Green 1 Bonnie Green Professor Ellen Harcourt WRT 1010, Section 09 September 12, 2013 Reader Response Journal

#1 Salvation by Langston Hughes In Langston Hughes short story, Salvation, Langston recalls his first revival as a young boy of twelve. He, along with other children of the church community, are expected to come to Jesus (paragraph 3) in order to have a secure place in Heaven. They are expected to wash away their sins. Of course, young Langston expects this to be a beautiful, enlightening experience, as promised by his aunt. But, in the heat of the moment, amongst the moans and groans of the adult church-goers, Langston is alone and disenchanted, for Jesus did not come to him. Langstons vivid account of pretending to be saved for the sake of his aunt reminds me a lot of myself and certainly other children and teenagers across America. Sometimes, when we have prayers that were just itching to have answered, or were bent over in a temple, muttering holy words, we step outside ourselves and ask Whats going on? Why am I doing this? Gods not listening. In the past, I have prayed to God to make my sick grandfather healthy, as my mother had told me to, but my pleas went unheard. I never felt a holy presence like Joan of Arc did. Had I, or had Langston, Im sure wed be much different people today, with a heightened sense of faith in a higher power. Langstons writing style is very effective in that he first draws you in with one hook of an introductionI was saved when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved (1). He uses a bit

Green 2 of humor when describing the rounders son, Westley, who has also not seen Jesus; Westley puckishly says God damn! right in the middle of the church and the revival. As he describes the revival, what the other church-goers are wearing, and so forth, it reminds me of a distracted child, because thats what Langston is in this story; Jesus is not coming to him in the glorious way his aunt promised, so he pays more attention to his surroundings. His writing is very serious, as this is a serious ceremony, and that comes across in his vocabulary, such as might wail of moans and voices (7) and in his guilt at the end of the story, him sobbing because he lies to his aunt and because he feels so alone. Langston Hughes, even though maybe just recalling a childhood memory that helped shaped him into the man he became, knows how to use affective language and vocabulary to suck us into his world and make us realize that pressure to please others and the guilt when we do.