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How easy is it to overstep ones boundaries with religion? In Langston Hughes’s short story “Salvation”, from his autobiographical (“The Big Sea”), Langston tells the story of his experiences with religion. Langston Hughes was a key player in the Harlem Renaissance”The first major movement of African-American literature, beginning around 1923 and flourishing until the depression, but providing a stimulus that lasted through the 1940s.”(“1920's-Mid-1930's Harlem Renaissance”, Matterson, Stephen 2003). While staying with his Auntie Reed, Langston goes to a church revival. Auntie Reed encouraged Langston to be saved from his sins, embedded these fantasy notions of receiving a sign from jesus once you are saved; “when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!”(#3 …show more content…
Paragraph 2). On the night of the revival, the preacher called all the children to the mourners bench; "Won't you come? Won't you come to Jesus? Young lambs, won't you come?”. (#3 Paragraph 3) to be saved from their sins. After all the children had gone, and been saved of their sins. There sat a young Langston alone on the mourner’s bench, waiting for Jesus and his sign for Langston. Influenced by the congregation and with his Auntie Reed at his knees pleading with Langston to be saved. Langston felt obligated to be saved. He wasn't saved from his sins for himself, but was saved for the congregations sake. How this one experience had changed Langston Hughes’s outlook on religion. Later in Langston Hughes life he went on to write poems on his ideology of religion. Such work as, (“Goodbye Christ”, L. Hughes 1932) where he is telling “Christ” to go; “…You ain’t no good no more. They’ve pawned you Till you’ve done wore out. Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova…”. You get a sense of irony within the first sentence and paragraph of “Salvation”; “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved.”(#3 Paragraph 1), Langston is setting the reader up for whats to come. How Langston’s “Salvation” was presented to him in the fashion that it was, had the reverse effects on him. How the pressure from his aunt, and the entire congregation consequently ruined the faith of a twelve-year-old Langston Hughes. Langston uses a certain rhythm in the dialogue of “Salvation”. As if the story itself has a certain beat to it; “…but he didn't come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened.”. (#3 paragraph 6) This could be the fact that Langston Hughes was a long time lover of the jazz music. In 1965 he goes on to write an essay (“Jazz as Communication” 1956) “You can start anywhere—Jazz as Communication—since it’s a circle, and you yourself are the dot in the middle. You, me.” Langston is using these literary devices to convey to the reader. They build his story, it is what makes it so powerful. We begin to see the way Langston Hughes uses of vivid imagery to convey to the reader.
Langston goes into depth explaining his surroundings, and the anticipations in the air. Creating these fixed mental images for the reader, putting the reader into this church, while sitting among it’s overcrowded congregation, for example; “Then I was left all alone on the mourners' bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and song swirled all around me in the little church.”(#3 Paragraph 6). Being the last lost “lamb” on the mourners’ bench, looking up and seeing his peers staring down at him. The reader begins to feel Langston’s frustrations, and his obligation to be saved of his sins.
The reader gets a sense of symbolism when the preacher calls out to Langston; “Langston, why don't you come? Why don't you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don't you come?”(#3 Paragraph 8) it's as if Langston has lost his independence sitting on that mourner’s bench. That he is no longer twelve-year-old Langston, but just another “lamb of god”. Meanwhile the preacher is herding along these “lambs of god”, and Langston following along
blindly. Langston’s main purpose of “Salvation” was to show the reader, how this one misguided attempt, collectively ruined religion for him; “But I was really crying because I couldn't bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn't seen Jesus, and that now I didn't believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn't come to help me.”(#3 paragraph 10). What the overall repercussions of falsely portraying a religion can have on a child. How an adult thinks they may have the best interests in mind for their children, but can easily ruin a great thing for them. Langston’s message was to be open-minded and let a person no matter their age make their own attempt at religion, and not to overstep your boundaries when doing so.
