Salvation

1. The main point of Hughes's narrative was that not everything about church and God is truthful. Hughes felt that he was deceived as a child because he was told the Jesus would come to him, but He never did. The change that occurred in him was that he no longer believed that there was a Jesus.

2. Hughes finally gets up and decides to be saved because Westly had done it and had not been struck dead for lying. So he decided to save the further trouble and lie, too. Afterward, he is sad and crying because of the lie he told and because of the fact that he no longer believed in Jesus.
3. The title is somewhat deceitful because it gives the idea that this narration was about Hughes’s salvation, but in reality it is about his lack thereof, and the second sentence proves this. He is saying that his “salvation” was false.

Purpose and Audience
1. I think he wrote “Salvation” to let his readers know a little more about himself. Yes, he was a Christian, but he did not believe in Christ because of this experience that he had. He also possibly wanted to criticize the whole church experience, because if he didn’t experience Christ, there is a good chance that many others hadn’t either. The 5th and 6th lines in paragraph 6 support this. The boy sitting next to him simply pretended that he was saved, and if he did, who’s to say that no one else did the same. He also may have wanted to explain that maybe it’s not a good idea to try to have children saved, because they have not really experienced life yet and many can’t appreciate what God has done for them. All the adults in the congregation screamed and leaped and praised God when Hughes got up to be saved, but it said nothing about the children rejoicing for him, too.
2. Hughes seems to assume that everyone in his audience is African-American. Details, such as the descriptions of some of the congregation members, let us know this assumption to be true. Hughes says that some of the women have jet-black faces and braided hair. That is something that would normally be seen in a church that is full of African-Americans, and he puts this in here so that his readers can relate to his story. He also describes a man’s hands as being calloused, which would usually be seen on a black man’s hands.
3. The details help re-create the increasing pressure Hughes feels by showing the sense of shame and guilt that he felt for having everyone wait for him to be saved. He was the second to last one sitting on the mourner’s bench, and he felt guilty for making the congregation wait until nightfall for his salvation. Pressure was great because he was actually waiting to have and encounter with Jesus, and he felt that he could not. It became even worse when the only boy sitting next to him got up to be saved. He felt even more pressure, because he knew that the boy had not really seen Jesus, so Hughes didn’t know what to do.

Method and Structure
1. Hughes probably chose narration because he wanted to add in his own feelings on the subject. He had a personal experience with the matter, so it would make sense for him to recall his experience to his audience. An argumentative essay may have had some of the main points of this narration, but it would not have all the feeling, detail, or credibility. The title of it may be “The Deception Behind Salvation”.
2. Hughes shortens the time taken to get to the sermon, and also shortens the service of the church that day, aside from the altar incident. He skips all of the people that went, except him and Wesley. He drew out his part to add more expression to his experience. At the end, he jumps to his home when he was in bed, because it was the only thing that mattered at the time. This gives the ending of his reason for writing this chapter.
3. During the sermon, he uses transitions that depict a shorter time period than days or weeks, such as “then”, “suddenly”, and “finally”. He then uses “that night” as a jumper transition.
If the reader does not understand how a revival meeting works, then the whole purpose of the narration is lost.

Language
1. Hughes’s language reveals that he feels like this was altogether a horrible experience. His feeling of guilt was depicted when he said that he cried because he had deceived everyone in the church. He felt bitter about the experience. This is shown by him revealing to his audience that he, to this day, does not believe in Jesus because of the experience. He felt sorrow because Jesus had not come to help him.
2. I think that he is trying to achieve the effect of having his writing actually resemble that of a child. Since he was a child when the experience happened, he decided to take it back to his childhood days to relive this sad experience.
3. When Hughes says “see”, he actually means to literally “see”, with his eyes, Jesus standing before him. His aunt means to feel His presence and to experience Him. The difference is significant, because Hughes didn’t literally “see” Jesus, but there was a possibility that he could have felt His presence and been overtaken by Him if he had known what the adults meant by “see”.