War Prayer Langston Hughes Analysis

"Salvation" by Langston Hughes is an Essay written about the pressures young adults can face in their lifetime. It represented the life of a young boy and the pressures he received to accept Christ into his life. The story reflected lies, sarcasm, and hypocrisy from his peers, his family, both immediate and church. This young boy was told that Jesus would come to him, he would “See” Jesus, he would know. He was faced with the misconception of “How” Jesus would come to him, he was misguided. The young boy went forward anyway, walking to the pulpit, and accepting Christ. Although he had never experienced Jesus coming to him, he had never seen Jesus, he goes anyway, pretending to be saved due to social pressures. Later he returns home and cries

As time has passed humanity still tends to separate each other based on our racial being rather than seeing each other as one human race. Langston Hughes’s, “A New Song,” published in 1938 introduces the idea of a new vision of social relations in American society. Hughes’s original version of this poem written in 1933, does not encompass his growing anger on this subject that is dwelled upon in his published version. However, with Hughes’s powerful tone and word choice throughout his 1938 rendition, his reader is able to understand his urge to transform America into an interracial culture. (Central Idea) His poem voices the importance of transforming society into a multiethnic unity and working-class established through cultural ties between whites and blacks. (Thesis) Hughes voices this crucial need to change through his emphasis on African American’s past struggles as opposed to the new dream, his militant tone, and through expressing the role that the establishment of cultural ties plays in society.

Furthermore, Hughes uses the rhetorical device of allusion when he writes about his aunt’s bringing him to the church for a special meeting. When he writes, “Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, ‘to bring the young lambs to the fold’’’ (1), he attempts to correlate his invitation to salvation to a Biblical parable. Along with his reference to the Bible, he conveys the church member’s excitement with vivid imagery. He illustrates the church’s setting as being infuse with “all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell”, and he also describes the preacher’s sermon as a “wonderful rhythmical sermon” (3). Conjointly, Hughes presents imagery of the churchgoers and alludes to a Biblical story in order to demonstrate the magnitude of the religious enthusiasm of the members of the church.

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

Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of

Within the eighteenth century, Christians were going through the Great Awakening, a wave of religious enthusiasm that swept through the colonies in an effort to make an impact on the religion within the areas. In the sermon written by Jonathon Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he is trying to persuade nonbelievers into joining his religion in a way unused by many. To show nonbelievers the two altering sides of God based on what people believe and “they may imagine him to be so” (3), Jonathon Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” utilizes threatening tone, conveying repetition, and augmenting similes to express the fury and hopefulness of God.

In the chapter “Battle Royal” form Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Children’s Rhymes by Langston Hughes, the colored narrators are put down by society, they have disadvantages because of their skin color. Promises were made and broken, such as liberty and justice.

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.

James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was very small, and his father (who found American racism made his desires to be a lawyer impossible) left the family and emigrated to Mexico. Hughes' mother moved with her child to Lawrence, Kansas, so she and he could live with his grandmother, Mary Langston.

Throughout Southern literature, the authors of Southern text use religion to convey emotion through grotesque-life changing events and concepts. An article titled “Flannery O’Connor’s Rage of Vision”, by Claire Katz discusses how O’Connor’s literature feature religion and Christianity to throughout the literature. The author states, “Since O’Connor had identified her theme as Christian, it is no surprise to find critics discussing this prototypical pattern in religious terms; the protagonist is humiliated in order to recognize his state of sin, and is thus open to grace and redemption.”(55) Therefore, this essay will examine and explain the abstract Christian components illustrated among multiple texts written by Flannery O’Connor and provide textual evidence to support the abstract findings from within the texts.

Throughout Ted Hughes’ works his fascination with animals is vastly prevalent. During Hughes’ childhood his family moved to Mexborough when he was seven years old. The Hughes’ family resided in rural area. Hughes as well as his childhood friends would often interact with the animals within the community. He would capture birds, foxes, and fish for loaches. He developed a passion for animals at the early age of four when he was given a photographic book of animals on his fourth birthday. The book had descriptions of the animal’s history which was rather advanced for a young child. Hughes attempted to draw and copy the pictures within the book. He relished collecting living creatures, such as mice (Feinstein 8-9). In addition, with the influence of his brother Gerald Hughes, Ted Hughes had a desire for hunting and shooting animals, uncommon among the others that live in the village. According to London Times contributor Thomas Nye, Hughes once confessed “that he began writing poems adolescence, in his earlier years he had a passion for hunting animals, whether the animal was dead or trapped Hughes had an attraction to animals. He wanted to capture not just live animals, but the aliveness of animals in their nature state: their wildness, quiddity, the fox-ness of the fox and the crow-ness of the crow” (“Ted Hughes, Poetry”). In Hughes’ poems animals mirror mans’ inner turbulence. In his poem

Langston Hughes inspired others to reach their true potential in their work by using their own life as a catalyst:

In the short story Salvation by Langston Hughes, Hughes talks about his first time being saved. Langston believed that once he got saved, he would see God and have a spiritual feeling flow through him as his aunt made him believe. But on the night of the revival at his aunt’s church, he didn’t see God or feel any different. But that didn’t stop Langston from going up to the Alter to be saved. He didn’t go up to be saved because he wanted to, but because he was forced.

     Jazz music is often associated with long, lazy melodies and ornate rhythmical patterns. The Blues, a type of jazz, also follows this similar style. Langston Hughes' poem, "The Weary Blues," is no exception. The sound qualities that make up Hughes' work are intricate, yet quite apparent. Hughes' use of consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme in "The Weary Blues" gives the poem a deep feeling of sorrow while, at the same time, allows the reader to feel as if he or she is actually listening to the blues sung by the poem's character.

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.