Salvation Is About Himself as a Boy

¶ … Salvation" is about himself as a boy who eventually stands up in church to be saved, not because he has seen Jesus, but because he is tired of sitting there and holding up the group of people who want him to be saved so that the service can come to an end. What impressed me most about this essay was the depth of feeling that Hughes' expressed later that night, when he cries because he has lied to everyone and cannot tell them.

He says at that time that he does not believe in Jesus, but if this is the case, it is odd that he would feel guilty about lying. He seems to believe that lying is wrong, so he does believe in Jesus, or at least in the teaching of God, in some way. The rest of what he needs will come to him as he grows older.

What impressed me the least about this essay was the way that he only went to be saved because he was tired of sitting there watching everybody pray for him. He did not go to the minister with a clean heart and mind, ready to accept Jesus, but with a desire to get the whole thing over with so that everyone could go home.

Whether he actually received salvation at that point would be grounds for an argument among many Christians, and those people who are Christian know that a commitment to Jesus is not something that should be taken lightly or without serious desire. Honesty is important in good writing, though, even when fiction is told. Things must make.