Salvation by Langston Hughes
"Wisdom comes by disillusionment." I think this judicious statement from George Santayana, a famous philosopher and man of letter, applies entirely to Langston Hughes' story Salvation. Young Langston is wiser by the end of the story because of the fact he was disillusioned in his faith after heeding everyone's advice and beliefs.
The little boy we meet in the story was sure he would see Jesus just like everyone said they did. He believed it really hard until he figured out he wouldn't come. He was disillusioned. People these days often hold on to fake ideas or illusions. Once they are faced with the truth, they either refuse it bluntly or become disillusioned and thus wiser like Mr. Santayana said. Socially this means Langston starts out his life as a teenager lying to everyone, which is of course resentful. It marks a change in his life; he is no longer as innocent as supposed to be.
One might wonder how he came to be brought back to......
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