"Salvation" by Langston Hughes(SOAPST)

"Salvation" is written by Langston Hughes who was part of the Harlem Revolution. The occasion of this essay is Langston's first connection with Jesus(an emotional connection). The children all go to church at the ages of 12 and 13 to be connected to Jesus. Langston is 12 years old and at church with his aunt, he is surrounded by other kids his age to have that same connection with Jesus. He is very religious and believes in Jesus and God. When the preacher began preaching one by one the children stood up and went to the altar because they were saved. Langston did not feel the connection to Jesus right away like the other kids, which made him confused and sad. All the children had gone to the altar and the only two kids that were left was Langston and another boy named Westley. Westley being tired of waiting for Jesus to make a connection with him, decided to lie to everyone in the church  and say that he was saved. Langston being the only one left, decided to also lie to everyone in the church, the preacher, and his aunt. That night Langston in his bed, under the quilts was crying, he felt guilty for lying to everyone in the church, felt sad that he did not make a connection with Jesus, and that he did not believe in Jesus any more. The subject of the essay is Langston's loss of faith, because he did not feel that connection to Jesus that he hoped for in his heart he felt that Jesus did not want to save him, therefore he began to lose faith in Jesus. He no longer believed in Jesus nor God. The tone of the speaker often changes in the essay depending on what he feels and is thinking. In the beginning of the essay Langston's tone is a bit confused and expected, because he does not understand why Jesus is not making a connection with him. The tone of confusion is shown in this sentence "Still I kept waiting to see Jesus."(180) he is emphasizing the fact that he is patiently waiting to have that connection but at the same time he is confused as to why it has not happened yet. The tone suddenly changes to sadness, because soon he realizes that his so called connection to Jesus is not going to happen. For the third and final time the tone changes yet again, but this time it goes from sadness to hopeless and guilty. He feels hopeless because he was such a religious person and believed in Jesus and God, but because the connection did not happen he lost total hope. He also felt guilty because he lied to everyone in the church including his aunt, and said he had connected to Jesus when he had not. This essay shows us how soon one can completely lose faith in what they truly believed in.