Hughes' "Black Voices oby the Tales of Simple": Jessie Semple Langston Hughes is represented in Black Voices by the Tales of Simple. Hughes first presents his character Jessie B. Semple in the Forward: Who is Simple? In this tale the reader is given its first look at the character Jessie B. Semple who is a black man that represents almost the "anybody or everybody" of black society. Semple is a man who needs to drink, to num the pain of living life. "Usually over a glass of beer, he tells me his tales... with a pain in his soul... sometimes as the old blues says... Simple might be laughing to keep from crying" ( 98, 99 ). Jessie