Tales Of Simple

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Tales of Simple: Temptation The main themes in the short story “Tales of Simple: Temptation” is the relations between black and white people and the way people judge the different races. The story also is about the big questions of life – “what would the world look like if…” or “why did we become who we are?”. Tales of Simple is about posing questions to the religions and our life. The main character in the story is called Simple. Simple is an African-American who lives in Harlem, New York. Simple is angry about the way the Fall of Man relates to white people only, when the Lord said “Let there be light”. He wonders why the Lord forgot the coloured people back then. Simple feels suppressed and unrighteous treated. He is very indifferent and won’t let himself be persuaded. Simple thinks that black people are smarter and wiser than white people when he says: “But I just wish we coloured folks had been somewhere around at the start. I do not know where we was when Eden was a garden, but we sure didn’t get in on none of the crops. If we had, we would not be so poor today. White folks started out ahead and they are still ahead. Look at me!” Simple is simply managed by his immovable feelings. He can’t think in abstract terms. The “I” is the minor character in the story. The “I” is also an African-American. The “I” is very rational, sensible and abstract thinking compared to Simple. The “I” tries to tell Simple that he has to grasp the Bible in a symbolic way. The “I” don’t comprehend that Simple thinks that if Adam and Eve were black, we would still live in Paradise. The “I” says: “Oh, man, you have a colour complex so bad you want to trace it back to the Bible”. The “I” doesn’t get Simple by any means. The “I” has an elaborated language. He uses a religious vocabulary like “sin” and “temptation”. He is familiar with the Bible as he refers to Genesis 2
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