Rhetorical Analysis On Salvation

The Itching Pressure to Conform It is no secret that humans want to feel accepted. Growing up and reaching adolescence, feelings start to change and the way people see you suddenly becomes a priority. In the essay, “Salvation”, Langston Hughes narrates his vivid memory of a religious revival with his Auntie Reed, a committed Christian. Hughes successfully demonstrates how emotionally straining it is to be expected to conform. Hughes fell into peer pressure at a church revival, resulting in him feeling ashamed and disappointed, thus illustrating the constant battle teenagers face everyday.
Hughes story reveals how he was forced into accepting Christ into his life by his Aunt Reed, his friends, and the church community. The pressure begins to be evident when his Aunt Reed creates a false stigma of what it is to be saved. “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!” (Hughes 369). Aunt Reed paints a picture in Hughes head of what it will feel like to be saved, creating false expectations for him. Creating it of great importance not only to
Hughes, but to herself. Hughes writes, “Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, Lamb of God! Why don’t you come?” (Hughes 369). Aunt Reed is making a scene at church, begging him to stand up and be saved. Hughes from then on starts doubting whether or not to be true to himself, or just pretend to be saved to make everyone at the church happy. Hughes was told by his Aunt Reed that he will be glorified with the presence of a white light whenever he is saved by Jesus. The narrator interprets seeing a white light literally, and becomes saddened when his expectations are not met. Even though every other adolescent at the church had been saved, Hughes was yet to feel the euphoric feeling everyone claimed to experience. Hughes writes, “I kept waiting for Jesus, waiting, waiting--but he didn’t come. I wanted to see him, but nothing happened to me. Nothing!” (Hughes 369). Despite his patience, he was not saved. Hughes expresses his sadness through the use of dialogue after he realizes that a white light will not glisten over him.
Hughes uses rhetorical strategies to show how difficult it is to resist pressure.
Even though Hughes knew that lying was bad, he felt the need to fake his religious revival just like every other adolescent that day. Sitting directly beside him was a boy named Westley who also sparked pressure on him to be saved. Westley said to Hughes, “God damn! I’m tired o’ sitting here. Let’s get up and be saved” (Hughes 369). Hughes then became the last one in the entire church to be saved. Pressure from the church congregation made Hughes begins to feel doubtful and guilty. “I began to feel ashamed of myself” (Hughes 369). The narrator did not want to disappoint his peers especially Aunt Reed, who was a role model to him, so he chose to lie to please everyone but himself. Hughes chose his peers beliefs over his own, resulting in lack of sincerity to
himself.
It is common for adolescents to feel the need to emerge to be liked by everyone else. Peer pressure was present in the early 1900’s when Hughes was growing up and is still present now. Although the generation is different, adolescents are still presented with the everyday battle of conforming in order to feel accepted. Hughes writes as if he were still a child, holding on to the guilt and repressed memories the false salvation caused him. Hughes writes, “That night for the first time in my life but one- for I was a big boy twelve years old-- cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop” (Hughes 369). The authors sarcasm reveals how at the age of twelve he believed to be old and wise. However as he matured, he realizes that he still had much to learn. The older a person gets, the less opinions matter.
Hughes does an effective job illustrating what it is like to be forced to mold yourself in order to please your loved ones. Having expectations unfortunately leads to bitter disappointments and traumatic life lessons. Hughes demonstrates through the use of dialogue and story telling, how someone's persona can be damaged by not staying genuine to oneself and allowing others dictate our actions.