[Prof. Masiello]

Questions about the readings:

“Salvation” is a narrative essay, a memoir that is non-fiction. When you include it in your essay in a couple of weeks, please just call it an essay or a reading, not a short story.
Please do not just answer with a yes or a no. Imagine you are in a classroom and raising your hand. You would have more content to say in such a setting in college. However, since therer are so many questions, your answers may be short.

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?

2 How old is he in his narrative?

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?

“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.

Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense?

When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know?
(In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.)
Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make mental note of?

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?

11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?

[Malkhut Hinds-Bernard]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
Langston Hughes is the author.

2 How old is he in his narrative?
He is 13 years old in this narrative.

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No because I was never pressured into a religion.

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
The children were going through a ceremony where they would accept Jesus into their life.

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
The boy says he sees Jesus because he feels pressured to go up because of his aunt and the people in the room crying and praying for him to go forward. He also feels that he won’t see Jesus, so he would rather go and get it done than wait forever, especially considering that another boy, Westley, did this and didn’t get punished.

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
I went to an after school studying session for my physics class because I felt pressured to do so by my friends who were trying to ace their tests.

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
Peer pressure is when people your age/status encourage you to do something.

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
Peer pressure isn’t wrong all the time. Peers can pressure you to do things for the better such as getting good grades or making a better effort to follow your passions.
“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
A denotation is a literal meaning of a word while a connotation is the emotional feeling that a word can convey.
Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense?

• Our five senses are smell, hearing, touch, taste, and sight. It is easier to convey hearing and sight in words because those can be literally described while with smell, hearing and touch you need to get more into comparisons and connotations. For example I can say I see a white, tall wall but when I talk about smell I would need to compare it with something like saying something like “it has a faint scent of roses”.
• When there is an ad about perfume we can’t smell the perfume so the ad has to compare it to an existing smell, or an idea/place/feeling such as luxury.

When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know?
(In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.)
Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make a mental note of?
There were descriptive words talking about how people were singing, crying or shouting in the church. I also remember a specific word talking about how people’s prayers were swirling him, and the word swirl made it seem as if he was overwhelmed by these people.

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy thought that he was literally supposed to see Jesus.

11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
I think a person that young can definitely make a decision in having faith. If you don’t believe in something then you simply don’t believe it, nothing else matters. Your faith can change at any time but if you know you don’t believe in something at the present, then it is true and your age doesn’t matter.

[Osman Hassan]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
Langston Hughes
2 How old is he in his narrative?
13
3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No
4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
Something called a revival, however on that particular day they gathered the kids so they could be brought to Jesus.
5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
Since all the other kids acted as if they did and also because he didn’t want to disappoint the people praying for him.
6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
I bought a game that turned out to be very unenjoyable since my friends got it.
7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
When someone does something due to those around them encouraging it.
8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
Peer pressure can be good as well, for instance, you could be peer pressured to volunteer somewhere.
9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
The denotation of a word is the literal meaning, whereas connotation is something that is implied by the word aside from the literal meaning.
10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy was ignorant to the connotation of “see” when his aunt told him that he would see Jesus.
11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
Personally, I believe a person needs to gain a better understanding of the world and themselves (which may come with age) before making a decision in having faith since young people are very easily influenced.

[Jaheim Wilson]

1) This is Langston Hughes story.

2) He is twelve years old in the story.

3) I do have a similar experience to the story. When people are in Church they are extremely emotional, and come together in harmony.

4) There is a big revival of his Aunt’s Church. There was also going to be a special ceremony for the children. Where they come to meet Jesus.

5) The boy says he sees Jesus because he feels pressured too. He feels guilty because everyone is waiting for him, so he gets up to not waste anymore time.

6) I was pressured once when I was younger. There was time where my classmate asked to pass a note to his friend. I foolishly listened and got in trouble from the teacher.

7) Peer pressure is when someone forces or influences you to do something you don’t want to do. This usually comes from a group. It can be from family, friends, classmates, etc.

8) Peer pressure isn’t wrong all the time. You can be influenced to change or do something that benefits you.

9) Denotation is the exact definition of a word. While connotation is the emotional suggestion of a word. It is not literal.

9a) Our five senses are touch,smell,taste,sight, and hearing. I believe that smell and touch are the most easiest to describe in words. If you say something stinks or taste’s good I connect it to my real-life experiences in order to make that connection. Whether it be through a book or movie my life helps make that distinction.

10) The boy’s mistake was his interpretation of Jesus. He doesn’t literally see Jesus, your supposed to see him through you heart and spirit.

