Rhetorical Analysis On Salvation

Reading Response

In Langston Hughes’s narrative essay “Salvation”, Langston talks about how his experience at church caused him to crack under pressure and pretend to be saved from Jesus, which leads him to not believing Jesus is real anymore. I personally felt like he relates to real-world problems when it comes to Salvation. How you're expecting to feel this tidal wave of emotions to flourish and have these signs of repent to show up but doesn't happen. Another thing is, I like how he explains how tense the room felt when it was just him alone on the mourning bench and how the pressure to be “Saved” makes him lie to everyone. Within the essay, Hughes touches on many different types of ideas and feelings that most people can relate too.

Religion, being one of the most obvious themes, Langston uses many metaphorical lines that refer to the Bible. He also uses very descriptive wording that helps us paint a picture of how the environment feels and looks like. Langston also adds peer pressure in his essay, how all the kids on the bench were seeing the “Signs” and being “Saved” making him the last child there waiting for a sign to appear. Which lead him to pretend about being saved, causing everyone in the church including his Auntie Reed to raise up in joy. I think this makes his narrative even more engaging and makes

you want to keep reading.
“A great many old people came and knelt around us and prayed, old women with jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands.

And the church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be saved. And the whole building rocked with prayer and song.” (Paragraph 4, line 1). “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. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices. And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting - but he didn't come.”(Paragraph 6, line

1).
The first quote may be my favorite descriptive text from the narrative, it has so many descriptive details which helps you picture what exactly is going on in that very moment and really helps you picture yourself in that church with him and I really appreciate how the author tells you about the people in the church and how they feel as well on how they look. The second quote stands out to me because it explains how he feels about not seeing Jesus and his signs and how it affects everyone in the room. The church keeps praying to Jesus for a miracle to happen so that Langston can be saved. Langston lie then makes him second guess about Jesus and doesn't believe in him anymore.
So in conclusion, Langston is just bringing you into his world and how his experience with being saved didn't go how he imagined it. He also brings into the light on how pressure can make you commit wrong decision and how those decisions can influence you on how you look at something.