Reed's Depiction of Western Society
Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed presents an alternative viewpoint on Western society. The story centers on Jes Grew, a mysterious and infectious cultural "plague" that is sweeping through America and upending long-held Western customs and traditions. Reed illustrates the strict conventions of Western civilization though Jes Grew's spread while using humor and fictitious aspects to support his claims.
When reading the novel, one can understand Jes Grew's significance as an embodiment of African and African American culture. In Mumbo Jumbo, African and African American culture upset the norms of Western civilization, and Reed employs Jes Grew to illustrate this point.
Through humor and his non-linear writing style, Reed defies established rules of historical fiction while incorporating mythology, fiction, and history into his works. Additionally, the work has instances where Reed interjects his own views and narratives, while also incorporating real historical events to emphasize his argument. The Harlem Renaissance is an example that Reed incorporates in order to emphasize the efforts made by Western nations to erase African and African American culture. It is also used to demonstrate how African and African American culture influenced Western societies literature, music, and visual arts over time.
Mumbo Jumbo explores the idea of "atonism" to describe Western society's obsession with upholding order and control. The Wallflower Order, a covert monotheistic atonist group attempting to halt the Jes Grew epidemic by making an effort to find a "Talking Android" that can speak on behalf of Western civilization and assist in suppressing the spread of Jes Grew. Reed uses the Wallflower Order to show Western society's attempts to diminish cultural diversity in order to maintain a perfectly ordered and maintained society.
Reed doesn't think twice about making fun of religion to make his point, making fun of religious figures and rituals. He also illustrates how Western civilization appropriates cultural practices for personal advantage by using figures like Hinkle Von Vampton, who collaborated with the Wallflower Order to suppress Jes Grew. Because of his fame-obsession and propensity to appropriate and market African and African American culture, he uses culture to his personal benefit. He is used by Reed to illustrate how Western civilization is obsessed with using culture for personal advantage.
Mumbo Jumbo blends together fiction and history in a unique writing style to discuss cultural acceptance in Western society and to understand how culture plays an important role in shaping society.
Alina, wow! I agree with all your points here. Reed's idea of atonism is a little too relevant today... but his andriod is a very lighthearted away of emphasizing the west's obsession with appropriating cultures while suppressing it at the same time. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree that the Wallflower is a really big symbol for Western Civilization, and the ways that it attempts to maintain its power by suppressing other groups. I also liked that you mentioned Von Vampton's attempt to appropriate and assume black culture, which is very prevalent in western civilization.
ReplyDeleteAlina! Such a good blog. Hard agree on all the points here, I definitely agree with your interpretations of Atonism and the wallflower order, they are a strong parallel to western society's tendencies to suppress other groups. Overall great work champ!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you comment on Reed's use of humor throughout the book. I agree that it's definitely an example of African culture "upsetting" the norms of Western civilization. It's especially evident in the scene where Papa LaBas is looking at Abdul's "amusing lampoons" and Reed compares Western and African humor.
ReplyDeleteFantastic post, Alina! Your different take on Reed's writing style and satirical criticisms illustrates a unique purpose for the chaotic novel called Mumbo Jumbo: it discusses "cultural acceptance in Western society" and comprehends culture's significance in directing societal change. Your mention of Reed's intentions behind the Wallflower Order are also intriguing. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you emphasize Reed's humor in this novel--as we were discussing it in class, I couldn't tell whether I was the only one finding some of this stuff riotously funny, in addition to being dead serious about the larger issues. I often compare the narrative style to a cartoon in class, and I think of how cartoons both reflect reality but distort it and make it funnier and more strange, often with a satirical *point* behind the distortions. And one of Reed's main points seems to be that Western Civ generally takes itself too seriously, or isn't good at laughing at itself. Hinckle might be a ludicrous and unrealistic cartoon of a "villain," but it can be very effective, rhetorically, for Reed to puncture the pretensions of Western culture through this depiction. And there's also a core element of "laughing at himself," too--some readers are surprised by how much this book also lampoons or satirizes aspects of the Harlem Renaissance (especially its patrons and the larger social scene around it).
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