"Salvation"

“Salvation” Langston Hughes

                I can’t really figure out who the intended audience is, maybe anyone who was willing to listen to his story. Or maybe I will talk myself into who it is just as I did for “Toys”.

                The rhetorical appeals used in this essay are more ethos and pathos. This is a story about peer pressure and how even though Langston tried to resist and wait for the real thing which he had heard about from everyone, he in the end just went along with everyone else even though he did not have the experience he felt he was supposed to have. When he feels the pressure the reader can feel the pressure because everyone has had a moment where they felt they should just go ahead and do what everyone else is telling them to even though they don’t feel it. The ethos is throughout as this is a personal experience so obviously he knows what he is talking about. The ethos develops when he resists until there is only one other. When the other leaves and yet Langston is still waiting for the light and for Jesus to come to him we give him more credibility because he is waiting for the real thing instead of just trying to get it over with like Wesley. However, ethos really comes out in the end when he is in his room crying because he lied to everyone we really trust him, even though he lied...Which is quite paradoxical if you think about it.