Can group pressure only be bad or can group pressure also be good? In the article “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, Hughes uses a personal experience with group pressure which can be looked as bad. Author Langston Hughes wrote an article about how he conformed to group pressure at church and the after effects of conforming to group pressure (78-80). Langston Hughes overall tries to inform the reader about how group pressure is everywhere, causes people to do something that they do not want to do, and can make people feel differently.
Group pressure can be anywhere at home, school, and at work. In Hughes article, his personal experience of group pressure was at home and at church (79-80). Group pressure at home can be hard especially since that group at home is family. This can be hard since they are family and people do not want to let their family down. For instance, in the article Hughes is pressured by his aunt and uncle to go to church and believe in Jesus, which is what Hughes ends up doing (78-80). Group pressure at home does not only apply to family members; neighbors and communities can count as well. For example, the church Hughes went to was most of his neighbors and community expecting him to see Christ (79-80). Home is supposed to be a safe haven for people and not a place where people feel pressured all the time. There are other places like school and work that also, have a fair amount of group pressure as well. For instance, school group pressure can include friends and peers. In school, no one wants to stick out, so people end up conforming to group pressure when with friends. In addition, group pressure in school includes teachers too. Since teachers are authority figures in school; teachers can pressure students to act and behave a certain way. This leads to group pressure at work. The workplace group pressure is similar to school group pressure. Peers are coworkers and teachers are bosses. At work, if people do not listen and conform to the bosses they will get fired. Group pressure is everywhere not only in certain places, which is one of the ideas Hughes is trying to tell the reader.
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Since group pressure is everywhere, group pressure can lead people to do things they do not wanna do: such as bad, good, and difficult stuff. When under a lot of pressure people do not really think straightly. If a group of people is pressuring only one person to do something bad they are more likely to do that activity. For instance, if someone is with a bunch of people who steal or lie, that person is likely to also steal or lie. For instance in the article “Salvation” Hughes lied about seeing Christ to everyone in the church (80). However, Group pressure can even lead people to hurt other as well. Although group pressure can make people do bad, group pressure can also, make people do good as well. For example, when a group has a common goal that is positive such as, succeeding in life the pressure from the group will make that person to do succeed as well. Group pressure is difficult, because of the amount of pressure that the person has on them. For example, Hughes ends up getting on stage, which is difficult for Hughes because he had so much pressure on him.
Living with the after-effects of conforming to group pressure can make people feel upset, happy, and confused. Feeling upset can make people feel angry because they wish they did not conform. For example, in the article “Salvation”, Hughes writes, “But I was really crying because I couldn't bear to tell her that I had lied . . . ” (80). Being upset can make people sad as well. For example, in the article “Salvation” Hughes wrote “I cried, in bed alone, all alone” (80). Group pressure cannot make people upset, group pressure can also make people happy too. For instance, the people who have the positive group pressure might end up happy with conforming. Those people also, might wanna also continue to do whatever the group pressured them to do. Group pressure can also make people confused. For example, in the article “Salvation” Hughes was confused about why he had not seen god and started to question if there was a god at all. The after effects of group pressure overall can be difficult weather people feel happy or upset.
Overall, Hughes is trying to inform the reader about a small part of what group pressure can make people do, act and feel. Also, that the group pressure people should watch out for is the bad side and he supports this with his personal experience. Although Hughes personal experience can be looked at as the bad side of group pressure, Hughes does not write that group pressure is only bad.
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