Analysis
Langston Hughes's "Salvation" is a brief and powerful piece, an extract from a larger work but fully complete in itself. Alone, it is something between a short story and an autobiographical essay. As is immediately discernible from the title, the story deals with faith—specifically a child's understanding of faith. Of course, in the case of Hughes, his epiphany at the church is the opposite of the one his Aunt Reed was hoping for: instead of achieving the salvation promised by the ironic title, the young Hughes instead arrives at a new state of understanding that crushes his earlier naive beliefs about Jesus and faith. In "Salvation," a child loses some of his innocence and, at the same time, loses faith in church, a cornerstone of life for many in his community.
There is an interesting duality in Hughes's narration. At times, we as readers are exposed only to the simple childish understanding of the situation experienced by the twelve-year-old Langston, who is waiting eagerly to "see Jesus" in a literal sense. Alongside him, we experience the building anticipation as the songs and prayers in the church build to a crescendo. Ultimately, however, the crescendo never comes—an eventuality the older Hughes, who functions as narrator, has prepared the reader for from the opening lines:
I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved.
Readers are invited to view the scene in the church through the eyes of the hopeful child Hughes, but at the same time, we are distanced from it, offered a foreknowledge which was not available to Langston at the age of twelve. Hughes's narration thus cushions the blow for the reader, just as the child Hughes does for his Auntie Reed in concealing the true nature of his distress from her.
Though he is surrounded by others, Hughes is depicted as a solitary figure. Certainly, Hughes does not identify himself with the other boy, Westley, who is left sitting with him on the mourners' bench after everybody else has gone. It is implied that Westley is less well-intentioned and well-behaved than Hughes is; he blasphemes in church ("God damn!") and the comical honesty with which he expresses that he has grown tired of this endeavor is contrasted against Hughes’s sincere desire to experience salvation. Westley's irreverence is ultimately what sparks Hughes's realization about faith. After all, Westley has blasphemed in church and has gone to join the group of the saved under false pretenses—but no one seems to be the wiser. After Westley leaves, the full force of the congregation's attention now directly solely at Hughes. As his aunt cries and the preacher asks him to come to God, Hughes remains torn, unsure whether they expect him to behave authentically or not. The significance of Hughes’s isolation in this moment becomes clear at the end of the story, when he reflects that not even Jesus was there to help him through this conflict, a realization that causes him to lose faith.
This story can be read as a critique of organized religion’s emphasis on appearance and ritual—an emphasis that leaves twelve-year-old Hughes disillusioned with faith altogether. The theme of performance is first introduced through the preacher’s passionate sermon and is bolstered by the swelling songs and emotional pleas of the congregation, who descend upon the children still waiting to be saved. Hughes admires the craft of the “wonderful” performance, but its negligible impact on the children highlights its superficiality: "most of us just sat there."
The adults in the room urge the children to join them in faith, but in reality, they...
(This entire section contains 715 words.)
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are inviting the children to join them in a performance of faith. Hughes, still waiting to experience genuine salvation, does not understand this distinction and is therefore confused by the celebration and approval with which Westley’s disingenuous salvation is met. Though Hughes eventually caves to social pressure and goes through the motions of being saved, he is devastated to realize that no one seems to notice or care whether or not his salvation is authentic. This experience leaves Hughes shaken, opening his eyes to the superficiality of a ritual he once thought sacred and forcing him to become a participant in that deception himself.