Jes Grew and Its Symbolism
Although Jes Grew is presented as a sickness in Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo , the illness can be seen as a tool to symbolize the greater view of change and society’s views on change, especially when it comes to that related to culture. Ishmael Reed begins to set up this parallel by presenting Jes Grew to us in a specific manner at the beginning of the book. Sure, Jes Grew is supposed to be this terrible, highly contagious disease. However, the infected are simply caused to dance, something that we very much associate with happiness and joy. Just think about it; when was the last time you full-out busted a move when you were miserable or ill? It leaves the reader wondering, is Jes Grew really such a horrible thing? It even makes it comedic for there to be an entire organization, the Wallflower Order, trying to stop this disease. It makes us focus on the real thing the Wallflower Order is trying to combat, which is the Black culture brought along with jazz, and not just people getting “...