Student Question
Based on "Salvation," how does Langston Hughes describe Westley's future?
Quick answer:
Langston Hughes's "Salvation" presents Westley's actions during a church service as indicative of disbelief and manipulation, suggesting potential for a future lacking morals or leading to trouble. However, the story also leaves open the possibility that Westley, as a "lost lamb," might have been genuinely "saved," implying he could have turned his life around. Hughes's narrative invites readers to consider both outcomes regarding Westley's future.
In his autobiographical short short "Salvation," Langston Hughes relays
that, as the congregation continued to pray for the salvation of the children
on the mourner's bench, more and more children came forward to be saved until
just he and a boy named Westley were the last two children remaining on the
bench. After more praying and crying and singing, Westley
whispered to Langston, "God damn! I'm tired o' sitting here. Let's get
up and be saved."
Once Langston was the last child remaining on the bench, he further reflects
watching Westley on the platform, "swinging his knickerbockered legs and
grinning down at me" and noting that "God had not struck Westley dead for
taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple." If we were to draw
conclusions about what kind of man Westley grew up to be , we could certainly reach one of two...
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conclusions.
On the one hand, Westley's actions showed disbelief, disrespect, and the
ability to manipulate a situation to his own advantage, all characteristics
that point to Westley growing up to be a man with few morals
and poor character, the sort of man who easily winds up on the
path towards jail.
Yet, on the other hand, Hughes's short story leaves open to
interpretation exactly what the moment of salvation
truly is. Due to the amount of figurative language, such as the use of
hyperbole, in his aunt's explanation of what the moment of salvation is like,
we know that the adult Langston no longer takes his aunt's explanation
seriously. So, the story leaves unanswered the question, what exactly is the
moment of salvation? It further begs the question, were Westley and Langston
truly lying when they "got up and [were] saved"? The whole point of the
preacher's story of the lost lamb is that the lamb was just
that--lost. As a lost lamb, it was not a perfect lamb, just as Westley
was not a perfect lamb. No one in a state of perfection can reach
salvation because there is nothing to be saved. Since Westley displayed the
characteristics of one who is most lost, one can presume that he was
actually truly saved, maybe more saved than the rest of them.
Therefore, one can also presume that Westley grew up to change his life
around.