As a part of our AP English Language and Composition class, we were to read "Salvation" by Langston Hughes. The essay, told in a brief way with a point style, tells us about a specific event in Langston Hughes's life. Hughes's describes to us how his hopeful connection with Jesus was a failure. While reading, we had to fill in the SOAPST: speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, tone. Three aspects of these that seemed to clarify the essay to me were the purpose, subject, and the tone.
The purpose of the essay was to inform, to document, and to reflect. Since the essay only talks about an event in his life, Langston Hughes looks back upon the event to describe the story, therefore using the three types of purposes - to inform, document, and reflect. He informs us about his loss of faith in Jesus and reflects upon the day where it all happened. Feeling confused as to why he is not seeing Jesus and guilty for lying about making the connection with Jesus, he emphasizes his feelings of guilt and confusion.
The subject of the essay was the loss of faith. When Langston Hughes does not make his connection with Jesus, he eventually loses his faith in him because Jesus was not there for him. Since Hughes's was expecting to literally see Jesus in front of him with his own eyes, he had the wrong idea of the connection he was supposed to make with Jesus.
The tone is the atmosphere set by the author. During the essay, the tone shifts numerous times. Going from confusion to sadness to guilt. Like how I said before, his expectation to see Jesus was not what he thought it was. Due to this, he was confused because he did not literally see Jesus in front of him. He was sad because Jesus was not there for him. Eventually, he lied about making the connection with Jesus and stood up to join the other children in church. With this lie, he felt guilty for lying yet lost his faith in Jesus.
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