Short stories, essays, poems, and other literal works often mirror the author’s experience and interaction with the social environment. Authors consciously or unconsciously express their beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions on different aspects through fictional or factual narrations, creating a relatable mood or tone among the audience. Langston Hughes’s Essay, “Salvation,” captures his teenage experience with orthodox Christianity. With a first-person point of view, Hughes describes his “salvation” experience as a twelve-year-old boy who cannot figuratively associate with revival by the power of redemption through faith. He sits awaiting literal light and feels something happening inside him as Auntie Reed had promised. However, he never experiences the anticipated change, prompting him to lie as his friend Westley. Consequently, guilt and agony overwhelm him for having lied about his experience with Jesus Christ. Although the essay is a personal reflection, Hughes emphasizes hypocritic human nature, especially in a religious environment where people disregard the true self and morality to appear perfect and righteous while influencing children to adapt to such a system.
Hughes ironically uses the title “salvation” to denote the imaginative change accompanying religious beliefs, noting that people theoretically acquire new personalities but practically uphold their true selves. He starts by writing that although he was “saved from sin” at a young age, he was “not saved” (Hughes, Par. 1). Such presupposition captures the pretentious aspect of religion, where people struggle to appear morally and ethically upright while portraying imperfection in the backdrop. Although it is a norm among many religious people, including Christians, it is human to hide faults and strive to appear perfect. In the essay, some of the girls ecstatically jump to the altar, going to “Jesus right away” (Hughes, Par. 3). Although the author does not explore their self-reflection, it is expected that young children cannot fathom salvation in its symbolic meaning. As such, they mostly faked the experience or did not know what to expect. Hughes defies this norm through his authenticity to profess that his “salvation” did not change his sinful character as anticipated (Hughes, Par. 1). By ironically using salvation, Hughes emphasizes the lack of integrity among morally appearing religious persons.
Like Westley, Hughes lies about receiving Jesus, displaying the dishonesty that hails religious environments where individuals must fake their identity to fit in a particular faith. Westley joins other children at the altar ignorantly because he is tired of sitting on the mourners’ bench. Similarly, Langston yields to prayers without experiencing the anticipated change (Hughes, Par. 5). Like in other religious settings, it is impossible to question faith, and people must trust others as they believe in the deity. Hughes describes the standards of the Orthodox faith where “hardened sinners” come to Jesus for redemption (Hughes, Par.1). However, no one questions their inner self if they can appear “holy” and “righteous” as per the biblical standards (Hughes, Par. 1). Hughes says that he could not tell his aunt he was crying because of having lied to the Church because he would appear unrighteous. It is inarguable that although many of the converts might not cry like Hughes, they struggle with contradicting themselves and the guilt of confessing to standards that they cannot practically uphold. The dishonesty of claiming unachieved perfectionism and having to appear upright is ideally a faked impractical life. Therefore, Hughes describes his experience of faking salvation to capture the insincerity in religion and generally all religions.
Hughes also notes Auntie Reed’s insincerity, which shows that faking lifestyles and experiences are not limited to children. As Hughes cries due to the guilt of lying at Church, the aunt tells his uncle that he was wailing for having experienced the Holy Ghost after receiving Jesus (Hughes, Par. 11). Such statements are rampant in contemporary religious settings because people seek to justify their religious denomination even when they have to lie. Hughes captures the insincerity surrounding religion that prompts individuals to lie to brand their appearance and defend their faith. Therefore, it remains arguable whether proclaiming a specific religion reflects morality.
Besides, the essay captures religiously defined sociocultural pressure that forces individuals to willingly and unwillingly yield to certain beliefs as a way of conformity even when they disagree with underlying customs. Westley and Hughes encounter intense situations where the clergy pray for their redemption from sin even when they do not understand the concept of inheritable adamic mess and forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ (Hughes, Par. 6). Although they cannot sense the anticipated experience, they cannot question the biblical standards; they must conform to appear as “good” children. Hughes describes the intense coercion to salvation by writing that the people praying for the “young sinners” were old women with jet-black faces and braided hair and old men with gnarled hands (Hughes, Par. 2). Such imagery shows a frightening situation where adults are pressuring children to conform to the Christian faith even without their knowledge and understanding. It equates with instances in which society pushes children to live according to religious standards without their consent.
Hughes also points out aspects of poor parenting where children must conform to their familial faith to demonstrate their morality. Hughes and the other “young sinners” are in their early teenage, a discovery age where individuals cannot objectively and willingly make faith-based decisions (Hughes, Par. 2). At twelve years old, Hughes cannot unveil the symbolism of faith and redemption according to the Christian doctrine. He understands the aunt’s explanation literally. The resulting confusion leads to the described scenario and implies a critical parenting challenge where parents need help understanding and accommodating their children’s growth. When Hughes delays going to the altar, his aunt cries at his knees as the congregation prays in mighty wails of moans and voices. The aunt’s desperation and discomfort with his delayed “salvation” prompts her actions, demonstrating parents and guardians who do not accord children the autonomy to make personal decisions on critical life matters like religion (Hughes, Par. 7). Hughes yields to the clergy and aunt’s pressure to get “saved” without the anticipated experience. Salvation, in this instance, instigates more harm than benefit because he has to live with the guilt of lying before people and God. Therefore, Hughes highlights how parents fail by fostering complex aspects in naive children rather than letting them grow and make such decisions by themselves.
Hughes demonstrates the negative implications of untimely and forced religion on children. As a child, he misses the opportunity to gradually learn the Bible and Christianity because the experiences make him believe that Jesus does not exist. Although the intent to make children spiritually and morally upright is justifiable, it always lacks wisdom and objectivity among the clergy and parents. Consequently, it breeds deviance rather than conformity because the children cannot practically experience the symbolic Godly care (Hughes, Par. 11). In this instance, Hughes decides that Jesus does not exist even before engaging the scriptures and making personal reflections. The Church and the family coerce him to believe without objectively teaching the Christian religion and allowing him to make a personal choice. This is a practical social problem because religion always has regional spatial patterns with generations imposing their faith on generations. Therefore, Hughes describes his experience with coercing parents, which illustrates a reality in the current religious aspects.
“Salvation” reflects Hughes’s experience while addressing the hypocrisy and dishonesty in the Christian religion that traverses from generation to generation. Hughes’s experience with impractical salvation and the lies of the clergy and her auntie reflects the church instruction that claims morality without upholding it practically. As a child, he faces tension and coercion from the preachers and his aunt, and he has to lie to conform and appear an obedient child. Such a pretentious lifestyle is evident in contemporary religious settings where individuals have admirable front-stage behavior but nasty backstage behavior. Society, especially parents and their churches, often force children to ascribe to their faith at a young age without their consent. Although the goal is to achieve a morally upright generation, this approach often attracts deviance instead of conformity. Society must avoid pushing religious customs on children. Instead, parents should nurture their children and methodically introduce religion to them. Such an approach would ensure that individuals logically and willingly decide which religion to follow and avoid cases where people defy Christianity without a personal reflection, like Hughes’s case.
Work Cited
Hughes, Langston. “Https://Www.Jackson.Stark.K12.Oh.Us/Site/Handlers/Filedownload.Ashx?moduleinstanceid=2136&dataid=11946&FileName=salvation–Langston%20hughes%20full%20text%209%207%2016.Pdf.” Jackson Local Schools, 2016.
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