‘Salvation’ by Hughes

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‘Salvation’ by Hughes

In the narrative ‘Salvation,’ Hughes starts crying at the end of the story because he felt guilty for telling a lie. His aunt beloved that he cried because the holy ghost had come to his life and that he had seen Jesus. The narrator says that he had lied in church and he could not bear to tell his aunt of the deception that he had not seen Jesus and that he no longer believed in him since he never came to his aid. Therefore, Hughes felt the guilt and resulted in crying.

Hughes was not ready to be saved and this is evident in the first paragraph “Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, “to bring the young lambs to the fold.” My aunt spoke of it for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners’ bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.” In this excerpt, Hughes clearly explains that he was forced to surrender his life to Jesus just like it happened to other young kids. He uses a negative language that indicates he wasn’t interested but forced as he says that he was escorted and placed on the mourners’ bench with other young sinners.

Hughes’ aunt described to him that when he was saved, he would see the light that symbolized Jesus and that something was going to happen to him on the inside. Besides, Jesus is going to come into his life and that God will be with him from that moment of being saved. She further continues to say that Hughes could see, hear and feel Jesus in his soul, something to which Hughes took it literally waiting for Jesus to come into his life.

Freedom choice is an important part of a person’s life, and therefore a person should not be forced to make decisions especially for matters that directly affect their lives. In the short story ‘Salvation’ the author is trying to say that an individual cannot be forced into believing or feeling something into which they are not willing to, but they should be allowed to choose for themselves according to what they perceive to be the right reasons. In the story, Hughes is forced by her aunt forces her to get saved but it was against his will. Hughes says that he was escorted into the bench of mourners along with other young sinners and this implies that he was forced into being saved.

Being forced to accept something that is not of your choice does not work as Hughes lied to the church that he had seen Jesus. “I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, and I hadn’t seen Jesus, and now I didn’t believe that there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me” The author is able to achieve his purpose as he uses a story based from his life providing an insight of how forced choices ends. Another thing is that children should not be forced into things merely because adults are involved in it. The decisions by the adults may not always be right, and children should be consulted and provided with the freedom of choosing what they like. Forcing a child to accept certain beliefs is more of coercion and against the rights of children. Besides, it should be known that forcing a person into accepting choices affects their emotions. From the story, Hughes was placed in the same situation, and it is evident that he lost faith in Jesus in that he doesn’t believe in him anymore. The author’s point is to allow people to choose without coercion.

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston. Salvation. Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2002.