Langston Hughes’s “Salvation” analisys

Langston Hughes’s “Salvation”

Langston Hughes described an event in his youth that had a huge impact on his outlook of the world for the rest of his years. At the age of thirteen Langston Hughes doubted the faith and being “saved from sin” as he describes his disbelief in Christ. Langston Hughes was expecting a life changing event to occur for him, but it turned out to be a realization on his religious views. Langston expected to see the light and feel something inside. His aunt told him “you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul,” but none of this happened to Langston Hughes.

In the short story, “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, Langston wanted so bad to believe in Jesus, and was ready to be saved that he only disappointed himself in the end because he did everything but that. This created a great amount of irony throughout the text and showed that no matter how bad somebody may want something, the outcomes are always unforeseen. The author refers to the non-believers as “Lambs of God” that were expected to be led to Jesus, however, with every group, there are those who stray. In this case, Langston Hughes was one of the few who strayed from the path. Langston believed that in coming to Christ, he would visually hear his voice or feel his touch , and when this did not happen he challenged his faith.

I feel that as a thirteen year old boy, he had a lot of pressure on him to become saved. I think that when someone is ready to be saved only they know when it’s the time. No person should be forced into salvation, especially someone like Langston Hughes, who at the time was very young and didn’t fully understand the concept of being “saved from sin.” When we are young, we tend to think very literal as to what we are told. The text states, “My aunt told me that when you are saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!”. I believe that God was with him the whole time but simply because He didn’t see Him, he believed he wasn’t there. “That night, for the last time in my life…I cried”, Langston Hughes said. We as individuals need to understand that although we may not see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

It takes some people a little longer to fully commit their lives to Christ, and I feel like back then people didn’t take the time to understand that. I know people in life that didn’t turn their lives over to Christ until they were adults. I believe at the time it was a lot for Langston to understand and the church was so set on the children to be saved that day, that they pressured him which caused him to lie. Maybe if they would’ve explained to him that at that very moment Christ doesn’t come to everyone, and that it takes a little longer for some to understand, then he wouldn’t have falsely claimed being saved from sin.

Although Langston Hughes lost faith at the age of thirteen, he also became familiar with a life altering realization. Sometimes pressure can only make a situation worse. Belief and faith comes from within and you can’t control when or whether someone will gain faith in Christ. Yes, Langston Hughes lied about being saved, but he did it because he didn’t want to let his aunt and the church down. I believe that faith in Christ will come to you when the moment is right, there is no need to enforce being “saved from sin.”