James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri where he immediately saw the effects of racism on his life (Magill, 943). His father left for Mexico when Langston was only a year old due to a series of events, including an all white Oklahoma examination board’s refusal to let him take the bar examination (Magill, 943). Hughes’s mother did not go to

Hughes is varied in his themes, which include connectedness, transitoriness, racism, integration, poverty, myth, history, and universal freedom (Magill, 946). The character Simple is used by Hughes to express themes for he displays characteristics of the common black man of the 40’s and 50’s (Gale, 212).Simple is the “wise fool” whose experiences and uneducated insights are common to the frustrations experienced by the black population (Gale, 211). Although bitter at times, Simple makes up with innocent humor that alleviates normally awkward topics and situations, ultimately bringing issues across the readers in a subtle way. In the story “Two Loving Arms,” Simple touches upon the theme of discrimination when he describes a black man working in a Jewish dress factory. Simple implies that not all white people feel the same way towards racism (Hughes,141-4). According to Simple, white folk from the North are less racist in that they hire blacks and do not use derogatory words around them while white folk from the South “flung word round right freely about Jews and Negroes” (Hughes, 141). In “Two Loving Arms,” Simple continues to discuss discrimination by making a connection between eggs and racism (Hughes, 142). Simple wants more than two sides of his body to sleep on, just as he wants more types of eggs in the morning. He infers that every man is the same in saying, “But eggs is monotonous! No matter which side you turn an egg on, daddy-o, it is still an egg – hard on one side and soft on the other” (Hughes, 142). In addition to utilizing a single character to express themes, Hughes makes use of the setting and atmosphere of his stories. Almost every story in The Best of Simple is set in a bar where Simple can relax and contemplate on his life and the people that surround him (Hughes, vii). Simple comments about places that he has been and jobs he has held, which give him a diverse base of conversation about regions of the US and how they differ (Hughes, 140).

Through almost every piece of Hughes’s writing, evidence of his life can be seen integrated into all aspects of the text. Hughes grew up in a poor and disconnected family, which can be seen in his writing on poverty and racism. His lack of a definite father can be seen in his characters that lack connectedness (Magill, 943). Frustration over poverty and discrim

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