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How does religion affect a childs development
How does religion affect a childs development
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Most children that are raised in the Charismatic Christian church, experience the epiphany of being saved at some pointduring their childhood. Some may grow up and remain saved, some may later have doubts that they ever truly felt Jesus, which may lead them to doubt his existence at all. Langston Hughes tells of his experience of being saved from his sins in his short story titled “Salvation.” Hughes tells of his salvation beginning during revival at his aunt’s church. On a night just before the ending the revival ended, the pastor hosted a special sermon for the children in attendance. Langston found himself being escorted along with the other children to the front row of the church, shortly after the service had begun. When the preacher began to ask, “won’t you come young …show more content…
The reader is inspired to find out what type of person they are based on the three images that are brought out in this story. There are those that believe in the existence of God without a shadow of a doubt, like Langston’s aunt, those who just go with the flow, such as Westley, and, finally those who do not believe in God at all. Langston in the end of his recollection begins to doubt the existence of Jesus simply because he thought that a person could not be saved until Jesus literally came to him in the human form. When he did not experience “seeing” Jesus, his feelings changed from confusion to guilt and sadness. He could only cry in his bed later that night because he could not bear to tell his aunt why he actually went up. He knew that if he told her how he truly felt, it would absolutely crush her spirits and leave her extremely upset and possibly angry at him for faking the whole
On the other hand we have a story that is also humorous; however, his literary devices achieve a more childlike tone and his story concludes with a sympathetic effect on the reader . In “Salvation”, by Langston Hughes he takes us back to his inner thirteen year old self and his experience with being “saved” in a church. He explains the internal struggle he faces when he is pressured by a whole congregation to “see jesus” and the ironic effect it has on his perspective towards Jesus.
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
“I was saved from sin when I was on thirteen. But not really saved. (Salvation, By: Langston Hughes). “They should have put the men in the lifeboats. Men can marry again, have new families. What’s the use of all those widows and orphans?” (Carpathia By: Jess Lee Kercheval). Both of these quotes retrain from two short stories by Jesse Lee Kercheval and Langston Hughes. Jesse Lee Kercheval is a professor of writing at University of Wisconsin. She writes dozen of books. ”Carpathia” is a short story she wrote for a textbook called “building Fiction. Langston Hughes was an American poet, participated in the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz poetry. He also wrote a dozen books. ‘Salvation” is a narrative story he wrote to express his experience at a revival. “Salvation” and “Carpathia” will be explained in the following paragraphs of a 12 twelve years belief’s and a grown man perceptive of the importance of woman and young child.
1) but was mislead to believe he would be. He enticed the audience's attention to provoke an inquiry into the nature of his preservation. It is vital to comprehend that at the certain age of twelve and thirteen the adolescents are finding their place in their congregation; it becomes difficult for some to surrender to the pressure of the congregation. The “lambs” ( Hughes para. 3 ) were to be strengthen into the inclusion of the elder’s society, thus they would be accepting of their church and faith. Despite the fact Hughes needed physical credibility to believe in Jesus, he wanted to believe his aunt regarding his newcome salvation. He realized that in reality he was not saved, rather he was corrupted by the pressure from the congregation leading to the loss of
The world wants us to take part in things that we might not want to but we feel pressured by society or yourself. In the story, Salvation, Langston Hughes implied this perfectly. “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved” (McMahan, Day, Funk, and Coleman 279).
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.
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
With Langston refusing to get up to be saved, he created a conflict between him and everyone in the church. He felt that if he got up, it would be degrading to his character. Not everyone can believe that what you tell them is automatically true, no matter how many stories you tell them; they have to find that out for themselves.
In Langston Hughes’s Salvation, Hughes makes describes many differences between the his and the congregation’s perception of biblical acceptance. As a boy, Hughes was vividly told by his aunt that in accepting Jesus, he would “see a light, and something happened to you inside”. Being young, he believed that he had to actually see an incarnation of Jesus in order to be saved. When surrounded by the older crowd in church, Hughes anticipates a kind of “great awakening” but his expectations are met with nothing. He does not understand why he can not find Jesus while the congregation is in the midst of praising.
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?"
his aunt ran over to him and asked him why he was not going to Jesus. She knelt there and prayed for him. Langston sat there waiting for something to happen, but nothing! He truly wanted to see Jesus but he did not. Finally, he thought to himself and saw that nothing had happened to Westley for lying about not seeing Jesus. Langston then decides that he, too, will go to the altar and lie, hoping that nothing will happen to him for lying to God. Suddenly, loud cries of rejoice were heard throughout the church and everyone was pleased to see that “all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God” (220). That night Langston cried because he did not understand why he did not see Jesus. His aunt had heard him and explained to his uncle, “the Holy Ghost had come into my life” (220). From that point on he did not believe there was a Jesus, since he d...
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) absorbed America. In doing so, he wrote about many issues critical to his time period, including The Renaissance, The Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, Jazz, Blues, and Spirituality. Just as Hughes absorbed America, America absorbed the black poet in just about the only way its mindset allowed it to: by absorbing a black writer with all of the patronizing self-consciousness that that entails.
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
The 1920s was a time of great change for America. The 1920s also known as the “Roaring Twenties” and “Harlem Renaissance” became known as the decade of exciting social changes. New styles, attitudes, and literature were introduced to America during the Roaring Twenties. One of the greatest Harlem Renaissance poets during the 1920s was Langston Hughes.
Langston Hughes and Religion Langston Hughes in several poems denounced religion, inferring that religion did not exist any longer. In reading these poems, the reader can see 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, Hughes could only hope for realization from the public, of how religion and the church treated the Black race. Hughes wrote two poems that generated a lot of discussion about religion and African-Americans.