One of the best things about Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed is the way Reed leaves the book so open ended. He intentionally uses weird grammar and syntax yet having no way to explain what they mean or what they imply. Reed brings up characters with no real meaning then leave us hanging by giving us no explanation as to why he put them in there. The characters' names are very weird and yet again, Reed offers no explanation as to why. I'm here to offer some solutions and test some theories out!
It almost seems as if Reed picks out really weird names in his book. There were multiple points in a reading where I stopped to pick up my phone and google something. To my amazement, every single thing I googled was true. On page 156, Reed references a man named Hepplewhite who made furniture. Sure enough, there actually was a man named Hepplewhite who made cabinets and he even has a wikipedia page. On that same page, I also fact checked Lackawanna New York and Countee Cullen. I'm not sure if I'm just uneducated but those were real things too! I've come to the conclusion that Reed picks the most unusual people and places to put into his book. While I may be uneducated in black culture, I feel like a place called Lackawanna is still a weird name to have.
On another thought, I was skimming through page 157 and noticed how weirdly sarcastic Reed is. For example, he uses a lot of exclamation points and prolongs some of his words. Specifically, "On one side of her is Hinckle Von Vampton and on the other... the Talking Android!!". Reading this in my head made it sound really sarcastic. I wonder if Reed is trying to mock white supremacists/Atonists by using such grammar. I haven't found an instance where Reed does this with the Mutafikah or main POC characters and I'd be curious to see if anyone else has. If not, this totally changes my perception of the book and Reed.
On another unrelated thought, yesterday I brought up in class the way Reed uses names of main characters in the books to make fun of them. For example, all the Atonists have names that somewhat reference strength or purity, like Thor and Hubert "Safecracker" Gould. Safecracker almost sounds like a white person (cracker) who is safe from justice or jurisdiction from what he does to black people (safe). With Thor, I think Reed makes fun of him by naming him after a really strong Norse God who is almost invincible. However, Thor succumbs to white supremacy by Musclewhite which completely goes against what he's named after. This brings up another weird name, Musclewhite. Musclewhite uses his muscles (persuasion) to show Thor that white supremacy is "good" and "better" which plays off the "white" in his name. Let me know if you have any other ideas!
It almost seems as if Reed picks out really weird names in his book. There were multiple points in a reading where I stopped to pick up my phone and google something. To my amazement, every single thing I googled was true. On page 156, Reed references a man named Hepplewhite who made furniture. Sure enough, there actually was a man named Hepplewhite who made cabinets and he even has a wikipedia page. On that same page, I also fact checked Lackawanna New York and Countee Cullen. I'm not sure if I'm just uneducated but those were real things too! I've come to the conclusion that Reed picks the most unusual people and places to put into his book. While I may be uneducated in black culture, I feel like a place called Lackawanna is still a weird name to have.
On another thought, I was skimming through page 157 and noticed how weirdly sarcastic Reed is. For example, he uses a lot of exclamation points and prolongs some of his words. Specifically, "On one side of her is Hinckle Von Vampton and on the other... the Talking Android!!". Reading this in my head made it sound really sarcastic. I wonder if Reed is trying to mock white supremacists/Atonists by using such grammar. I haven't found an instance where Reed does this with the Mutafikah or main POC characters and I'd be curious to see if anyone else has. If not, this totally changes my perception of the book and Reed.
On another unrelated thought, yesterday I brought up in class the way Reed uses names of main characters in the books to make fun of them. For example, all the Atonists have names that somewhat reference strength or purity, like Thor and Hubert "Safecracker" Gould. Safecracker almost sounds like a white person (cracker) who is safe from justice or jurisdiction from what he does to black people (safe). With Thor, I think Reed makes fun of him by naming him after a really strong Norse God who is almost invincible. However, Thor succumbs to white supremacy by Musclewhite which completely goes against what he's named after. This brings up another weird name, Musclewhite. Musclewhite uses his muscles (persuasion) to show Thor that white supremacy is "good" and "better" which plays off the "white" in his name. Let me know if you have any other ideas!
I agree. I think the grammar that Reed uses is super weird, but in your example, it helps prove his point. It reminded me of a quote about the Jes Grew texts on page 47: "Their writings were banished...or sprinkled with typos as a way of undermining their credibility." If the Wallflower Order added these typos that make Jes Grew texts sound bad (assuming that this is a Jes Grew text), that further highlights the failures of the Atonists.
ReplyDeleteTo add on to your observation, I believe that Reed's exaggeration of names helps present the Atonist characters in the book not only as two-dimensional, but their beliefs as well. For example, when Biff Musclewhite persuades Thor that as a white man it is his duty to continue the "great history" (of oppression, etc.) we see that Biff's reasoning for his Atonist views are as two-dimensional as his role -- an enforcer in the center for art detention.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what really confused me? There is both a Talking Android and an actual Android! It took me a couple chapters to realize that they weren't the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThe names throughout the novel are very interesting, especially those of the white people! I feel like giving the Atonists these weird names sort of goes along with Reed's goal to make us view them as ridiculous.
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