Langston Hughes Dishonesty Of Religion

Langston Hughes efficiently uses rhetorical devices to satirize religion. The story displays religious restoration that the author attended at thirteen years old. By the second sentence, Hughes explains that he wasn't "really saved", which sets a risky tone toward religion. The dishonesty of religion is highlighted throughout the narrative both by displaying the inconsistency between the child's approach of the religious restoration and the adult’s approach. Hughes' choice of language and syntax helps to form his sarcastic and ironic tone toward religion, returning numerous times to examples of the fanfare correlated with church and the excessive reactions of those who attend.
Through the reiteration of the word "sinner", and by the use of
multiple different adjectives to describe it, Hughes displays the irony of the Church's principles. In the first paragraph, Hughes points out that "hardened sinners" have been "brought to Christ" through the rebirth, and mimics the Church's motive by showing that the major result of this is to expand the membership of the church. By showing that the Church is inspired by self gain and not by a wish to truly save its members, Hughes efficiently shows the pointlessness of religion in general. The ignorance of religion is also displayed at the end of the first paragraph when the Hughes hints to himself and the remaining children to be saved as "young sinners". The contrast of the word 'young'- which is commonly associated with innocence- and 'sinner' shows that religion in this way holds no true understanding.