Westley gets fed up with waiting and leans over to Langston and says: "God damn! I"m tired o" sitting here. Let's get up and be saved." Langston, however, is still waiting to "see Jesus". Finally, he comes to the realization that Westley lied and used God's name in vain in church, and he didn't get struck down by lightning; Langston gets up and is saved. The story ends with Langston lying on his bed, alone, crying; he is crying because he felt so guilty lying to his Auntie and to everyone in the church. His Auntie, on the other hand, thinks that Langston is crying because he was saved. There are many things that can be taken from this story; how differently children look at the world, the pressure of Langston to be saved, and the downfall of organized religion (Hughes 76-78). .
It is no secret that children look at the world differently than adults do. In "Salvation" Langston is trying so hard to "see Jesus", because that is what his Auntie Reed told him he needs to do. Not only do children take everything that is said literally, they also do what they are told or expected of them. I"m sure that Auntie Reed did not tell Langston that he had to go to church and be saved, but Langston knew that that's what Auntie Reed wanted for him to do. The entire congregation and the preacher were telling Langston and the other children that they had to be saved. Finally, children are .
Smith 3.
also very eager to please; Langston and Westley had lied about "seeing Jesus" so that they would please Auntie Reed, the preacher, and the entire congregation they did not get .
struck down by lightning for it they just simply had to live with the guilt of lying in God's house. .
More than how children look at the world, especially Langston, Westley, and the rest of the "young lambs", are the social pressures put on children and, consequently put on their parents, to act a certain way. While reading the story I could not help but ask some questions about what would have happened to Langston or his Auntie if he had not been saved, and questions about how much Langston really wanted to be there.