Salvation

Meaning

1. Hughes narrative explains why he no longer believed there was a Jesus. Because of this experience, he was changed as a person. He grew up without faith in God and felt as though he was lied to at a young age.
2. Hughes decides to stand up and be saved when he realizes that he is holding up everyone in church. He was also being pressured to go by the preacher and everyone else at the church, and he felt he would let everyone down if he did not.
3. The title of Salvation would describe that Hughes was being saved. But from what he was being saved was something other than sin. I believe he named it this because he was saved from the thought of there being a supreme being, saved from the pressure to live life perfectly. The first two sentences opposed each other. Though Hughes was saved, he really was not because in reality he did not believe it in his mind. His aunt told him that when he was saved he would see Jesus, but because he did not, he doesn’t believe he is saved.

Purpose and Audience

1. The purpose in naming the narration is to express feelings from a significant event. The word salvation likely had great significance in Hughes’ life, his life took a complete turn on the day he was saved. By naming it this and narrating the story, the reader can understand the powerful feelings that must go with the word for him. Though he doesn’t believe salvation exists, he has strong feelings with the word. In the text, it says that he waited longer than everyone else to see Jesus, he really wanted to be saved and really believed his aunt. Because nothing his aunt said would take place actually happened, he was heartbroken.
2. Hughes assumes many know of this type of service in the third paragraph. He describes the sermon as “rhythmical.” Many would know of this type of sermon as the average Sunday morning service. He describes the weekly action of the church-goers, and made it appear as though it were a regular church day.
3. Hughes had pressure coming from everywhere. His aunt, the preacher, everyone praying, and people waiting. It became apparent that no one would go anywhere until he stood and got saved. Knowing that he would possibly be looked down upon by not standing was even more pressure. Hughes was given no choice.

Method and Structure

1. Hughes wanted to narrate his own experience with salvation, he did not want to change anyone else’s beliefs or even argue against it. Hughes wants readers to make their own choices, like he made a choice by no longer believing. An argumentative essay would likely be titled: “Salvation, but from What?” I think this expresses Hughes’ thoughts about his experience.
2. Hughes explained how the children were gathered so the reader would know how he got into the situation. He quickly summarizes the sermon, because while he was there it probably seemed to have happened very quickly. However, he spent a lot of time describing the moment when he was asked to be saved. Several paragraphs were used to express his thoughts, feelings, and everyone’s actions. The reader could understand his predicament, and knew how long he felt he sat there. By managing time like this, Hughes exaggerates the important aspects of his experience and cuts out much of the unimportant information. This emphasizes his main point.
3. He used signals during the time salvation was offered to him.
4. A reader can never fully understand an author’s emotion’s unless the author explains every factor and aspect involved. Without knowing of the steps taken, and why they were taken, we don’t know of the experience fully. It is essential that the reader know everything Hughes went through, so the reader feels as though they were there, and learns what Hughes wants them to learn from his experience.

Language

1. More than anything, Hughes feels shame. As described in the last few paragraphs, he was ashamed that he lied to his aunt and everyone else in the church. Throughout the narration, the reader can sense the shame he felt, but could not sense any anger.
2. His child-like style was used because he was only a child at the time. He was going through an experience that was bigger than he first realized it was, making him feel smaller than he really was. Being the focus of attention made him feel as though he were little, and couldn’t do anything but hat everyone wanted him to do.
3. His aunt expected him to see Jesus’ blessings and wonderful things going on around him. Hughes believes that he is going to physically see Jesus. For Hughes, physically seeing Jesus would allow him to believe in Jesus, not just seeing his miracles.

Writing Topics

1. Reserved
2. Often when adults would comfort me as a child they would say ‘Everything is going to be okay.’ When at that time it feels as though nothing will be. A funeral for example, everything would not be okay because that person would never return. Nothing would be the way it was before when thinking about that person.
3. When I am being peer pressured, it is often about lying to my parents about something very small. Something they would never find out and was unimportant. I choose not to lie about these things, because it would help me very little and my conscious would hurt me a lot more.