The story of one 12-year-old boy’s beliefs being devastated is brought to readers in the story of Salvation.
Langston Hughes, the author of the short essay, brings emotion and drama to his own childhood story with various rhetorical strategies. First off, the author seems to almost take himself back in time, into a youthful writing style that mimics how he may have retold the story as a 12 year old; a writing style that puts the reader before the boy himself. This approach at the event is effective and creates a strong ethos environment for the reader. The reader may become more emotionally attached to the main character in this situation as well, which ends in sorrow.
The story accumulates emotion and passion (as a pathos piece of work does) through its dialogue and distinctive details throughout the story. Every sentence builds suspense upon the salvation of Langston; the questioning minister, his fellow churchgoers, the church’s environment itself plays upon the augmenting suspense. The actual time that takes place during the single event lasts longer than the few paragraphs make it out to be, yet this is only done to give more strength to the brief essay.
Various small rhetorical devices are splashed in throughout the story. Personification is used upon the church to express the true mood of the temple (pg.156). The aftermath of Langston finally rising is explained with a metaphor, as a "sea of shouting," which illustrates the scene. The mere use of exclamation points (on page 155) causes the reader to feel Langston’s excitement and anticipation for the upcoming event, as well as his aunt’s excitement.
Sentence length also plays a key role in emphasizing certain aspects. The extremely short "So I got up," concluding sentence completely contrasts all of the detailed events that led up to that single moment. Plainly stating the truly simplistic event, that meant so much to the church, gives the moment the kind of attention that suits it. Whereas in the end, Langston rambles on about his crying and why he is crying so. Which brings the reader to an understanding for what Langston is going through, and why his lie ruined more than just a belief of his own.
5 comments:
Wow, I really liked your essay. Your works always tend to have a special sort of voice attached to them, and this one is no different. I like the points that you made, as they coincided with what I thought was happening in the story as well.
Nice, you had a very good essay about "Salvation", that makes me want to read this one. You put just the perfect amount of detail to it.
All I can say is I agree with Eddie. You have convinced me to read this essay. You seemed to have a really great understanding of the story and managed to portray it in an almost flawless way in your analysis.
When I first looked at your post, your introduction caught my eye. I liked how you told what it was about so readers knew what was going on. Even though I didn't read this essay, I felt that I didn't have to because of the descripion used.
I immensely enjoyed your writing style in your post. You kept me reading with your word choice and sentence fluency. Also your paragraphs about the author's style and sentence length were insightful.
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