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Langston Hughes

In: English and Literature

Submitted By myAllah
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Salvation

As, a team we realized that Langston Hughes was bias when it came to his belief in faith. Langston was a young boy who was searching for things in his life and some things he had no understanding of. His father, James Nathanial Hughes, left his family and later divorced [Langston's mother], going to Cuba, and then Mexico, seeking to escape the enduring racism in the United States ("The Biography of Langston Hughes," n.d.). This was the beginning of a young boy who felt lost and confused. Hughes was looking for acceptance from a father who was in and out of his life, with little support of his dreams.
“Salvation” has a tone of a young boy who was un-trusting of adults. During a church revival (refreshing, getting rid of sins, and being saved) Langston was surrounded by older members of the church, the congregations, and young lambs, who may have had prior experience of waiting on the Holy Ghost or Jesus to come save them. Langston didn’t get that experience, he felt as if he was being lied to about Jesus and what he does. This brought back memories of not being saved by his family. As, a team we can agree that as children, we are very innocent and trusting and always ready to please the "elders" because we know they are wiser. We want to be seen as good in their eyes. With this in mind, it's not hard to understand why Langston wanted so bad not to disappoint his aunt at church.
Something that stuck out was when Langston says, "I'd better lie, too and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved" (Langston 10, pg344). As, a team we realized that Langston would put his own beliefs to the side to please everyone but himself; we overlook ourselves to be obedient. This was a little lamb that was not hurting others, in fact the person he was hurting was himself. To pretend that Jesus had come to him, he really didn’t get the experience of the Holy

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