Victoria Wang September 3, 2014

English 3103 Section 036H

Summaries

Among the Believers

The short story of Among the Believers is narrated by a young, black girl
who depicts the scenery of her childhood as an atheist father raises her. As the story
progresses, the narrator explains how, originally, her entire family came from a very
religious background; however her father had gone astray.
Under the indirect pressure she felt from being surrounded by family
members with an evident religious affiliation, she became fascinated by the idea of
faith. During a summer of attending Bible school, she was able to go more in depth
into this new way of life; she was able to answer questions that had once clouded
her thoughts.
After this experience, she had found a new side of herself. Inspired by a
psalm given to her by her teacher, she discovers the true power of written language,
which in turn, reveals her passion for this field of work.

Essential Question: Could the narrators decision of acquiring faith have originated
as a form of rebellion against what her father had taught her in order to fit in? Or did
the drive to seek answers to her questions come from within herself?

Salvation

In Salvation, the narrator Langston relives the experience of when he was
first saved at the age of twelve. He emphasizes how important religion was in his
family as he explains how his aunt upraised the idea of an encounter with Jesus
Christ. She had provided him with vivid imagery of what to anticipate, and had
therefore given Langston an expectation as to what he would witness.
All of the details he had heard consisted of very conspicuous and outstanding
revelations. So as Langston sat down with a group of other young children in church
waiting for Jesus to appear, he grew more and more unsteady as kids began
standing up, claiming to have perceived the presence of Jesus Christ, and he still had
had no revelation.
Feeling guilty for extending the ceremony, and seeing his aunts suffering, he
unwillingly stood up and falsely claimed he had received Jesus Christ. Later that
night, Langton cried himself to sleep as he realized he had deceived all of the people
at the church, and had completely lost his faith.
Essential Question: Is it better to instill religion into a persons life for their own
good, or is it wiser to give each person the freedom and the space to decide how he
or she will live their religious life? Why?