Langston Hughes- Salvation Assignment

Meaning

1. The main point in the story that Langston Hughes tries to demonstrate in the narrative seems to be the value of truth and how sometimes the truth is put a side to seek the approval or acceptance of others. I also believe that he makes a point that the places that we believe hold the most truth can sometimes appear more deceptive. The reason why this can be proving true is because of the way he acted towards the idea of trying to be "saved" through Jesus and how so much pressure is placed upon him in believing in a person that he internally has doubts about.

2. Hughes was having doubts about being "saved" because he felt that Jesus had come to him and his aunt's advice about knowing if you have reached Jesus. Due to the pressure put on him, Hughes decides to lie to the congregation and accept Jesus into his life to remove his sins. Surprisingly, this act upsets him and brings him to tears when he goes home becomes he had to lie to his aunt in order for her to be proud of him and accept him. IT almost seems as though he has this strong relationship or bond with his aunt which causes him to react in such and emotional way.

3. When I see the title, it seems as though it is just a cliche or maybe if a over exaggerated term used deceptively. Usually the title of a chapter in a book is not in quotations unless they have a negative out look on the term or phrase. The first two sentences are a link to this attitude the has about "salvation". It shows disbelief in salvation and probably the way things are explained or practiced in the church.

Purpose and Audience

1. I think that Hughes wrote Salvation in his biography two decades after it happened because he felt that it might be a much more appropriate time to express how he felt about church due to the time period. It also could have been a way of expressing bottled up feelings about church and Jesus since he had negative feelings about it. However,he did not criticize the adults that participated in his salvation because they had little to do with his faith they just had something to do in pressing the idea of Jesus and salvation in his mind. I think with this he was showing the gap between his generation and the generation of his aunt. I noticed that when it was mentioned that all the "sinners" sat in the mourners section did not buy into the being saved because probably Church is not pressured in their culture compared to his aunt. His aunt and the other adults could have been slaves or they could have been children of slaves which means that God and church was always in the fore front of their minds.

2. Hughes might assume that the reader is a christian and maybe even baptists or Methodists. He talks about how the adults used music to help the children feel the presence of Christ. In the Baptist and Methodist Church are usually filled with music and was practiced by a lot of Blacks in the late 19th and early 20th century.

3. The dialogue creates and builds up anxiety and pressure around Hughes to make him accept Jesus. When the congregations starts to enclose around the sinners and starts singing and crying and shouting it makes the sinners feel as though they should do what is asked of them because adults are more experience than they are.


Method and Structure

1.I believe Hughes wrote this essay as a narrative so that it can be more appealing to his readers. It gives more raw emotions than of a story that is told from another person's view. If this story in third person or first person narrative, it would make a good argumentative essay because my people suffer with the same issues with truth regarding the church. I think the essay would be called "Church and its Pillars of Falsehood".

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4. This revival meeting process is important for the readers who might not understand how Black churches are run. IT explains the beliefs as well as the process to show you why the writer might be disturbed when asked to become saved.


Language

1. In this narrative, Hughes seemed to be ashamed about his past experience dealing with his salvation. He said that except one other time in his life this particular experience made him cry but it was not because he was saved. He felt ashamed that he couldn't stand up to his family and tell them how he felt about salvation and the church.

2. Hughes write this particular narrative in a diary- like form where everything is writing in free form. It makes you believe that he wrote it during that experience.

3. In order to see Jesus they belief that you had to reach a certain amount vulnerablity to accept him in your life to actually see why they would need him. In the story this holds great importance because you understand why Hughes felt ashamed at the end of the story.