Summary
Chapter 13
At home, Earline is rather cheerful. She looks at the paper—what is going on with Haiti, she wonders?—and takes a bath.
Berbelang enters the residence, and she scoffs that he has the nerve just to say hi after being gone for three days. He tells her he can tell her more soon, that Jes Grew is just an old man’s dream. Before she can start to defend LaBas, Berbelang kisses her and they make love. After she is asleep, he leaves.
Chapter 14
Hinckle Von Vampton looks like the 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse as painted by Blake. He works in the copy room of the New York Sun, which is the Atonist voice.
In A.D. 1118, Hugues de Payens conducts a ceremony before the Temple of Solomon to found the Knights Templar. They are like a “Squad for Western Civilization” (56).
*
Hinckle comes home from work at the Sun and finds his room a mess. He asks his housekeeper but she knows nothing.
He thinks of when, centuries ago, the Knights’ reputation grew. They were hard and militant, protecting the Temple and saving the Second Crusade from the infidels.
Chapter 15
The Atonist order demands the Sun devote a certain number of inches to the glorification of Western culture. This morning the managing editor is meeting with higher-ups to figure out what to do about Jes Grew, which has reached Chicago.
The editor is particularly infuriated because of an error in publishing a story on what is going on in Haiti, and someone points him to Von Vampton.
Von Vampton is lost in thought about the private castles of the Knights.
Chapter 16
The managing editor yells at Hinckle Von Vampton, telling him they had orders from the Occupation Forces that no news of the war would come out but he pushed through a headline of “VooDoo Generals Surround Marines at Port-Au-Prince” and now it is everywhere.
Hinckle disdainfully curses him, saying he is “as boorish” (58) as his newspaper. He is “as lurid as your every page” (58) and his inaccuracies will destroy those whom he purports to want to save. Red in the face, the managing editor explains that they were not to put things in the paper Americans cannot understand or things that get in the way of White Man’s Destiny.
Hinckle espies his cufflinks, which are a Knight in armor wearing a Red Cross on his breast. When the managing editor says he got them around the corner, Hinckle casually states he is a desecrater as well as a defiler. He moves to stab the man, but others rush in and intervene.
Hinckle leaves gladly, dignified in his gathering of things. Out on the street, he smiles hearing the boys hawking the title of the story he passed through.
Chapter 17
Hinckle Von Hampton is not upset at all that he is unemployed. Rather, he is free and did what he set out to do—now the Order must turn to him.
*
That evening he attends a lecture at the Knights Templar building. He is honored by those in attendance, and sits on stage as a lecturer speaks of the illustrious past.
Back in his home that evening, the landlady giggles as she spies on him whispering words of praise to a little black doll with curly hair.
*
The next morning he is leaving his home to get money to pay his rent when he is accosted by men who jump out of a car and whisk hum away at gunpoint. They bring him to the headquarters of the Wallflower Order, where everything is plastic and clear and fake. The Atonists “got rid of their spirit 1000s of years ago with Him” (62), Von Hinckle thinks. His mind turns to the problems of Jes Grew, the Mu’tafikah, and Teutonic Knights making a mess of things.
Chapter 18
The Wallflower Order’s headquarters is bustling with activity. The Hierophant 1 is pacing, watching the progress of the pandemic over multiple video screens. He knows Jes Grew is compounded by the Mu’tafikah, which has targeted numerous illustrious institutions and taken their prized objects. There is also the issue of the newspaper publishing the news of the war launched against Haiti, which was done by the Order to attack the miasmatic source of Jew Grew. But now it is a symbol of resistance and dance mania still inundates the land. The Order knows what Jes Grew is and what it wants, and that they will have to use an astrodetective to deal with it. They have to use something up-to-date to curb it, and all will be lost if it gets into the radiolas and Dictaphones. Thankfully, the Hierophant 1 thinks, his scientists are working on microorganisms, minuscule representations of himself that can survive any atmosphere, and a Spaceship that can send him there.
He thinks he must get his hands on Jes Grew’s hunger, that text in the hands of one of the discredited Knights Templar members. His thoughts are interrupted by Hinckle being shoved into the round revolving room. In the room is a map, showing species count. There are also markings of Jes Grew’s path, some of which is in Europe but most of which is here. On a wall are the Atonists’ symbols, the Flaming Disc, the #1, and a creed about not dancing.
Hinckle asks boldly why he has been removed from the city, and the Hierophant replies that they traced the Sun article to him and they know he possesses the nourishment that Jes Grew feeds on. Hinckle smiles, saying now that the Teutonics have failed they need the Templars to help. The Hierophant sighs that yes, times are dire: young men wear slave bracelets and recite Black poetry and women smoke and stay out late. They must have the Text, or they will be rubbed out.
