Story Response for
Monday: Read the story and then respond
to the question following the story.
“Salvation” (1940),
Langston Hughes
I was saved from sin when I was going
on thirteen. But not really saved. It happened like this. There was a big
revival at my Auntie Reed's church. Every night for weeks there had been much
preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, and some very hardened sinners had
been brought to Christ, and the membership of the church had grown by leaps and
bounds. Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for
children, "to bring the young lambs to the fold." My aunt spoke of it
for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the
mourners' bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought
to Jesus.
My aunt told me that when you were
saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came
into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and
hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old
people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat
there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me.
The preacher preached a wonderful
rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of
hell, and then he sang a song about the ninety and nine safe in the fold, but
one little lamb was left out in the cold. Then he said: "Won't you come?
Won't you come to Jesus? Young lambs, won't you come?" And he held out his
arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners' bench. And the little girls
cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us
just sat there.
A
great many old people came and knelt around us and prayed, old women with
jet-black faces and braided hair, old men with work-gnarled hands. And the
church sang a song about the lower lights are burning, some poor sinners to be
saved. And the whole building rocked with prayer and song.
Still
I kept waiting to see Jesus.
Finally all the young people had gone
to the altar and were saved, but one boy and me. He was a rounder's son named Westley. Westley and I were
surrounded by sisters and deacons praying. It was very hot in the church, and
getting late now. Finally Westley said to me in a
whisper: "God damn! I'm tired o' sitting here. Let's get up and be
saved." So he got up and was saved.
Then
I was left all alone on the mourners' bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees
and cried, while prayers and song swirled all around me in the little church.
The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and
voices. And I kept waiting serenely for Jesus, waiting, waiting - but he didn't
come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing! I wanted something
to happen to me, but nothing happened.
I heard the songs and the minister
saying: "Why don't you come? My dear child, why don't you come to Jesus?
Jesus is waiting for you. He wants you. Why don't you come? Sister Reed, what
is this child's name?"
"Langston," my aunt sobbed.
"Langston, why
don't you come?
Why don't you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don't you come?"
Now it was really getting late. I began
to be ashamed of myself, holding everything up so long. I began to wonder what
God thought about Westley, who certainly hadn't seen
Jesus either, but who was now sitting proudly on the platform, swinging his knickerbockered legs and grinning down at me, surrounded by
deacons and old women on their knees praying. God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in
the temple. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I'd better lie,
too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved.
So I got up.
Suddenly the whole room broke into a
sea of shouting, as they saw me rise. Waves of rejoicing swept the place. Women
leaped in the air. My aunt threw her arms around me. The minister took me by
the hand and led me to the platform.
When things quieted down, in a hushed
silence, punctuated by a few ecstatic "Amens,"
all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God. Then joyous singing
filled the room.
That
night, for the first time in my life but one—for I was a big boy twelve years
old—I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn't stop. I buried my head under
the quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying
because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But
I was really crying because I couldn't bear to tell her that I had lied, that I
had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn't seen Jesus, and that now I
didn't believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn't come to help me.
Salvation
Response: What do you think are the
various messages Hughes is sending out to various readers with this piece? A message may be directed to adults,
children, or people in general.
THINK: Go beyond the religion
angle! Although religion is addressed,
it is used as a way to get at greater truths.
Consider religion an example for much larger issues.
Criteria
for Success:
Type
& format/paginate your response according to MLA guidelines (sample on
1796).
Your
finished response should be 300+ words long.
Include a word count at the end.
Take care to correctly incorporate source
material into your text using lead-ins (1787-1788), brackets, ellipses (1787),
summaries (1785) and paraphrases (1786).
This
response is worth a possible ten points.
The points will be equally split between two categories: content & accuracy. These will then be added together to equal
your total. For content, points will be
awarded based on depth & breadth of analysis. For accuracy, points will be awarded based on
the 4 error per page rule.
Accuracy
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
5 |
4.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
3 |
2.5 |
2 |
1.5 |
1 |
.5 |
0 |
Content
A |
A— |
B |
C |
D |
F |
5 |
4.5 |
4 |
3.5 |
3 |
2.5 |