"Salvation"
At the start of Hughes’s essay, he begins talking about his salvation at the age of 13, but he was not really saved. The incident of the essay begins with a revival at his aunt’s church. His aunt takes him to a revival session for children. He is told that you see a bright light when you’re saved and that something will happen to you inside. Hughes takes this to heart and assumes that he must experience this to be saved. He sits in the church with several other children, and he waits to be saved. Kids continue to individually go towards to the altar where they are saved, but he continues to sit and wait. Finally, all the children are gone but him and another boy, Westley. Westley decides that he is tired of waiting, and he tells Langston
“let’s get up and be saved.” Now, Langston is the last child waiting to be saved, and he begins to feel ashamed for making others wait. He realizes that Westley lied and was not struck dead, so he decides to lie as well by standing up to be saved. Everyone in the room is rejoicing now that he has been saved, and the night ends with joyous singing. Later that night, he cries in his room because he could not bear to tell anyone that he lied, deceived the whole church, and had not seen Jesus. In the end, Hughes does not believe in Jesus because Jesus did not help him.
Works Cited:
Hughes, Langston. "Salvation" The Center for Fiction. Matthew Sharpe. N.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2016. <http://centerforfiction.org/forwriters/the-model-short- story/quotsalvationquot-by-langston-hughes/>