Mumbo Jumbo’s Alignment to Reality
Mumbo Jumbo’s Alignment to Reality
Mumbo Jumbo seems like a really fantastical, nonsensical book, however its contents are a metaphorical and satirical representation of our real world. Jes Grew, and all the elements that go with it, are a representation of black culture and its movement throughout the US. Every element from the dancing to the rituals to the cult-like representation by its opposition matches the way black culture has been treated in America and most of the west. The name Mumbo Jumbo itself gives us an immediate indicator. Mumbo jumbo is defined as nonsense in the English language, however it is actually a figure from an African religious practice (Reed 7). This is similar to the two sides of the spectrum and their beliefs on black culture. While white people might find the cultural movements to be silly or unimportant, they have real meaning to those within the groups that they belong to, therefore giving them legitimacy. However, similarly to the book, white people used their power in society to twist the meaning of words and beliefs to their will by changing their meanings.
We see this power exerted through the pushback against Jes Grew by the Wallflower Order and other atonists. These people have firm beliefs that Jes Grew is hurting the country and needs to be stamped out, actively working against those within the Jes Grew movement. A specific instance of this that shows their need to attack the movement from within is their quest to find a talking android. They search far and wide to find a black person willing to speak against the movement and dissuade people from joining it, but no one takes the bait. They instead take this opportunity to put someone in black face, making them pretend to be black while saying things that align with atonist thought (Reed 116-117). This is similar to the instances throughout history of people trying to frame minorities in a certain way by using a member of their community to convey the popular ideals.
It’s interesting to see these parallels because it gives the book a depth that is unexpected. Additionally, Reed is able to take liberties with his representations of real problems and frame them as he pleases without backlash through the use of satire. I think this book would spark a lot of criticism if it was biographical, but because he has made up his own storyline that mimics the events of real life, he is able to give a different perspective to a story that has been told so many times throughout history from only one bias. We saw an event that matched the elements of this book in real life through the 2016 NFL halftime show. Beyonce performs, celebrating 50 years of the Black Panthers in a very cool way, and immediately the atonists in the real world, Fox and Friends, attack her for it. They find all kinds of ways that she is hurting society through this performance, nitpicking even the smallest details. We are able to see why this dynamic with the spread of Jes Grew and the atonists is so relevant to real life from stories like this, because black culture is seen as a threat in the real world for no real reason.
Work Cited
Reed, Ishmael. Mumbo Jumbo. Scribner, 1972.
I think this is a really interesting exploration of the themes of the book, and I especially like how you highlight how white culture has devalued other cultures and refused to see the sense and meaning in them, and has used their mainstream power to shift meanings.
ReplyDeleteYou say the book would stir up (even more) controversy if it were biographical; as it is, the story is only metaphorically true. If the story were bigoraphical, in what way would it be so? Do you mean that the secret societies of Atonists would actually be real in the literal sense that they control Kongress, therefore embedding us in the world of Mumbo Jumbo, or do you mean that PaPa LaBas would be a real VooDoo practitioner who caught a real fraud doing blackface, or do you mean something in between the two?
Hi Praachi, I that Reed purposely was flaunting the rewriting of history to anger a certain group of people who stand firmly by their religion and or eurocentric world view. I definitely agree that white culture has historically attacked and put down other cultures. I was pretty impressed by how Reed was able to find the double meaning within Mumbo Jumbo and make it relevant to his story, or who knows maybe he made it up as another one of his see what I can do moments.
ReplyDeleteYou nail a key strategy of Atonism, according to Reed, when you refer to white culture generally dismissing voodoo culture and Black culture in general as "silly and unimportant"--the POSTURE is one of dismissal, of feigned confusion and exasperation at how incoherent and ludicrous this music or this dancing might be. But at the same time, this apparent dismissal conceals a real sense of threat, the sense that this cultural incursion is *dangerous*. The grown-ups have dismissed the trends that the kids are into as silly and unimportant for generations, but there's a particular hysteria, a particular sense of moral panic, when we look at the "threat" posed by white kids responding positively to and taking part in Black culture. In Reed's view, the surface-level dismissal as "silly" is a front for a much deeper anxiety, and we see this throughout the novel: "once these kids start dancing to that jazz music, they'll be lost to us forever, it will be the End of Civilization as We Know It," etc. If it was just silly and unimportant, they wouldn't feel so obviously threatened by it.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you connected Mumbo Jumbo’s satire to real-world examples like Beyoncé’s performance; it really makes Reed’s message feel current and powerful. I agree that the way white society distorts and redefines Black culture, just like the term “mumbo jumbo” itself, perfectly catches the novel’s theme of cultural misunderstanding and control.
ReplyDeleteHi Praachi! I agree that Mumbo Jumbo is very connected to our world, and I think you draw some very interesting comparisons between the two. I definitely think there are modern versions of the talking android with certain people going against their own safety/comfort just to conform to what the people in power want them to do. I think this is a really interesting topic, and you did a really good job connecting Mumbo Jumbo not just to the real world, but the modern world!
ReplyDeleteHey Praachi!! Your point about atonists making something out of nothing is such an important point to the story. They perpetuate such an intense case of confirmation bias for really no reason, and if the atonists were willing to just hear another side, the so-called "mumbo jumbo" would start to make sense. I think ignorance is such a big roadblock that atonists aren't very willing to rid themselves of. Great work!!
ReplyDeletehiii praachi! I really like how you started off acknowledging that some people may dismiss the very real cultural movements. I found the fact that people will weaponize minorities against their own groups very interesting. This detail and others, like different biases, complicate Mumbo Jumbo. I really enjoyed your analysis and think you made an amazing blog :)
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