Chapter 22, Simple Speaks His Mind Summary

Langston's character Jesse B. Simple was the longest running and perhaps greatest influence on the black community. This character was based on a man named Simple, whom Hughes had met in a Harlem bar. Simple represented the average African American trying to make it in a white society. The first Simple story appeared in the Chicago Defender in 1943. Simple appeared in five of Hughes' books. The character has been considered Hughes' finest contribution to American Literature.

Chapter 22, Simple Speaks His Mind Analysis

Although Hughes claimed to have named Jesse B. Simple after a man named Simple, whom he met in a bar, there is a possibility the character's name was derived from Aimie Semple Macpherson. Simple is Hughes' representation of the black man, and is Hughes' way of communicating that man's views to the world...