For a moment, imagine being in young Hughes’ place, and hearing, “Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, lamb of God! Why don’t you come?” (Hughes, 112), being whispered into your ear by your aunt as tears rush down her face. Would you not take the easy way out? How could someone at the age of twelve understand the torment that follows such an event? Hughes learned that night just what he had done, and what it meant, as he mentions in his essay when he says, “That night, for the last time but one- for I was a big boy twelve years old- I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me….I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, and that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me” (Hughes, 112). At the first moment he was alone in silence, he understood what he had learned, and what it meant. That not only did he lie to his aunt, and to the church, but in his time of need, no one was there to help. There was no God by his side as he knelt on the church
Langston Hughes was twelve when he was “saved.” He was at a revival at his Aunts church when he soon felted pressured to accept Jesus into his heart. He wanted to experience what everyone else was feeling but could not experience what others were. Soon he began thinking of what the other guy was feeling and began to become ashamed of himself, holding everything in for so long. Then Westley was sitting high on the thrown with Christ and Langston wanted that. Soon after Langston’s stood up to be saved, everyone started cheering and celebrating his salvation with him. Whenever he got home from the revival he cried alone in his room. His aunt thought he was crying because the Holy Spirit came into his life. Little did she know he was crying because he lied and said that he seen Jesus when he really didn’t (McMahan, Day, Funk, and Coleman 280).
Another case in which we can see how we are exposed to society and their particular beliefs found in the text of Tillie Olsen, O Yes. As I commented previously, the African-American community built a space of freedom where feelings are protected. During the slavery years in the United States of America, the only way to feel free of a life full of oppression was in the Church. There, next to their fellow people, the slaves had an emotional freedom there as Olsen pointed out on page 64, Not everybody feels religion in the same way. Some it's in their mouth, but some it's like a hope in their blood, their bones. And they singing songs every word that's real to them, Carol, every word out of they own life. And the preaching finding lodgement in
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.
James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University . During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington , D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.
It was the night of the big revival, and Langston, a young boy going on the age of thirteen, was brought to his Aunt Reed’s church to see Jesus and be saved from sin. His aunt told him, “when you were saved from sin you saw a light, and something happened to you inside” (219). He believed her. When he was brought to church, his aunt directed him to the front row, where he sat calmly and patiently in the heat, waiting for the preacher to begin the service. The Preacher welcomed the “young lambs” (219) and started his sermon. Towards the end of his speech he invited the young children to the altar to be saved. At this point, Langston was confused because he was not seeing Jesus before him. All the young boys and girls sprang to their feet except Langston and another boy named Westley. They were the only two left on, what the parishioners of the church called, the “mourners’ bench” (218). Finally, Westley became very restless and decided that he was not going to sit on this bench anymore. Langston was left there all alone until
From a religious perceptive, the lamb is a symbol of innocence and salvation, it represents all of humanity that Clarice is trying to save. The significance of the lamb throughout the movie reveals how innocence is lost like Clarice at the beginning is lost and does not know what to do. The analogy of comparing Clarice to the lamb crying and trying to find the right path in life is a like all of humanity trying to find reasoning and logic in their
Langston Hughes was a large influence on the African-American population of America. Some of the ways he did this was how his poetry influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Renaissance. These caused the civil rights movement that resulted in African-Americans getting the rights that they deserved in the United States. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and his grandmother raised him. She got him into literature and education; she was one of the most important influences on him. He moved around a lot when he was young, due to his parents divorce, but remained a good student and graduated high school. After this he traveled the world and worked in different places, all the things he saw in his travels influenced him. In 1924 he settled down in Harlem where he became one of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed listening to blues and jazz in clubs while he wrote his poetry. The music that he enjoyed greatly influenced the style and rhythm of his poetry. The poem “Dream Variations” by Hughes is about an average African-American who dreams of a world where African-Americans are not looked at or treated differently and they can rest peacefully. Yet in real life this was not so, black people and white people were not equal. And the world was not as forgiving and nice as in their dream. This poem is a good example of Hughes writing because it is typical of three things. The first is the common theme of the average life of an African-American and their struggles. Secondly, the style of his writing which is based on the rhythm of jazz and blues- he uses a lot of imagery and similes. Lastly, his influences which are his lonely childhood and growing up as an Afric...
