Themes

The main themes presented in the short story “Tales of Simple: Coffee Break” by Langston Hughes are that of racism and segregation along with that of conflicting perspectives. The author’s intention was to make mainstream American society aware of the way African-American felt back in the 1960s, but also to make the elites realize that a formal granting of civil rights does not automatically solve the problem of racism and segregation in America.

Racism and segregation

The story presents a conversation about African-American rights in 1960s America. One of the characters, the white boss, illustrates through his attitude and ideas the intrinsic, deep-rooted racism white Americans had towards African-Americans. Even if he claims to like Simple and to have liberal views on African-American rights, the man fails to integrate and treat them as equals.

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Conflicting perspectives

As children develop into adults and as they reach maturity, their perspectives on life, society, politics, and culture are usually shaped by their experiences and the community and groups they belong to. For this reason, more often than not, people coming from different backgrounds tend to have conflicting perspectives.

This is also the case with the two main characters of the short story.

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