11) While I do believe he can make that choice. I think he should wait until he is a little bit older and gain more experience with the outside world before making such a choice.

[matthewf]

1. Langston Hughes is the author.
2. He is thirteen years old in his narrative.
3. No, because I’ve never done anything specifically with worship.
4. During his particular day at his church, there were guests of children that got together and had them accept Jesus.
5. The boy says he sees Jesus because he felt that he was being pressured by everyone around him. So he thinks to himself of being guilty and tries to solve things.
6. There was something that I’ve lost which cost a good amount of money that was considered as a gift from my parents. After I posted it I was sweating and didn’t know how to react.
7. Peer pressure is when someone tries to make you do something but you don’t want to do it. Peers could be anyone around the world such as classmates, friends, co-workers, teachers, and many more.
8. Peer pressure can be good such as starting to learn how to become a worker in any position, this is good because it could help you in life eventually no matter what the consequence is.
9. Denotation is the literal and exact meaning of what it meant. As for connotation, it is an idea but it is not literal.
9a. The five senses are hearing, smell, touch, taste, and vision. Out of these senses, the easiest to appeal into words is taste because you can taste the food whether it is nasty or delicious. If you read that something smells bad, it does have some appeal if you ever have any real-life experience just like what you have read. When there is an ad for cologne or perfume I would say I couldn’t smell it because I’m not physically there nor imagine the sense since there are many different senses out there. When a movie is shown that something smells bad I would know easily because of the people’s reaction and it could be mine as well.
10. The boy was ignorant since he thought he could see Jesus, but Jesus only appears in the spirit of thoughts.
11. I think at such a young age, they’re likely to be more into it or influenced by it but when time passes on fast. He would soon grow and decide about the faith upon.

[Michael]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
The author is Langston Hughes

2 How old is he in his narrative?
13

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No because I do go to church

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
a group of boys who were considered young sinners where brought to church to accept Jesus and be relived of their sins

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
he Sayed he saw Jesus because it was getting late and he felt pressured as he was the only boy left on the bench

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
One time I was at a lake with some friends and their where all jumping off a cliff into the lake and when it was my turn I felt pressured to jump due to everyone looking at me from down below

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
when you feel pressured to do something because some else did it

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
some time peer pressured is not all bad as it can open you up to new thing or break you out of your shell

“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
denotation is just a word with a literal definition but connotations is when a word that as some sort of emotional meaning attached to it

Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense?

When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know?
(In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.)
Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make mental note of?

Our five senses are touch, smell, taste, hearing and, sight. I fell that sight is easer to apple into words as we always try to imagine a setting when its being described to you. When I look at an ad for a cologne I cant smell it I my mind and neither does it pick up any other sense I have. When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good I know by the way it portrayed. A particular visual in this essay that I saw was the crunch and how every one was singing.

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
He thought that he was supposed to see Jesus physically instead of seeing him in his mind

11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
I believe he cant make that decision at that age as he takes everything to literally

[Daniela S]

1. Langston Hughes
2. 13
3. I have experienced something similar religiously as well because he was too focused on seeing Jesus physically and not actually feel his presence. That made me question God because they say pray and you shall receive, but I noticed that although I prayed for many things, what’s not meant to be in my life shall be forbidden from my path.
4. The sinners which are the young trying to feel Jesus’s presence.
5. The boy says he sees Jesus just to join the others and because he was being impatient or didn’t believe enough to feel his presence.
6. Something I’ve done out of being peer pressured by someone is denying a better job offer because my mother didn’t want me to take it.
7. Peer pressure is when someone you know influences or pushes you to do something you might not want to do, but slowly convinces and manipulates you into it. My peers are my friends, co-workers, people around me, etc…
8. Peer pressure could feel wrong most of the times, but sometimes you are not well bowlegged about the situation that you don’t know what to do, but then you end up with happy result.
9. Connotations are words with different meanings depending on your mood and denotations are the actual meaning of a word disregarding how you feel.
5 senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch, and sight. Out of all senses the one that appeals most with words is sight because with sight you can read, which you learn a lot from and what you see can be explained. For example, if I see something you really like you can describe entirely or just in one word, “marvelous”. When I look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, the ad gives me an idea of what it may smell like but with my sight I can see the color, how the bottle is shaped, the name of the perfume/cologne, can form a word or give me an idea of what it may smell like.
When I see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, i’ll know which one by what the character is saying or by looking at their facial expressions.
When I read the essay, I remember a particular visual I noted was when Langston was the last young sinner on the bench and everyone behind him began to sing and to feel frightened because he hadn’t felt Jesus’s presence.
10. Regarding what his aunt told him, Langston’s mistake was lying about feeling Jesus’s presence.
11. I think a person his age doesn’t know how to make a decision of faith because he has no experience much less any effort into actually believing.

