In Langton Hughes Salvation, Hughes is met with the pressure of giving himself to Jesus. The essay begins with Hughes speaking of his Auntie Reed’s church revival that had lasted for weeks. On the last day of the revival, the pressure was on for the children to give themselves to Jesus and be saved from all of their sins. At the age Hughes was at the time of this revival and the amount of pressure that was put on him, it’s no wonder why he felt the need to give in. Although it may not seem so, adults do more damage then good when they put that much pressure on a growing child.
Hughes, throughout his whole life, was told by his aunt and other adults in the community, that when you are saved by Jesus, you saw a light and something special happens within you. As the last day of the revival approaches, Hughes sees the amount of people being saved and the congregation of the church growing. When the last day came, all the children were seated in the very first row, awaiting their chance to be saved. Some children jumped up quickly, while others sat and waited. Shortly after, another group of children stood up and joined the others in the front of the church, now only Hughes and his friend Wesley remained. After a while, in paragraph six, Wesley says to Hughes “Goddamit, I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved.”, and with that Wesley stood up and was saved.
The only child left to be saved now was Hughes. Between the pastor, church members, and his aunt he felt the pressure from every angle to be saved. Hughes sat and waited for that feeling that he was told about so many times, yet he felt nothing. Hughes started to feel ashamed for holding everyone up, but he wanted that sensation and the visual want his aunt always spoke about. With his aunt kneeling at his feet and the church members surrounding him, he thought to himself, Wesley is still leaving and he lied in church so he might as well lie also just to get out of church since everyone was...