The Significance of Charlotte and Pick’s Performance in Mumbo Jumbo
Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo has many characteristics that indicate its alignment with historical writing practices despite being a fictional novel, including the inclusion of imagery, citations, and a partial bibliography. Another one of these practices involves his use of parentheses to add further input to certain details and events he describes. One parenthesized instance I found particularly interesting was the explanation of Charlotte and Pick’s play. In the story, within a plantation house, Peter Pick, “impersonating a cunjah man”, summons Charlotte by reciting the words of a magic book and starts to make love with her, only to realize that this summoning has caused bloodhounds to start approaching (43). He tries “to send her back to where he conjured her” by asking the angel and devil, who just happen to be passing by, to read the words, but these attempts are unsuccessful (43-44). Ultimately, Charlotte reads the words and Pick disappears as the bloodhounds are within yards of them, ending the performance (44). In a later chapter, Pick visits Charlotte’s apartment to hesitantly suggest a change to the stage routine, to “upside-down the plantation” by switching their roles (Charlotte doing the summoning and Pick making her disappear in the end), and Charlotte agrees (104). However, in the ending, we see that Pick has transformed from a successful actor with many awards (104) to “a white-haired, ragged beggar” who begs PaPa LaBas for money, notably exclaiming that Charlotte “vanished into thin air” and “flew away like a delicate, white bird” when he said the words (199). Upon the mention of Doctor Peter Pick in this ending, I was reminded of the play and found myself formulating questions about it. What is the significance of this performance in relation to other events in the book? What is with Pick’s exclamation that Charlotte “flew away like a delicate, white bird” (199)?
One probable explanation is that this performance serves no further significance than to characterize Charlotte and Doctor Peter Pick in their acting careers and to introduce Biff Musclewhite, who’s observing the play, to Charlotte (44). As for Pick’s exclamation, he was simply spewing nonsense due to his insanity regarding his situation. After all, anyone would go insane after being consumed by grief (for Charlotte) and poverty, especially after initially being successful (104).
However, I believe that this performance may have more meaningful connections to other events in the story. One somewhat abstract, yet potentially plausible theory is that this performance serves as both a foreshadowing of and a parallel to Moses’ adventure to the Temple of Koptos. The most prominent indication of this theory is shown in Musclewhite’s thoughts on the play: “So this was the Charlotte his friends, Masons in the know, at the Caucasian lodge talked about. Her apartment where one was initiated into certain rites. They were calling it the Temple of Isis. The rites, it suggested, were of a sexual nature” (44). Musclewhite’s mention of the Temple of Isis in this quote could be interpreted as a hint towards how the events of Charlotte and Pick’s performance are parallel to the interactions of Moses and Isis in chapter 52. This parallel is demonstrated further with Pick’s bird exclamation, as Moses’ adventure also contains aspects of birds. Isis’ hair is depicted as “giant black-bird feathers”, and Moses comments how he hopes “the bird handles [him] gently” (180-181).
Hey Felix, thanks for the post. I agree - Ishamel Reed's usage of the performance to mythologize Biff Musclewhite and the performance sets the scene for the later narrative of Moses and the Temple of Koptos. There are certainly more blurry connections to ponder over, but Reed's connections seem deliberate nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected the play with Moses and the Temple of Koptos, that was something I never would have thought to think about if I hadn't read your blog post. Despite the unanswered questions in your theory, I think that your right in that Reed intentionally wrote Charlotte and Pick's performance as something that parallels and hints towards Moses' adventure in the Temple of Koptos.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very subtle connection - I definitely did not see that. The connections and parallels Reed makes in Jes Grew to various religious texts is something that should warrant a lot of analysis, and the symbolism here, particularly with the birds, is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis analysis of Charlotte and Pick's performance shows the potential parallels to other events in the book. Through the angel, devil, and bloodhounds in the play, as well as the symbolism of Charlotte as a white bird, adds a certain type of depth to the story that makes it more captivating. This a very interesting post. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteHi Felix,
ReplyDeleteNice job narrowing down to a specific event. This event completely flew over my head while I was reading the book, and it's clear that Reed includes this depiction with purpose. The performance and Moses' adventure in the Temple of Koptos definitely have much in common, but it raises more questions than it answers. Nevertheless, I think this would be a great topic for diving deeper.
Good eye, noticing Pick at the end of the novel--we didn't really talk about this aspect at all in class, and it's easy to be confused about who that guy is. I remain confused about a lot about this play, although I can see how it draws on minstrel traditions while also utilizing some of "the Work" that LaBas has been promoting. Remember when Charlotte claims she's going to share some stuff she's learned at the MJ Kathedral with the director, and LaBas warns her about cheapening the Work by exploiting it commercially. This "conjuring" they are playing around with, it's strongly implied, is REAL and is actually having an effect of some kind.
ReplyDeleteThis event was one of many things I struggled to understand when reading. However, now that I'm reading the connection you've pointed out, it makes a lot more sense and justifies its inclusion in the book. Still a bunch more to think about, though, and I might reread this section and try to figure out the significance of other details later. Cool post!
ReplyDelete