[Prof. Masiello]

Malkhut,
Those are great answers!

As for cologne ads in magazines, it seems they appeal to our sense of visual beauty in the design of the bottle.

[Prof. Masiello]

Jaheim,

Those are excellent answers.

I think words can best deal with visual appeal. A good description can create a picture in our minds.

[Jose Martinez]

1. The author is Langston Hughes.
2. He was 13 at the time in this story.
3. My family is religious, but my parents never forced religion upon us. So I guess me and Langston had different upbringings.
4. The event going on in the church was called a “revival” and the purpose was to bring the children closer to God.
5. Langston chose to lie because he started to feel like an outsider and left out since he was the last one to see God. Also since Westley lied and nothing happened to him, Langston joined him.
6. When I was younger I want to say I was peer pressured to do a lot and follow my friends, it wasn’t the best decision and eventually just disappeared as I got older.
7. Peer pressure is when a friend or family member pressures one into doing something they wouldn’t usually do.
8. I believe there is such a thing as good peer pressure. Sometimes all one needs is a little push so that person can get out of their comfort zone and actually do something that can benefit them in the long run.
9A. The 5 senses are touch, smell, sight, taste, and sound. In my opinion out of the 5 senses sight and smell can be the easiest to picture while reading. I think it depends on the sensory details that can just trigger one’s imagination.
9B. I don’t think I can remember any details in the text.
10. Langston wasn’t told that Jesus was a physical person that he was supposed to meet.
11. At that age I feel like Langston was able to make that decision, however I think the reason behind it was slightly irrational. In the text, Langston considered himself a man so that would mean he’s allowed to make decisions for himself. As I said before the reason behind was a little irrational considering he didn’t know exactly the concept of seeing God.

[Melissa Romero]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
Langston Hughes
2 How old is he in his narrative?
He is 13 years old.
3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
Yes I had experienced something similar when I was a lot younger when I didn’t understand why we went to church.
4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
during this particular day in church there are young sinners that are accepting Jesus.
5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
He says that he sees Jesus because he felt like he was being pressured to accept Jesus because his aunt and others were waiting for Langston to accept Jesus.
6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
Something Ive done due by feeling pressured is do a performance of my culture and I was the student in the class to perform.
7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
I define peer pressure by having to do something even if you don’t want to but if you don’t do it then it’ll just be embarrassing to yourself. My peers are whoever I’m surrounded with.
8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
I don’t think peer pressure is wrong but I do feel like this happens when your going to do something that you don’t normally do.
“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
DENOTATION: The direct definition of the word that you find in the dictionary. CONNOTATION: The emotional suggestions of a word, that is not literal.
Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense?

When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know?
(In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.)
Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make mental note of?

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
His mistake was lying in front of everyone in church that he went to Jesus.
11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
I don’t think he has to make to make the decision as young as he is right now because he is just learning and overtime he will understand why his aunts or people who go to church believe in god.

[Dmitry Terentyev]

Dmitry Terentyev
1. The author is Langston Hughes.
2. He was 13.
3. I do have some experience, as a kid my parents took me to church to certain religious holidays but we slowly started to stop until we just didn’t go anymore.
4. On this day, there was a ceremony for children who had to meet Jesus.
5. The audience pressured the boy and he didn’t want to disappoint everyone praying for him, so he acted out seeing Jesus. The boy wants to fit in as anyone else in the church, meaning being accepted.
6. Me and my friends went to six flags and I’m personally an extremist, it was at the end of the day, I was tired, and feeling a bit sick. All the my friends went infront of me and I wanted to sit out. All the parents were there watching me waiting and wondering why I was the only one not going so I was pressured to go on the ride.
7. Peer pressure is when someone pressures you to do something you don’t want to do. They could be friends, family, groups of people, etc.
8. Peer pressure is a balanced kind of thing, it could be for a good cause and for a dangerous cause. This pressure puts you into a situation that can teach you a lesson so you wont be panicking or having trouble next time.
9. Denotation is is somewhat exact definition of the word, on the other hand connotation has an emotional meaning connected to the word.
9a. Five senses that are used are touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Sight has the biggest appeal to words because one thing for sure you can’t see a word without reading it. When you see something a word or words instantly pop up into your head describing it, on the other hand with other senses like smelling and tasting, you need to think about it and instead of a word popping up, a comparison chart does. Meaning with other senses you need to think about it, and doesn’t give a clear definition. Looking at a an ad on tv of cologne or perfume doesn’t give a sense appeal to smell, just because you look at it, you can’t compare it because you don’t know what it smells like.
10. The boy made a mistake of seeing Jesus, he doesn’t know what Jesus looks like, so he didn’t have a literal definition in his head. He was playing it out in his head of how he would see Jesus.
11. In the end the boy is still young, a lot of ahead of him. He of course can make that decision but its a changeable idea that will be in the back collecting pros and cons for this idea.

