Repetition in Langston Hughes’“Salvation”

張耀莎+謝青

【Abstract】“Salvation” written by Langston Hughes describes Langstons painful experience of being brought to Jesus when he was about 13. In the short story， Langston adopts several writing techniques， among which this essay tries to analyze repetition.

【Key words】“Salvation”； Langston Hughes； repetition

One of Langston Hughes autobiographies， The Big Sea， includes an interesting short story named “Salvation”， in which Langston describes his painful experience of being brought to Jesus when he was about 13. The story is kind of vivid and convincing， because Langston adopts several writing techniques， such as using childs narrative style and repeating some lexical words. According to David Lodge， it is difficult to write English without the repetition of grammatical words， but it must mean something when the repetition of lexical words is used. In “Salvation”， three lexical words run through the narration： “come”， “wait” and “saved”. The repetition of these three words traces out the reaction of the children towards religion and the result of the baptism. After the baptism， young Langston became disillusioned about religion. He was not really saved， but saved in form.

Traditional rhetoric requires good literary prose with “elegant variation”， which means if something is referred more than once， the author should try to use alternative words. Langston， however， rejects the tradition， on the one hand because he writes the story in childs language， on the other hand because he wants to use a same word to express different meanings. In “Salvation”， Langston repeats “come” for 14 times. Four are used to describe a circumstance， while the rest are for another. As “come” often appears with “wait”， here the two words are discussed together. Before the special meeting to bring the children to Jesus， Aunt Reed told Langston if he was saved， Jesus would come to him and he would see and feel Jesus in his soul. Langston took it literally， so he kept waiting for Jesus. On the contrary， during the baptism， the preacher urged Langston all the time， “wont you come； why dont you come to Jesus； Jesus is waiting for you”. Langston trusted his aunt and believed Jesus would come as long as he kept waiting， however， he failed to know that it was Jesus that was waiting for him and only when he came to Jesus， Jesus would save him. Alan Bean comments “Salvation” in his blog. He says he finds an important piece of his own spiritual biography in the story， because he felt neither flashing light from heaven， nor strange warming of the heart. But as he knew something about religion， he went forward to serve Jesus. However， Langston is different； he went to the meeting and came to Jesus not at his will， but for Aunt Reed. Langston deeply trusted whatever Aunt Reed told him； he “honored a God of truth and integrity”， but the result disillusioned him.

Another word repeated time and again is “saved”. The word bears two different meanings， one religious and the other ironic. At the beginning of “Salvation”， Langston writes “I was saved from sin... But not really saved”. The reason why he adds “really” is that he wants to emphasize the two “saved” here mean different. Salvation in religion means “the deliverance of humankind from such fundamentally negative or disabling conditions as suffering， evil， finitude， and death”. Aunt Reed and other Evangelists baptized the children， for they hoped the children could be forgave from sins and receive redemption or salvation from God. But for children like Westley and Langston， they never endured suffering nor understood the doctrine that the original sin is a part of human beings， so they went forward just because they felt bored or did not want to be in trouble. The adults failed to pay attention to whether the children were saved as they wished or not， so it gives the readers an ironic feeling when the Evangelists shouted and cheered at the end of the baptism. When “saved” is used by Aunt Reed and other Evangelists to describe salvation， it bears its religious meaning. However， for Langston in his 12， being “saved” was not the deliverance of negative conditions， but only a form to prove he was in Christianity.

Langston Hughes repeats three lexical words， “come”， “wait” and “saved”， in “Salvation” for several times to portray a vivid baptism. The repetition not only reveals Langstons ability on handling language， but also expresses his ideas. He was baptized when he was a child. The inconformity of cognition and reality made him feel disillusioned about Christianity， and he was not really saved in religion in his 12.

References：

[1]Bean Alan.“‘Salvation， by Langston Hughes.” Paper Blog.Web.12 May 2016.Brandon Samuel.“Salvation.” Encyclopedia Britannica.Web.12 May 2016.

[2]Hughes，Langston.Autobiography：The Big Sea.Columbia and London：University of Missouri Press，2002.

[3]Lodge，David.The Art of Fiction.London：Penguin Books，1992.