In “Salvation“ Langston Hughes discusses the reasons of why he does not believe in Jesus anymore. At first, when he was thirteen years old, on every night during the weeks he would have preached, singing, praying on his Auntie Reed’s church and it was something that he feels safe on. During that years her aunt use to tell him when you been brought to Jesus and you accept him you will be saved and that is the time you will see a light or a sight coming inside of you that is when you know God is with you all the time. He actually believes in it because, many old people in the church would have said the same thing as her Auntie mention. Years later he started to not believe in god it anymore, and one of the …show more content…
In the article the author states that “ Every night for weeks there had been much preaching, singing, praying, and shouting.” Basically, this quote is actually saying that when Langston go to church every night for the weeks they will be preaching inside of the church singing Gospel song and also shouting. He never hated this stuff he actually found himself good to be at church. One thing that stood him up is when her Aunt told him as soon that you receive Jesus into your life you will see a light. In my opinion, when the Aunt told Langston that I take he really believed that he will see a light, but actually it was more like you will something coming into your body like a spirit or a feeling as you feel someone is behind you it’s more imagine something that a light shine from him. I think that is why Langston feel ashamed when he didn’t see the light, he felt as Jesus didn’t want him. However, he was confused because it’s more like they were forcing him to do something since he had heard other adults mention the same light that Aunty was talking about. So he decided to see this mysterious light and as well to be saved. It was not only Langston that was there to accept jesus it was another young teenager there as well and some of them was in the same situation as Hughes. One thing for sure is that all of them was there to see
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
1920’s Harlem was a time of contrast and contradiction, on one hand it was a hotbed of crime and vice and on the other it was a time of creativity and rebirth of literature and at this movement’s head was Langston Hughes. Hughes was a torchbearer for the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and musical movement that began in Harlem during the Roaring 20’s that promoted not only African-American culture in the mainstream, but gave African-Americans a sense of identity and pride.
He believed that since they were older and had more knowledge “they ought to know” ( Hughes, para. 2 ) the events that would occur during the religious revival, thus he presumed his aunt spoke the truth. As children, they were taught to trust and respect their elders, thus, Langston in his younger years followed the orders of his aunt; the lies fed to him in his adolescent years destroyed his virtues. He was disappointed and “ashamed” ( Hughes para. 11 ) once he recognized that Jesus would not reveal himself. His disappointment conveyed the parallelism and repetition of “nothing” ( Hughes para. 7 ). Specifically when he realized that “nothing happened” ( Hughes para. 7 ) during the religious revival he started to doubt himself and reflect how foolish his actions were. The shift in the narrative emphasized that he no longer believed in his religious salvation and punishment for his sins. He “got up” ( Hughes para. 12 ) from his placement in his sins while the rest of the children had confirmed so easily; Hughes could not understand the figurative language of the salvation. Hughes expected to physically see Jesus because of the adults in his life have enlightened him that he would, although they manipulated him to believe he would be
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 Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, to James Nathaniel Hughes, a lawyer and businessman, and Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes, a teacher. The couple separated shortly thereafter. James Hughes was, by his son’s account, a cold man who hated blacks (and hated himself for being one), feeling that most of them deserved their ill fortune because of what he considered their ignorance and laziness. Langston’s youthful visits to him there, although sometimes for extended periods, were strained and painful. He attended Columbia University in 1921-22, and when he died he, left everything to three elderly women who had cared for him in his last illness, and Langston was not even mentioned in his will.
Douglass is telling us that until we go out and get our own understanding, we will always be blind to what’s right in front of us. He is saying we can do all the praying we want for change, but until you help ourselves God won’t help you. I don’t think he found a new faith, but I do know he did find knowledge. What the slave masters were telling the slaves wasn’t a lie, but it was written for different time, the bible was always meant to be transcribed and interpreted.
The people at the church believed in Jesus because that was how they were raised, and that is how it was. This is why Langston Hughes wanted to see Jesus because he wanted to have a better understanding of his faith and be saved. Being told to worship and honor Jesus blindly, raised many questions in his mind and before his relationship could grow with Jesus he needed them answered. So he figured that if Jesus came like the church promised Jesus would, he would be enlightened and would honor and worship him. So Langston waited and waited, but Jesus never came.
Langston Hughes- Pessimism Thesis Statement: In the poems “Weary Blues”, “Song for a Dark Girl” and “Harlem” the author Langston Hughes uses the theme of pessimism through the loss of faith, dreams and hope. First, one can look at the theme of pessimism and the correlation to the loss of faith. One can see that in “Song for a Dark Girl” an African American girl is sadden by the loss of her love. For this young and innocent girl to have to lose someone she loved so young.
Langston Hughes's stories deal with and serve as a commentary of conditions befalling African Americans during the Depression Era. As Ostrom explains, "To a great degree, his stories speak for those who are disenfranchised, cheated, abused, or ignored because of race or class." (51) Hughes's stories speak of the downtrodden African-Americans neglected and overlooked by a prejudiced society. The recurring theme of powerlessness leads to violence is exemplified by the actions of Sargeant in "On the Road", old man Oyster in "Gumption", and the robber in "Why, You Reckon?"
In the poem it seems as if Langston is talking from the perspective of someone living in Harlem he
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
angston Hughes wrote “Salvation” which is a short essay where he explains how religion entered into his life in his Aunt’s church and briefly describes his beliefs based on that experience. This was an important event in his life because his Aunt told him that something happens inside of a person once they are saved. She told him that he would see, hear and feel Jesus! Hughes was thirteen at the time and believed that Jesus would appear to him in front of the church.
Critical Essays on Langston Hughes.
In the excerpt, “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the narrator evaluates his religious experience in chronological order from an event that occurred in his life when he was just 12 years old. The young narrator who is 12, attended a religious resurgence with his aunt in the hope to accept Jesus into his life. Langston did not have any religious coming to god moments like the other children and pretended to be “saved” due to the pressure of being the last child. This forced him to not believe in Jesus since he didn't come to help him.
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.