[AlexanderL]

1) Langston Hughes is the author.
2) He was 13 years old in this narrative
3) I do have experience because I’ve attended church before, not in the sense of helping them run it.
4) On the day in which the church took place in there was a certain event occurring where the children attending would accept Jesus.
5) The boy in the narrative says he sees Jesus because all the other children could. This is just an example of peer pressure or having the feeling of standing out from all the others.
6) An example I can provide that I have done due to peer pressure was accepting an invitation that I didn’t really want to go to but I still accepted it because I felt guilty, yet pressured into going.
7)Peer pressure can be defined as a group of people or one person trying to advocate for someone to do a certain action or encouraged by a whole group
8) Peer pressured can also be used in the sense of encouragement to attempt something, such as helping out others.
9) The difference between connotation and denotation is that connotation is used when you need to imply something from a word and denotation is when the word is literal.
9a) Our five senses are hearing, smell, touch, taste, and sight. Smell and touch can easily be conveyed in words since it is something you can experience.
10) THe boy’s actual mistake was not clearly understanding was his aunt told him about “seeing Jesus”. The boy took the sentence literally and only thought he would see Jesus through eyesight, which is not the case.
11) I believe that someone for his age can make a decision in faith because he is more than capable enough to understand the idea of religions

[Jeremy Lah]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
The Author’s name is Langston Hughes

2 How old is he in his narrative?
In this narrative the author is only 13 years old

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
I am actually a religious person and I go to church every Sunday and my religion of Christian is Presbyterian and also I’m part of the praise team and every Friday I go and practice for the upcoming Sunday worship.

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
There was a ceremony for kids who had to meet Jesus

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
It is because the boy just said that he wanted to fit in with the others

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
There was this time when I was with my friends and my friends were playing cards and I was sitting back just resting and the moms all looked at me and then my mom told me to play with them and I was forced to play them even though I was exhausted and it was like 1 A.M in the morning

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
I think it is pressure given to you by someone else such as friends, family, etc. and they are forcing you to do something

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good? “Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.
I feel like peer pressure in somewhere in the middle because sometimes if someone pressures you into doing something that you are supposed to do then it is a good thing but somethings the person who pressures you to do something that is optional and you don’t want to do it so it sticks somewhere in the middle in my opinion

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation. Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense? When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know? (In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.) Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make a mental note of?
Our five senses being sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch but I believe sight is our most important sense because for example if you want to read something like a comic, you cannot do so without sight. For the sense of smell, it is something really hard to explain because I think that everything smells different to every person.

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
Seeing Jesus because the boy probably never seen Jesus at all and only his mind was imagining what Jesus would look like

11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?

In conclusion the boy is still young because he is 13 and I believe that he still has a lot to live for and his future can be anything because we never know what to expect. At a young age it is possible because I remember a girl who had a vision while praying and was only 15 years old and the vision showed heaven and hell and the differences. The only thing was that she went on a mission trip, she died from an asthma attack.

[Obrien Eastman]

1. Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
Langston Hughes
2.How old is he in his narrative?
Thirteen
3. Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No
4. What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
A revival but on that particular day they gathered the kids so they could be brought to Jesus.
5. Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
The other kids said they did so he wanted to blend in with them and not be the only that didnt see.
6. Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
Ive been convinced to go somewhere that i strongly didnt want to go to for a very long time but i was pressured to.
7. How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
I think it is pressure given to you by someone else and they are forcing ideas in your head to do something you dont want to.
8. Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
Peer pressure can be good as well it just depends on the situation.
9. Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
The denotation of a word is the literal meaning, connotation is something that is implied by the word aside from the literal
meaning.
10. What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy took “see” jesus too literal when his aunt told him that he would see Jesus.
11. In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
I think the boy needs to gain a better understanding of the god and knowing him which will come as he gets older before making a decision.