2. Define the form and function of one of Mumbo Jumbo’s more complex and sustained components.
In examining Mumbo Jumbo’s pretext, its symbols and the author’s allegory, I take as my point of analysis the concept of “Jes Grew” which is in fact, a criticism of the Western culture and system. Within the novel, Jes Grew is a virus that is rapidly spreading throughout the country and causes anyone who is infected to dance, listen to music, sing, and be happy for no apparent reason. It similarly causes people of different race to not only dance with one another, but also to bond with each other. This virus is personified by blues and jazz music. The epidemic started in Harlem and is said to be spread by African American artists who were referred to as “Jes Grew Carriers”. While this virus does not in any way cause harm to those who are infected, many people see it as a plague that needs to be stopped. Hence, secret societies such as the Wallflower Order, Masons, and the Knights of Templar sought to stamp out Jes Grew in an attempt to preserve the glory and order of the Western civilization. In many ways, Reed used Jes Grew as a metaphor to represent and criticise two things. First, it underlines the legacy and importance of the African American culture by presenting an alternative Afro-centric history; and second it stands as a critique to the racist notion of white superiority.
Jes Grew in the novel was used to acknowledge and represent the growing African American culture. Reed’s employment of the “virus” is an allusion to the spread of Black American culture during the Jazz Era and the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s. Also referred to as the New Negro Movement, the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which is characterized by a blossoming of the African American culture. It particularly covers several areas of creative arts such as literary, theatrical, visual, and musical arts. In fact, many scholars refer to this period as “going Black”. Reed describes this in the book as: “Black is out and colored is in… But this was a marvellous thing he had just witnessed” (142). Reed employed Jes Grew in the novel to underline the importance of the African culture, particularly in the formation of the identity of the Western culture. Reed explicitly uses historical events and characters, both factual and fictional to show the origins of Black and White identities. For instance, Reed traced the history of the Jes Grew as well as that of the Atonists back to the ancient Egyptians. Accordingly, the Book of Thoth which is sought by the secret society is based on the assumption that the Black god Osiris travelled around the world and her teachings was brought to Greece and ultimately dispersed in the entire Western world.
Apart from this, the novel presented the influence of the Negroes in the formation of western religion. Using Jes Grew as the primary vehicle, Reed presented an Afrocentric history of religion. In the novel, the author hypothesized that Christianity and the Atonist originated in Black Egypt. The character of Virgin Mary for example, was derived from Isis. Reed also suggested that the worship of Mary was, in fact, a compromise between the “pagans of southern Europe who still believed in the Osiris and Isis cults” and the Atonist. In the same way, Reed identified Egypt’s cultural and religious belief to challenge the West’s religion. For instance, the novel reveals that the Atonists used the character of Jesus Christ, who was only a bokor to distract the masses of its traditional Black-based worship. Through this alternative history, Reed underlined the legacy of the Black race, which in turn has shaped the Western civilization. Through the narrative, Reed similarly rejected the traditional belief that surrounds the uncivilized tribe of Africa; therefore challenging the long-held notion of European civilization, triumph, and glory.
Another interesting aspect that Jes Grew represents is that it eliminates miserable identity of the Blacks due to the hardships they have experienced throughout history. The Jes Grew phenomenon refuses to entertain a sense of struggle which is often related to the history of the Blacks. Rather, it celebrates the cultural energy of the Africans which is represented through the symptoms of Jes Grew which is dance and music. Dancing is a “universal expression of joy” and vibrancy. When applied to the novel, dancing and music rests on the concept of celebration of the glory of the African History. Alternately, the Atonists which detest the dancing symptom of Jes Grew, is in fact an attack to the seriousness and stiffness of the Western culture. This is best expressed by the “creed”:
Look at them! Just look at them!
Throwing their hips this way,
that way, while I, my muscles, stone,
the marrow of my spine, plaster,
my back supported by decorated paper,
stand here as goofy as a Dumb Dora.
Lord, if I can’t dance, no one shall (Reed 65).
The effect of Jes Grew is also used by Reed to represent freedom. Dancing serves as an expression of freedom to express oneself from all the restrictions. At the same time, it enables to person to commune with others. The Atonists movement, through religion controlled the celebratory nature of Osisris’s and created a close-minded perception of the human body. Jew Grew, on the other hand, liberated the people by giving them the power of dance derived from the African expression of faith and praise to their deity. Reed explained this best when he writes:
“Dance is the universal art. The common joy of expression. Those who cannot dance are imprisoned in their own ego and cannot live well with other people and the world. They have lost the tune of life. They only live in cold thinking. Their feelings are deeply repressed while they attached themselves fornlornly to the earth” (Reed 106).
The passage demonstrates the freedom that dance and music brings to an individual. It does not look at the ethnicity or the color of the person. Hence, Reed through the Jes Grew, presented the concept of freedom to individuals that are restricted by race and color.
At the core of this Afrocentric alternate history, Reed’s use of Jes Grew similarly functions as a critique to the racist belief that the White race is superior to the Negro race. Within the narrative, Whites are on a mission of stamping out the virus primarily because it causes people of different race to bond with one another. More than this, the Atonists perceived Black dance form as “low” form of culture. People in the novel are prohibited to dance: “NO DANCING! Signs of huge black letters and exclamations points are posted thoughout the city. Anybody caught doing it! Doing it! Doing it! is a federal crime”. They are alternately warned to “not wriggle the shoulders, shake the hips, twist the body, flounce the elbows, pump the arms, and hop” because “these dances are ugly, ungraceful and out of fashion” (167). Using Jes Grew, the author elevates the African American art forms above European highbrow cultural form. He employed the virus to ignore the White culture and redirect the attention of the reader to the joys and freedom brought about by a Black dance form.
The same racist concept is portrayed in the novel as the white characters are portrayed as superior to the black. Several scenes in the novel are used to depict this racist belief of superiority. For instance, Reed described the Mayor of New Orleans as an important white personality by acknowledging his physical appearance. Another example where a white character is portrayed as “important” is in chapter thirty, where the author introduced Biff Muscle White – “the man who tamed the wilderness” and a much decorated combat officer of World war I, now a curator of New York Center of Art detention and a part-time consultant to the Yorktown police” (107). The list of accomplishments shows that this character is superior not only because of his achievements but also because of his race. Black characters, on the other hand, are depicted poorly. Papa LaBas, for instance, is described as a drunk and is barely given a positive quality in the novel. The same is true for the character of Abdul who is described as a drunk angry militant. Through the characters, Reed presented the racist notion of White supremacy. In many ways, Jes Grew functioned in the novel as the great equalizer. The spread of this virus made all those who are infected, regardless of the skin color, equal. The dancing symptoms of the virus, which infects both Black and White, overthrows the concept of racial superiority and represents a sense of equality and unity among people of different ethnicity and race.
Based on the points provided, it can be concluded that Reed employed several components in the novel to depict, critique, and challenge “systems of reality”. In this case, he used the concept of Jes Grew which is a virus that causes people to dance to explore the problems and traditional beliefs of the Western World. Reed, for example, challenged the very notion and origin of Western civilization and philosophy by presenting an alternate Afro-centric history. The use of Jes Grew in the novel similarly functioned as a critique to the belief that White culture is superior to others. In the same way, the epidemic was used by the author to liberate the people from the restrictive and very limiting worldview propagated by the Whites.