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Langston Hughes: A Boy Who Lost His Faith

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A Boy Who Lost His Faith In Langston Hughes’ narrative “Salvation,” Hughes claims that he lost his faith in God because of his inability to see Jesus. Langston Hughes supported his thesis by giving vivid descriptions of the reflections he had about his spiritual encounter at his church when he was an early teen. The audience Hughes may have been trying to target was people who most likely were uneasy or doubted whether or not to have faith in their religion. Hughes’ purpose of the narrative essay was to explain to his audience of his personal experience while receiving salvation, in order to get a better understanding about why he lost faith in his religion due to innocence. Hughes’ inability to see Jesus was illustrated to the audience by …show more content…

This way the reader is able to put him or herself in Hughes’s shoes and get to feel the pressure that was being put into the situation. With the dialogue the reader can connect with the story having this sense of understanding as to what the author was going through, almost feeling as though the dialogue is meant for the reader their self. Hughes description of the church helps the reader to envision the setting that the author was in at that time. All of this contributes to the connection between the reader and the author. Hughes adds pressure to the situation by repeating the phrase “Why don’t you come?” This shows Hughes frustration that he cannot see Jesus and can no longer wait. Hughes feels that he is holding everything up and disappointing everyone. The pressure reaches its peak when he becomes the last one on the mourner’s bench after Westley was saved. He creates a vivid image of what it was like to be under that much pressure and to just do what his aunt and the church wanted. He informs the audience that he lost his faith in this statement “But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied and that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus any more, since he didn’t come to help me” (Hughes,

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