pyrzqxgl

andreaisace:

collection of short stories by Langston Hughes. It will probably come to no surprise to anyone but these stories are damn good! They’re incredibly entertaining. If you’re not familiar with Jesse B. Semple (nickname Simple) I suggest you become familiar. Hughes started publishing these stories in…

The writing is so very beautiful. The contrast between the spoken dialects of the two main characters fills me with happiness each time I read it. The stories are poignant, humorous, and informative. While the events which happen to Simple by virtue of his race contrast sharply to my own experience as a white woman, the troubles he has with relationships and jobs are so universal they speak to my own experience giving his tales of his troubles even more heft, bringing home the message that the indignities suffered due to racism cannot be dismissed as something due to any characteristic or action in the individual, but rather are in fact as the name implies are due to race as seen by the perpetrator. This message comes through like a sledge hammer,  and yet the humor and beauty of the writing and characters make me read these voraciously like eating potato chips, rather than hide from the ugliness in the world that they highlight.