“Salvation” By Langston Hughes

“Salvation” by Langston Hughes

In Langston Hughes' story "Salvation," Langston talks about the first time he is going to be saved from sin. Langston is a young boy around the age of thirteen. He is going to church to see Jesus for the first time. In which case, he truly experiences religion for the first time in his life. In the story Langston uses many narrative techniques such as, imagery, metaphors, and irony to explain his interpretation of that one night when he did not see Jesus. In the beginning Langston was positive about church but at the end he’s not really religious anymore.

Langston goes to church for the first to join his aunt in a revival. He is very pressured to come up to be saved his friends are there and he is the only one who is left towards the end of the service to be saved. The other child who is left with Langston just walks up, even though he doesn't believe. They are pressured with the whole church watching if they don’t believe they are possessed or evil sinners. Langston just went up because he wanted to go home and

As a young boy Langston loved his aunt he would do anything even if it meant lying that he saw Jesus and the light to be saved. He knew that it had a lot of meaning to her because she spoke of it days before. When Langston wouldn’t go up to be saved, his aunt was crying and he couldn’t take the disappointment.

Langston wanted to literally see Jesus. He wanted to have a light come down and save him like he thought it would. He thought it would be a very magical experience, when it was really just a figure of imagination. Langston wanted this experience to shape his life and make him a better person when it really made him feel worse.