In Langston Hughes 's definition essay entitled "Salvation" he discusses the social and emotional pressures that effect young people. He pulls in his own experiences from being an active member in his church, and the moment he was supposed to experience revival of twelve. Hughes 's purpose for writing this definition essay is to show the peer pressures and internal conflicts that come from both church and the religious community, and his personal experiences that led to the pressures that were put upon him in his youth. The audiences that “Salvation” was pointed towards are adults; it shows the pressures that are put upon the youth, while the child does not fully grasp the idea being expressed to them. Langston Hughes 's overall message to
In his essay “Salvation,” Langston Hughes describes how he was “saved from sin,” at the age of thirteen. Throughout the short essay he goes on to further explain his feelings of confusion, pressure, and disappointment while waiting for Jesus to appear. He starts off by recalling what his Aunt Reed had said to him: “when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside!” He had also heard this same belief from churchgoing numerous adults. It begins in the church where Hughes is kneeling with several other children who are to be saved. As time passes all the other children except Hughes and another boy named Westley have stood up and walked to the altar to be saved. Eventually even Westley stands up and walks to the altar because he's tired of wasting time and sitting
Rich, who often teetered the lines of domesticity and prophecy in her literary work (Halpern 54), delivers the poem’s most telling line in the last stanza: “your details sound like a portrait of your confessor”. This allusion is in reference to the Great Persecution and confessors of sin. Under the sovereignty of Constantine the Great, Christians who had had been tortured and victimized, were forced to repent for their “sins” to a confessor in order to be restored in the eyes of society. The cop plays the role of confessor in the poem; the woman, shaken into repentance. Contrarily, Plath’s biblical allusion is undoubtedly less revelatory. She explicitly recounts the third blessing in the Gospel of Matthew, ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth,” (5:5). As weak as women of the time may have been perceived to be, though they faced great adversity, will eventually succeed due to their
He also continues to express his anger towards the hypocrisy of racism within the theme of religion. A poem that shows Hughes’s anger towards racism within the them of his religious identity is “Christ in Alabama.” In this poem, Hughes demonstrates the hypocritical nature of white, racist Christians. By stating Christ was black, he creates a paradox between the racist Christians and their faith. How can a Christian who is saved by grace through the death of a black Christ be racist to the blacks?
“The Lamb” exhibits Blake’s outlook on life as a Christian. The poem is best known for “the lamb” symbolizing innocence. In literature, a lamb represents innocence and the biblical lamb represents Jesus Christ’s purity and innocent sacrifice. The innocence theme is dispersed between a child’s innocence and Christ’s innocence. “Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?” The first two lines of the first stanza present the poem’s child-like innocence theme. The speaker of the poems asks a child one of the most inescapable questions of life, “who made us,” followed by the answer to the question. “Little Lamb, God bless thee! / Little Lamb, God bless thee!” Through two stanzas, the inevitable question is asked and then answered. The speaker of the poem also references Jesus as a symbolic lamb, “He is called by thy name, / For He ca...
...eed a child speaking to a lamb. This image gives a sense of naïveté and innocence. He is playing with a lamb and is teaching the lamb the belief in a God. This is probably something that was taught to him, the child by his parents. Everyone in this poem can be viewed as lambs: the child (or speaker), the actual lamb, and Jesus.
The disappointed, unenthusiastic tone is prevalent through most of the poem. The church simply does not live up to the speaker’s expectations, and he feels uncomfortable in the silence. And although he occasionally has fleeting feelings of "awkward reverence," it is not until the end of the poem that he realizes not only the purpose of the church, but his own reason for being there.