Salvation--Langston Hughes

The onset of frustration began when Hughes' Aunt Reed wanted him to conform to Christianity. Hughes, tired of his aunt nagging about going to a revival to be saved, finally went along with her to be saved at church. As he sat at the mourner's bench he became disappointed in himself; he was not seeing the images nor feeling Jesus within him as his aunt had explained it to him. He was told that when he was saved he would "see a light, and something would happen to him inside! And Jesus would come into his life! And God would be with him from then on!" (20

Wesley, another boy at the bench, also put the pressure on Langston Hughes to be saved. Although Wesley had not truly seen Jesus, he was tired and it was getting late, so he got up to be saved. This left Hughes all alone on the mourner's bench, and he began to feel the urge to follow in Wesley's footsteps. He had noticed that "God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple" (210). Because of this, Hughes felt that God would spare him the congregation's disapproval if he just got up and was saved. When Langston Hughes felt that he had held everything up too long, he also pretended to be saved.

Upon being saved, Hughes immediately felt frustration and disappointment within himself; he knew he had made the wrong decision. The "whole room broke into a sea of shouting, waves of rejoicing swept the place, and women leaped in the air" to celebrate the wonderful event (210). This left Langston Hughes feeling very low and ashamed of himself because only he knew that he had deceived the entire congregation that had been praying for him alone. As Hughes recalls, "I was saved f

Some topics in this essay:
Langston Hughes, Aunt Reed, Christianity Hughes, Burden Growing, langston hughes, Hughes God, aunt reed, jesus life, emotionally straining, mourner's bench,