughts and opinion were very narrow. I did not have the best education and I think little about my future since I lived in a refugee camp. I also could not open myself up to people of different background because of the lack of diversity while living in the camp. But moving to America I was introduced with a new culture, education, and diversity that changes my life and my views.

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die” - Friedrich Nietzsche. Has an event ever changed you in a large way? In ways such as your personality or mind-set on important topics? People always change even in invisible ways. Both “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Freedom Writers” have characters that change for the better even through the tough events that happen in their lives, however the characters change in different ways.

In “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the overall message is the disappointment Hughes received when he experienced becoming saved. In the first part of the story Hughes goes to a revival service with his aunt at her church, to be saved. While at this revival they have a special meeting for kids that Hughes goes to. After being in the meeting for a long time Hughes realizes he is the only one let that has not been saved. Because Hughes feels like he is holding everything u he decides to lie about his experience meeting Jesus and just say that he has been saved even though he hasn’t. Finally, after the revival Hughes fully understands what he did, and he begins to cry. He cannot bear to tell his aunt that he lied about meeting Jesus, and now he

I was immediately hooked to the piece, “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. Coming from a family that grew up with serious religious values, reading about Langston’s personal experiences with church made me relate to him. In addition, I am a person who enjoys coming-of-age and finding identity stories like: “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Catcher in the Rye,” so this was a very interesting read for me because of Langston’s discovery of himself.