My Thoughts on Mumbo Jumbo

        Mumbo Jumbo is absolutely the craziest, most confusing book I have ever read in my entire life. If you thought reading Beloved was hard, just wait until you read Mumbo Jumbo. I felt like there was just too many characters and details to keep track off. Plus, the author doesn’t actually use correct grammar or anything which only adds to the confusion. The only thing I really actually liked about this book was how the author was able to tie everything together in the end.
        The hardest part about reading this book is the grammar. There is hardly any commas and absolutely no quotation marks around the dialogue. This is not a book that you can just sit down, relax, and enjoy. Reading this book takes a lot of focus and a lot of work. For the most part, I was able to get the general idea of the chapters, but I don’t think I could really summarize them for anyone. I definitely do not recommend reading this book on your own. Without our daily class discussions, I would have been completely lost and would have missed a lot of important details. I also hated that the author purposely spells things wrong, or uses the number one to replace the worked “one”. Part of me felt like I was reading somebody’s text messages.
        Had this book been a little easier to comprehend, I might have a favorite character or two. The plot itself was so hard to understand that I didn’t really have time to think about characters I liked. I could barely keep all their names straight. The worst part was the ending of the book, when Reed decided to wrap everything up. There were so many new names and plot that I didn’t really follow it all that well. I got the broad idea of it but again, I couldn’t really explain it to anyone that asked me to.
          If I were to recommend reading this book, I would highly recommend that you be prepared to read it more than once before you truly understand what is happening. I think that if I were to reread Mumbo Jumbo, I would be able to catch more details and understand it’s meaning better. Overall, it is a very cool, interesting book, but you must be willing to do some critical thinking before reading it.

Coalhouse Walker vs Bigger Thomas

        Last semester in African-American literature, we read a book called “Native Son”. This book

was about a man named Bigger Thomas who, out of fear, accidentally murders a white girl. I see

some similarities and some differences between Bigger and Coalhouse. They both do something to

white people that they “aren’t supposed” to do. But, Bigger Thomas runs away from his problem,

while Coalhouse Walker embraces and uses it to his advantage. Both of these characters know a

white person who is trying to help them get through their present situations.
     

          Bigger Thomas accidentally murders Mary Dalton to prevent someone from finding him in her

bedroom. At this time, it would’ve been detrimental for Bigger to be found alone in a white woman’s

bedroom. Coalhouse Walker blows up fire stations, then takes hold of J.P. Morgan’s library.

Obviously, this makes Coalhouse look like a serious threat, and he becomes a wanted man. Both

Bigger and Coalhouse are in major trouble with the law, but Bigger committed his crime accidentally,

while Coalhouse intended to hurt people.
       

        After committing his crime, Bigger Thomas immediately runs away to hide, while Coalhouse

makes a scene to make himself more visible to the public. I think this difference is due to the fact of

why they committed these crimes. Because Bigger committed his crime by complete accident, he

doesn’t want, nor is he mentally ready, to go to jail. Coalhouse commits his crime to send a political

message to the white race. He wants to tell society that he will not stand for their treatment of him,

and he is ready to die for his cause.
       

          During Bigger Thomas’ time between arrest and death, Jan comes in to help him through the

trial. Jan wants to help Bigger even though he murdered Jan’s girlfriend, Mary Dalton. For Jan, this

would be a very radical move in the 1940s. A white man did not usually help and stand up for a black

man. Coalhouse Walker lets Mothers Younger Brother join his radical group. Younger Brother is a

white man who, in the early 1900s, wanted to advocate for black people’s rights. This is also

practically unheard of to do back then, as a white man.
       

           Bigger Thomas and Coalhouse Walker may seem like completely different people, but they

actually have quite a few similarities in their stories.