A Comparison Of The Narratives In Salvation By Langston Hughes And Me Talk Pretty One Day

Langston Hughes’ “Salvation”, a young boy is visiting a church where the elders are urging all the children to be saved in a revival. In “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, an older man travels to France in search of French lessons. Both stories have characters wanting the narrator’s help but they don’t get it.

In paragraphs 5 and 6, the boy is still not going down to be saved, and he just sits with his friend. One example is the terrible demeanor displayed by the teacher on page 333, where he tells his narrator, “I don’t like you” or where she pokes a student in their eye with a pencil. The narrator feels belittled and that he doesn’t understand the situation as illustrated on pages 343-344. The Sedaris article has a different conflict. The boy wants Jesus in person and not to rely on others. Hughes is clear about this by writing “I was waiting to see Jesus” at the fifth paragraph. Fortunately, the conflict leads to something: the boy is saved. The conflict in the Sedaris article also produces something; the Sedaris story’s narrator understands the teacher’s words and can respond to her. This implies that one might be able not only to understand but also speak a language and should not give up on their pursuit of learning. Hughes’ article explains that while a problem can seem temporary, it may return later to cause stress. Both narratives have well-written conflicts that show how people can overcome obstacles by not following the instructions of their environment.