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Melania Rocha SWC 100 July 28, 2009 F.D. As The
Melania Rocha SWC 100 July 28, 2009 F.D. As The
Melania Rocha
SWC 100
Simple’s cousin. Simple soon realizes what a good person F.D. is and takes himunder
his wing and watches over him. F.D. is well educated, polite, and hardworkingwhich
impacts Simple. Simple then wants to change or at least appear to change in order to
set a good example for F.D.. Hughes uses F.D. as a representation of the “perfect”
black man of the future, affecting Simple and making him also come closer to being this
person. Huhges uses the story of F.D. to show that the ideal black man may ultimately
be unachievable through its whimsy elements and his going to the army.
Within the first few moments of meeting F.D., Simple realizes that he is a good
kid and allows him to stay with him. When Simple describes F.D. to the narrator he
says, “About the darkest young boy I ever seen. . . He’s graduated and got a diploma,
too. I know he’s smart because the first thing he asked me for this morning when that
alarm clock went off, was, ‘Cousin Jess, you got any books I can read while you’re at
work?’” (Hughes, “They Come and They Go” 137-138). The first thing Simple
comments on is F.D.’s color. It makes a difference that F.D. is so dark. The light
skinned blacks were seen as being the better ones and were admired more. The fact
that F.D. is a dark black person, educated, and handsome changes this stereotype.
Hughes wants the black community to know that there really is no difference between
their shades of skin and that anyoneone of them can be seen as handsome and
educated. F.D. is also a very likeable person. Simple, Joyce, and the landladies all
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enjoy F.D.’s company. Joyce even wants to adopt F.D. so that he can be an example to
her and Simple’s children. F.D. also know how to behave himself and work hard. “. .
.he comes home in time to get himself enough sleep to get up and work and play some
more. He does not drink. And he has not taken to dope yet. . . Neither does he smoke
reefers. He says he had rather buy himself some clothes, take his girl to Coney Island,
else mambo with his money”(Hughes, “A Hearty Amen” 161). F.D. is a responsible
young man and knows how to keep himself out of trouble. He is just an all-around good
person who is educated, handsome, hardworking and polite. He desires to learn more
and wants to become cultured. F.D. is a young boy,barely turning 18,and has already
achieved more than what Simple has. He is a person who grew up under less than
desirable circumstances yet was able to overcome those and become and not let that
affect his character. He was able to become this personon his own account. Hughes
uses this to say that if F.D. was able to become this wonderful person on his own, then
the black community should be able to raise their children to be like him so that the
As this perfect black man of the future, F.D. serves as an inspiration to Simple to
also become a better person. Simple sees the potential in F.D. and does not want him
to turn down the wrong path. When F.D. arrives we see a different side of Simple.
Simple takes on a fatherly role and wants to become an example to F.D.. “I will not let a
fine boy like F.D. down. I might even try to meet a few undrinking folks myself-just to
have somebody to introduce F.D. to” (Hughes, “A Million-And One 140). Simple is
willing to change his ways in order to help F.D.. This change under the influence of F.D.
seems to be more comfortable than if it were under the narrator or Joyce due to the fact
that they seem more pretentious and F.D. has innocence. Simple does not want F.D. to
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know about his night life just so that F.D. does not become curious and fall into the path
that Simple has taken. Simple also sees part of himself in F.D which is one of the
reasons he is so willing to help him. “But if somebody had of helped me just a little bit
when I were in my young manhood, I might of gotten somewhere further by now, not
just laboring from hand to mouth. I am going to help this boy, and he is going to get
somewhere” (Hughes, “All in the Family” 145). Simple wants to help F.D. because
nobody ever helped him. He knows that F.D. can be a successful person in the future
and he would feel like he was a part of that. Simple is getting tired of the life he’s been
living and is willing to change and help better the future through F.D.. Hughes is
showing how success is contagious. Everyone sees hope and happiness when they
are around F.D., especially Simple. So as more people become successful like F.D., it
will encourage others to be this way too. Hughes wants for at least one person to make
a change for the future, which will lead others to want change also.
Although Hughes portrays F.D. as the ideal black man, he also leads the reader
to believe that this ideal man is unachievable. F.D.’s story of his trip up north seems
almost too good to be true. He was not expecting to go to New York. He was planning
to join the navy or just run as far as he could, but as he sat outside the train station a
man handed him a train ticket toNew York. It was all by luck that he ended up going to
New York without any problems. Even Simple could hardly believe F.D.’s story. “’If I
had not told so many lies myself in my time, I would believe F.D. was lying’”(Hughes, “A
Million-And One” 137). F.D.’s trip and character all seem like a fantasy making the
possibility of a real person becoming the ideal black man of the future also a fantasy.
F.D.’s story also ends in tragedy when he goes to the army. “’Him and Gloria do not
want to have no children at all until he comes back from the army.’ ‘From the army?’
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‘Didn’t I tell you F.D. got his draft call? Soon as this college term is over, he has to go to
his service’”(Hughes, “Four Rings” 189). Throughout the entire series of Simple,
Hughes critiques the army. In “Income Tax” and “Simple on Military Integration” Hughes
states that there is a problem with Jim Crow in the Army. The black soldiers are
mistreated and given more work than the white soldiers. They are not given the
recognition they deserve for all they put up with. The fact that F.D. has so much going
for him but ends up going to the army takes away all the hope and faith that a normal
black man will ever be fully successful and happy. If F.D., who is so educated,
handsome, polite, and hardworking, can not have a happy ending, how will anybody
F.D. represents the ideal black man of the future. He is the all around good guy
who has everything going for him. He pursues both a job and education and is able to
have fun and get married. F.D. is responsible and understands the consequences of
certain actions. He serves as aninspiration to others and makes them want to achieve
what he has. Although Hughes pushes the black community to make change and to
become better people, he also puts down the hope of anyone ever being able to have a
happy future. Hughes introduces the character of F.D. with so much pride and elegance
as the ideal black man, yet this man is not able to live happily. He has so much
potential but he will probably not get the opportunity to ever reach it.