Hughes and Orwell
When looking for similarities between authors, it is not immediately brought to mind to look at Langston Hughes and George Orwell. The former was a major writer during the Harlem Renaissance. Most of his work focused on explorations of the black experience in the United States and how African-Americans were mistreated by the white majority. Orwell was an English writer and most of his writing dealt with social commentary on the dangers of fascism and totalitarian governments. However, in two works by these very different men, a parallel can be viewed. Langston Hughes' "Salvation" and George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" both deal with a first-person narrator who is forced by those around him into becoming an outsider, someone outside of the group opinion, and is forced to lie about his true self and his own beliefs in order to fulfill the desires of those who surround him.
In the first story, a young boy, presumably a twelve-year-old version of writer Langston Hughes given that the character is referred to by this name, a child is taken by an aunt to a church revival meeting. He is pressured to give himself over to Jesus and to the evangelical Christianity of his family member. Unaware of the metaphorical nature of seeing the light or coming to Jesus, he erroneously believes himself sinful and wrong when he does not have a spiritual vision. Surrounded by adults who are praying over him and making him feel as though he is not a part of this group, the boy feels no choice but to falsely proclaim that Jesus has come to him and to take his place amongst the saved children. This experience, rather than make him more strongly associated with the Christian community, serves only to alienate him and to make young Langston disbelieve that Jesus exists at all. In...
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