Setting and narrator

In what follows, we present you the setting and narrator of “Tales of Simple: Temptation” by Langston Hughes.

Setting

Published in 1965, the short story is set in American society, sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, as the references to religious figures like Daddy Grace, Father Divine, Elder Lawson, and Adam Powell indicate.

Physical setting

We do not know the whole context of the conversation or the relationship between the characters.

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Social setting

Firstly, the story shows different perspectives on religion according to education. The educated narrator considers religion and biblical stories symbolical, while the uneducated Simple takes religion and the Bible literally. However, through Simple’s words, the author shows how religious teachings can influence people’s perspective on social issues like poverty and racial discrimination.

Simple, who is a religious man and who is faced with racial discrimination, connects these two aspects of his life and draws the conclusion that black people have always been inferior to white people.

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Narrator

The short story is a first-person narration. The narrator is also a character in the short story. However, he does not intervene with comments or descriptions, but directly conveys a dialogue between him and Simple.

Because the story is only conveyed in the dialogue mode, the narrator uses a limited knowledge perspective. He does not know what Simple thinks apart from what he says.

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