Simple Stakes A Claim

"'Then he walked off, mad with me for not being proud of him for being proud of himself for keeping me out of decent schools all these years where I should of been going all the time until he let me in. But I see nothing for me to proud of in going where I ought to have been. Do you?'

'Most decent people feel that great victories have been won,' I said.

'Do you mean to say then that I ain't decent?' asked Simple

'I don't know what to say about you,' I said

'Did I ask you to say anything?' asked Simple"

--from "Great but Late" by Langston Hughes from the Simple Stakes A Claim collection