Reaction Paper
Nonfiction readings take some imagination to fully grasp the concept that the author is portraying. The short stories, “Salvation”, by Langston Hughes (Literature for Composition pp 343-344) and “Who Will Light Incense When Mothers Gone?” by Andrew Lam, (Literature for Composition pp 1115-1116), are no different where imagination is concerned. These two readings differ tremendously, having few similarities, although, they are both personal nonfiction readings.
In, “Salvation”, the author uses two different strategies to convey his idea. In opinion, he uses Reader’s Response and Formalist strategies. The opening line reads: “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved,” (Literature for Composition pg. 343). This line brings about the rest of the story. He is looking for a readers response by telling the story of how he was “saved from sin”, when he was going on thirteen. He does not detail his entire life up to this point or much thereafter. This leads it to be believed that the other strategy is formalist. Meaning that it can stand independently.
One can personally relate to the story of, “Salvation”, because they have been through this type of situation. They have been attending church during their youth, feeling as if the spot light was aimed at them. Also knowing that something is expected of them, wondering if they should follow the crowd or go on their own. The author wants to help other young ladies and gentlemen to know they are not alone. The author did what was expected of him, and as a result feels an extreme amount of guilt because of the untruth he had committed. On page 344 paragraph ten of Literature for Composition he states, “That night, for the last time in my life but one- for I was a big boy twelve years old, I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and could not stop. I buried my head under my quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But I was really crying because I could not bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, and I had not seen Jesus, and that now I did not believe there was a Jesus any more, since he did not come to help me.” It is entirely possible that many young youth have experienced this same feeling. The thing that they need to remember is that God’s unanswered prayers, (no matter which one an individual believes in), are truly blessings, and it teaches them something greater.
“Salvation” would be considered nonfiction because it is an experience that personally happened to the author as a young boy. One could not necessarily say the reading is portrayed as biased. It would come closer to an emotional reading. We are lead to believe that it is a situation he experienced. It had an emotional toll on him that he felt would benefit others.
The strategies used in the reading, “Who Will Light the Incense When Mother’s Gone” by Andrew Lam could possibly be Readers Response and Historical strategies.
Beginning with Readers Response: The author gives the image of a birthday party. One can visually see the surroundings so well that it is felt that they are there. The reader’s response is that they want to fix the problem at hand. An individual can feel the emotions that the author is feeling.
Next is a Historical Strategy: The author gives a bit of history on not only his family traditions but also of the Vietnamese traditions. The lighting of incense and of talking to dead ancestors is one of the traditions that are passed on through generations. They also have an altar in the family home, where they light the incense at. Another tradition is going to a Buddhist temple on the anniversary of the parent’s death. The latter of the two could be only the author’s mothers’ traditions. The reason for this thought is built from paragraph 7 on page 1116. “We live in two different worlds, Mother and I. Mine is a world of travel and writing and public speaking, of immersing myself in contemporary history. Hers is a world of consulting the Vietnamese horoscope, of attending Buddhist temple on the day of her parents’ death anniversaries and of telling and retelling stories of the past.” This paragraph could be interpreted a couple different ways. For many they see that the mother does things one way the child another. For others who look more closely and analyze they ask questions. Questions, such as, * Are they family traditions? * Did she learn them from her family or on her own? * Is it possible they are from her chosen religion?
So many questions can be asked if one analyzed it thoroughly enough. Another thought is formed in the form of a question. * Why is it that the child is not carrying on these traditions?
This is asked with the assumptions that the traditions are passed down through generations. One must also wonder; * Why does he feel that even though he is “American” that he cannot carry them on anyway? This short reading is a very intriguing story. It makes an individual feel as if they are a part of the story. It also raises enough questions to make one want to research the traditions that were portrayed in the story. It is knowledgeable that the old ways of any religion are dying out as each generation comes along. Hopefully one day they will make a comeback. They will be considered taboo for quite some time though.
The purpose of the reading, would be to show that no matter what background one has, they can always go their own way in this world. Sometimes, (although heart breaking to some), an individual does not go the way as those before them had chosen. They go their own separate unique way, following their own dreams. This does not mean that they have forgotten what has been taught to them. They merely do not use these learnings in their everyday life. What makes this reading nonfiction is the situation that has happened to this individual. It explains about not only a family setting but includes some education information as well. It gives some background data that helps one to further understand the purpose of details the author provides. All in all this reading has been found to be a very informative and interesting nonfiction story. An individual can relate to both the mother and the child in the story. On one side the mother wants the family traditions carried over to the future generations even though they currently reside in America. She wants the ancestors to be remembered, this is understandable. On the other side, the child wants the freedom of choice. He wants to be able to choose whether or not to live the way that his mother feels is correct or to live the way he chooses for himself. A mother should give her children the right to live as they want to, once they have become adults. All they can hope for is that they become worth-while people. They should not try to guilt trip their children into doing what they want them to do. This takes away their free will. Not everyone is the same though, each person is different in his or her own way. If we were all the same then the world would be a very boring place to be. Although, it can be difficult to let ones children make their own decisions regarding their lives, it is something we all need to do at some point. Analyzing these two short stories is a very interesting and intriguing process. Understanding what the story is about is the first step in analyzing it. Reading it as a whole then breaking it down into pieces. It is felt that one must break it down into pieces, analyzing each part, to be able to fully comprehend what the author is trying to get the reader to understand. At times one must do research on different things that the author has said to fully comprehend what they are referring to. Using imagination during the process of reading the story helps the reader to see what is going on and even how the author feels. Each person will comprehend a story in different ways. Our opinions on a story can at times vary greatly from one another. These two stories discussed here may have helped one person but not another. The reason being is not every person goes through the same situations, or leads the same lives. As is clearly understood between these two stories. One author, (one would assume), grew up in America, attending church in a Christian based church. He went through something that many of youth go through during that time of their lives. Whereas the other author, (again with assuming), also grew up in America, came from a completely different background. He had a Vietnamese Buddhist religion in his home life. They went through two completely different situations, although, in many way they are the same. They both are about religion, and what others feel they should do. They both felt pressured to do things they did not want to, to please their families. They handled it differently though. One did what he wanted to do, what made him happy, even though he did feel a slight amount of guilt. The other did what he felt would make others happy and as a result felt guilty as well. There is a moral to these two stories and if one reads them back to back they will see it. The moral, (in opinion), is do what makes you happy. Do not do what others feel you should do. Life is too short to compromise your happiness.

References
Barnet, S., Burto W., Cain W.E., Literature for Composition. (2014), “Salvation” (pp 343-344).
Barnet, S., Burto W., Cain W.E., Literature for Composition. (2014), “Who Will Light Incense When Mother’s Gone?” (pp 1115-1116).
Barnet, S., Burto W., Cain W.E., Literature for Composition. (2014), Writing About Literature: An Overview of Critical Strategies. (pp 1393-1406).