Emotional Differences In Hughes's Mother And Mothers By Langston Hughes

Everyone has them, people that raised them from when they were born, in most cases a mother and father. The memoir ‘’Salvation’’ by Langston Hughes and the essay ‘’Mothers’’ by Anna Quindlen awakened me to explore my relationship with my own parents. ‘’Salvation’’ gave me this over powering feeling that I knew exactly how young Langston felt sitting in that pew. I felt that I could also, to an extent, connect with the narrator in ‘’Mothers.’’ ‘’Salvation’’ and ‘’Mothers’’ both created emotional reactions from me; while ‘’Salvation’’ aroused feelings of vulnerability, ‘’Mothers’’ exposed questions about my parents.

‘’I began to feel ashamed of myself’’ (33), I along with thousands of people can relate to this simple statement. Hughes reminded

‘’Salvation’’ emphasized my own need for acceptance while at the same time making me fear the rejection of being different. Where ‘’Salvation’’ showed me my weakness, ‘’Mothers’’ showed me growth. My father leaving played a bigger part in my life than I had remembered, and ‘’Mothers’’ simply showed me the door towards that again. Besides being torn with my relationship with my father Quindlen made me grateful for the best friend that I have found in my mother. Hughes brought up all the ‘’skeletons in my closet’’ that I never told my mother. [Instead of feeling ashamed about haven hidden secrets and relationships from her, I felt ashamed for every time I lied to save myself from her wrath.] Both authors took me to moments in my life that had lasting impressions on me. ‘’Mothers’’ made me relive the birth of my baby sister, and ‘’Salvation’’ made me reenact countless disagreements that I’ve experienced with my parents. Although I would like to secrete these memories, it was healthy for me to remember the lessons I learned from them.

Hughes and Quindlen’s both, undeniably, great authors that can use their power in words to move readers. The memoir and the short story brought unsettling memories to me that I enjoyed reliving. I cannot think of any other literature that can expose such intense feelings from me, but anyone can connect to these pieces of work. Most people can connect to the pressure that Hughes describes, and they have probably also felt that yearn for an unknown relationship that Quindlen expresses in