Langston Hughes Group assignment Unit 1 9/10/07
Sandy Rambow-Summarizer Q.1
Cassie Miller/Shanya Tinsley Discussion Director Q.2
Derek Richardson Icon Crafter Q.3
Chris Dennis Creator Connector Q.4
Sophia Lamont Researcher Q.5
Monday, September 10, 2007
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Casey Miller
Q.2 Passage Picker
“Salvation” by Langston Hughes
There are many quotes throughout “Salvation” that add a lot of meaning to the story. I picked the four that I thought were the most important.
“I was saved from sin, when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved” (34).
These are the first two sentences of Hughes’s essay. They are contradictory statements. Hughes was only saved because he lied to himself. Everyone else thought that he really was saved.
“I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something to happen to me, but nothing happened” (35).
Hughes was waiting for Jesus to come save him, and he was waiting for the light that his aunt told him he would see. He was beginning to lose hope because nothing had happened to him.
“God had not struck Westly dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I’d better lie too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved” (36).
When Westley lied, Hughes wanted to lie so everything would be over and everyone would be happy. Hughes did decide to lie about being saved.
“But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus any more, since he didn’t come to help me” (36).
Hughes’s aunt thought he was crying because he saw Jesus. He was crying because he didn’t feel anything that day from Jesus. He didn’t believe Jesus was there for him to save him.
Langston Hughes lied about being saved when he was going on thirteen. After some time, he was still waiting for Jesus to come to him. When he became the last one sitting on the bench, he decided to lie to save trouble. He ended up crying the night he was supposed to be saved. As a result, he didn’t believe there was even a Jesus that could help him.
From the beginning, I think Langston was different than the other boys. The other boys were saved in a short amount of time. Some of the boys, like Westley, may have lied to just put an end to everything. Langston didn’t want to lie. He really wanted to see the light and be saved. In the end, he decided to lie instead of making everyone in the church wait for him. He lied to make everyone else happy.
Sandy Rambow
Q.1 Summarizer
"Salvation" Langston Hughes
The reading was about a young, twelve-year-old boy faced with a decision to make. He had to decide whether to wait until Jesus came to him at this revival meeting or whether to get up and fake salvation. All of the other kids had already gone up to be saved and then he was faced with the pressure from all of the elders. The boy decides in the end to get up and fake his salvation, resulting with him having a guilty feeling about lying to everyone, especially his aunt. This feeling makes him feel even guiltier because he then begins to doubt the existence of Jesus since He didn’t save him at the revival meeting. It is possible that at the revival meeting the boy thought he would physically see Jesus instead of spiritually.
I think if it weren’t for his aunt being there and begging him to go be saved, he might have waited and not gone up. Being young and alone in a situation where everyone is on the opposite side of your standing can be extremely intimidating. I don’t think the fact that all of the other children had gotten up already had as much of an impact as his elders and aunt did. In life when we are young we are taught to listen to and obey authority and also those whom are older than us.
Since this was a rite of passage experienced by Langston Hughes when he was twelve, there is not much else to relate from his life to this essay considering it is already a true story.
Sophia Lamont
q.5
researcher
The story Salvation by Langston Hughes is about an adolescent boy in church who is waiting to be saved. He is sitting with a group of other children who one by one stand up and walk up to the front of the church and claim that they have been saved. He realizes that he is the only one left on the bench, but continues to sit and wait for Jesus to appear in-front of him and save him, but he never sees Jesus. He feels pressure from his elders to be saved, so he decides to lie and he walks up to the fount of the church and proclaims that he has been saved. The young boy lost his faith that day because Jesus never came to save him. After reading the story, and looking at different polls and surveys about the amount of people that certain that a god exist, and the results were extremely interesting. This first survey done by Harris Interactive which was done online, because people are likelier to reveal more when they are not face to face with a person, gives percentages about how certain people are about God. The Harris Poll # 80 found that 42% of people a not” absolutely certain there is a god, 15% are “some what certain”, 11% think that there is probably not a God, and 16% are not sure (Harris).Surprisingly the survey also found that only 64% of Catholics are “absolutely certain there is a God. The young boy in the story thought that Jesus was going to appear in front of him in human form, The Harrison Poll found that 41% of the public believe that god is a spirit that can takes human form, when 27% of people believe god is a “spirit or power” that does not take human form (Harrison). In 1981 Robert Wuthnow from Princeton University found that only 38% believe it necessary to accept Jesus to be saved compared to 1964 when 51% of Americans believed that you must accept Jesus (Adherents). These statistics show that a large portion of Americans are extremely uncertain about God, just like the little boy in the story.
Adherents .April 23,2007. Harris Interactive Inc.September 11,2007. http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_516.html
Harris Interactive . October 31, 2006. Harris Interactive Inc. September 11, 2007. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=707
The purpose of this story is, in our lives many of our decisions are influenced by ones who are close to us because of the love we have for them. We do not want to disappoint our loved ones, therefore, occasionally one may defer goals and aspirations in fear of not receiving approval Langston didn't want to disappoint his aunt, so he went to church and faked that he has seen Jesus.
The narrator wanted to tell this story so he could get across to young readers that peer pressure is a bad decision made from others and that you’re not obligated to do anything you don't want to do. But, in respect, you have to show for your elders, it's only right to do what they want because you don't want to disobey them.
In the story I only pointed out one main point. The main point I came across was that Langston couldn't bear to tell his aunt that he had lied and deceived everybody in the church that he hadn't seen Jesus, and now he didn't even believe in him since he didn't come to help him. Langston wanted to be saved and believed in Jesus, but when he went to church with his aunt, got on his knees, and waited for Jesus to come and save him. He seen that Jesus hadn’t come or he didn’t give him enough time. Langston stop believing and didn’t want to tell his aunt because she would have been upset with him.
Chris Dennis
Q4- Creator Connector
"Salvation"
In the book “Salvation” Langston wasn’t a confused child. He always believed in religion especially because his family did. Then the big day when he was suppose to be one with God, nothing happened. Langston pretended like he saw God to keep his family happy, even though inside he felt horrible. The story ends with him crying on his bed depressed and confused. This is what also happened in the story “The Jacket“. The boy’s mother bought him a new jacket. He was very excited until he saw what it looked like. He went to school and all the children would laugh at him due to his new wardrobe. He became a sad and depressed sixth grade boy. Never fit in with the popular kids, or had a girl friend. Though he stuck with the jacket regardless how much he hated it. He looked fine on the outside, but in actuality he was very depressed. The story ends with him leaving the house wearing the same jacket he hated. In both stories the children have to live with lies that they created. Whether is a jacket, or a religion lies will eat up inside you.
This story was set in a southern church. It was at a ceremony, so to speak, where the congregation was being saved. In my min di pictured this event as people in a church waving thier arms, singing loudly, and staring up in the air. I tried to represent that as best as I could in the visuals. The church is a small church with a Southern Baptist look to it and below looks like one of those TV sermons where everyone is saved and speaking in tongues and i thought it fit Langston's representation.
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