There are a number of younger characters who appear throughout Mumbo Jumbo. Though their plot lines widely vary, nearly all of them show an inability to commit to the pro-Jes Grew movement as they are easily tempted and distracted by Atonist culture. This largely negative portrayal of young adults clearly conveys Ishmael Reed's skepticism towards the ability of younger people to fully dedicate themselves to a movement.
The clearest and most obvious example of this moral weakness appears in Thor Wintergreen. Though he initially comes across as extremely devoted to the Mu'tafikah, he caves immediately once he starts talking to Biff Musclewhite. Musclewhite basically reconstructs Thor's entire belief system in a matter of minutes by reintroducing the Atonist beliefs that Thor has unintentionally internalized. In this scene, Reed is essentially saying that because Thor is young, he doesn't know what he wants and is therefore easily manipulated.
Some more cases of Reed's undermining of the strength of young people's beliefs lie in the stories of Charlotte and Earline. Charlotte, originally interning with Papa LaBas, is quickly pulled away from him by the temptations of mainstream Atonist culture and life. She joins a minstrel show and moves into a fancy apartment, living a decidedly more glamorous life than when she worked for Papa LaBas. Earline doesn't even believe in Jes Grew until the end of the book, despite being deeply involved at the Mumbo Jumbo Kathedral. Reed is almost satirizing Earline here, as she doesn't even care about what she's working for.
Overall, Reed paints these younger characters in a negative light, therefore discrediting younger generations.
The clearest and most obvious example of this moral weakness appears in Thor Wintergreen. Though he initially comes across as extremely devoted to the Mu'tafikah, he caves immediately once he starts talking to Biff Musclewhite. Musclewhite basically reconstructs Thor's entire belief system in a matter of minutes by reintroducing the Atonist beliefs that Thor has unintentionally internalized. In this scene, Reed is essentially saying that because Thor is young, he doesn't know what he wants and is therefore easily manipulated.
Some more cases of Reed's undermining of the strength of young people's beliefs lie in the stories of Charlotte and Earline. Charlotte, originally interning with Papa LaBas, is quickly pulled away from him by the temptations of mainstream Atonist culture and life. She joins a minstrel show and moves into a fancy apartment, living a decidedly more glamorous life than when she worked for Papa LaBas. Earline doesn't even believe in Jes Grew until the end of the book, despite being deeply involved at the Mumbo Jumbo Kathedral. Reed is almost satirizing Earline here, as she doesn't even care about what she's working for.
Overall, Reed paints these younger characters in a negative light, therefore discrediting younger generations.
Good point. I was thinking about Thor, Earline, and Charlotte's flaws in terms of race and gender, but you can totally see this as a critique of their age. And that ties into the final scene, where the 1970s college students trivialize Papa Labas and ignore his message. Again, the younger generation of rebels don't respect the deep, thousand-year-old struggle that they're fighting.
ReplyDeleteSeems a little weird from a book supposedly about youth culture and movements - what would you call the spread of jazz but the actions of young people devoted to the very social change that Reed seems to be denouncing them for?
I agree, the younger characters in Mumbo Jumbo are seen as flakey. I am not sure if I support Reeds depiction of young people. While I do think we can be flakey and move from one thing to another very fast, we also do start trends and social movements.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting as I never thought about how all the characters that were portrayed to have weak will were also young. In class, we mainly focused on the fact that many of the weak-willed characters were white, but now that I've read your post, these does seem to be a pattern in that many of these characters are also young. This is an interesting topic because I'm not completely sure what Reed's point of doing this was, whether it was intentional or not, what his views on young people are, etc., but it does seem a bit contradictory towards his theme of Jes Grew and what it represents. In class, we talked a lot about how people categorize only some types of art as high art, and the art that is often pushed off as low-quality is the art that is enjoyed by young people. Given this context, it doesn't make much sense that Reed would seemingly take a stance against young people, because it seems that they also play an important role in the spread of Jes Grew.
ReplyDeleteYour consideration of Thor's youth is interesting (and Berbelang is the same age, they were classmates together, but he remains a principled character who dies for his cause). Indeed, Reed seems to be tapping into the idea that Thor's dalliance with black culture is a form of youthful rebellion against his father and his inherited privilege ("I'm not my father," he pleads to Berbelang), a "phase" he's going through that he'll outgrow. In the context of your discussion, Musclewhite calling him "son" throughout can be read as a kind of father-figure calling him back to the comforts of whiteness--to put away these childish things and "grow up."
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