s wrote of the deferred and dashed dreams of his own people, his "own people" included all of humanity who suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on this earth and in this life.
In his prose piece "Salvation," Hughes describes his childhood introduction to religion, specifically Christianity. Hughes is forced by social pressure to claim that he has experienced the presence of Jesus within himself, when in fact he has not had such an experience, and the experience sours him on religion and on Jesus. The essay is an example of adults forcing a child to conform to their expectations, just as many whites force, or try to force, blacks to conform. Hughes is remembering the event which he underwent at the age of 12. The culture in which he lives believes that finding Jesus is an entirely emotional matter, that one gets swept up in a revival atmosphere and joins other "sinners" in taking the step to "come to Jesus" (Hughes "Salvation" 161).
What the adults in Hughes's piece do not understand is that "finding Jesus" must be an individual matter which is sometimes emotional, sometimes inspired by social encouragement, sometimes an intellectual matter, sometimes a step taken out of desperation. To say this does not place a higher value on one way over another, but it is to say that the act of "finding Jesus" must not be forced. If it is, as in Hughes's case, then the result brought about by those doing the forcing is precisely the opposite of the one desired. "Finding Jesus," then, is an act, or decision, which must be taken or made in complete freedom. Just as blacks still suffer under white oppression, children in an adult world suffer under adult oppression. What the adult members of Hughes's community are feeling is not religious or spiritual love but the need to have every member, including Hughes and the other children, conform to their beliefs. What Hughes is feeling is not love but the force of the community and his fe...