Hinckle gleefully struts around the room, not even deterred by the ritual dagger that is brought in. He says frankly he does not have the Text and they should have thought of this long ago in 1307 when King Philip IV and Pope Clement brought charges against his order. The guards watching this exchange looks, as no one speaks to the Hierophant like that.
The Hierophant replies that they had to bring them to trial because their Order was so powerful it threatened theirs, and they cannot share power. He was given his orders and had the king and people execute them. All the charges were proven, of course, and they had to do it or else there would be no Christendom.
Hinckle Von Vampton scoffs at this, saying their Christendom was for peasants and serfs and underlings. They tried to arrest the Knights but some escaped and came to America where he has been able to hold it together. The Hierophant orders the guards out and asks blatantly where the Text is.
Hinckle laughs scornfully and says that he should have known that the rivals of Atonism would not be quelled by their being educated, that they would still retain their paganism and could purge Atonism. The Hierophant’s eyes brim with tears and he begs for the Text. Hinckle replies that it is in the hands of 14 individuals in Harlem, and only he can bring it together. For now, it is dispersed.
The Hierophant wrings his hands, realizing this is true. Hinckle tells him that if Jes Grew is seeking the Text he will help, and if it is not he also can, but on the condition that his Order is given charge of the 2nd phase and the 1st phase and can redeem their name before the world. When the Hierophant refuses, Hinckle shrugs that Jes Grew is headed toward New York because it knows the Book is here. The Hierophant cries out that he wins and that the Knights Templar can be in charge of the anti-Jes Grew serum.
Pleased, Hinckle says he will collect the Text and burn it. He will create a Talking Android to shore up resistance. He will do so by beginning a magazine that attracts its followers with lurid stories. His Android will tell the Jes Grew followers that it is derivative, pandering to Whites, and will describe it as a “massive hemorrhage of malaprops, illiterate and given to rhetoric” (70). And he will do all of this in six months or will imbibe the sacred poison. The Hierophant is satisfied and says his people will help, and hands him the Black Book, and also says that if they are successful then they can be in charge of the next crusade of World War II.
Hinckle prepares to leave but asks for the old Templars’ chant first. The Hierophant is reluctant but Hinckle insists, and all the men gather and toast to Beascauh, the Templars’ 1st piebald horse.
Chapter 19
Hinckle Von Hampton moves into a new home. The next day he calls Hubert “Safecracker” Gould, who is impressed by Hinckle’s plan to embarrass the Order. Hinckle tells him the Templars are also exonerated and he has a plan.
Chapter 20
At the newspaper office of the Sun, word spreads that Hinckle Von Hampton is downstairs and is on his way. Hinckle and the executive leadership pass by the managing editor, who is dumbstruck. That night, the editor resigns.
Chapter 21
Hinckle’s magazine, The Benign Monster, is on its way to infamy. It is avant-garde, offensive, prurient, fun, lurid. Now it is time, Hinckle thinks, to get a Negro Viewpoint.
Chapter 22
Woodrow Wilson Jefferson is at the offices of the New York Tribune, asking to meet Marx and Engels. The men there are in stitches, but Jefferson walks out, head held high. He will find them, he thinks. Walking through Greenwich Village he sees a sign asking for a Negro Viewpoint.
When Hinckle sees him and hears that his experience is having read all 487 articles written by Marx and Engels, he salivates and tells Jefferson he has the job. He knows that he is the perfect candidate because he doesn’t mind the shape of the idol as long as there is only one.
Hinckle tells Jefferson his office will be in the rear of his estate, Spiraling Agony, and while he will be a columnist he also may need to perform other duties.
*
In a few months, Hinckle Von Hampton has familiarized himself with Afro-American literature. He writes the 14 people sending the Text about, though none have yet responded. He still plans to burn it or have the Talking Android let out its steam. He has interviewed three people for it, but they declined it, not thinking they’d be strong enough to resist Jes Grew.
Hinckle has the guise of a Ngrophile, a patron of the arts and a controversial publisher. He goes to many notable Negro parties and is very well-known in such circles. Right now he is sitting and eating what Jefferson has brought him, tiny snakes and crocodile eggs. He thinks of Jefferson and how he wishes he’d avoid the Marxist-Engelian clichés. He is satisfied with Jefferson’s column but it does not seem to have enough razzle-dazzle.
Jefferson enters and Hinckle thanks hm for his work. Jefferson is pleased to hear this. Hinckle tells him there is something they must discuss, and that he is smarter than the readers and should enliven his writing with a bit of scandal. Jefferson agrees and says he will be writing about these nasty plays by Wallace Thurman. Hinckle asks why he would be against that, as their magazine might any issue show a nude woman or talk of dancing. It has already been banned as pornography in Boston. Jefferson shrugs that he will be contradictory as long as he does not have to go back to the farm.
Hinckle looks at him more closely, thinking he is a marvelous example of something surprising—a Black Pragmatist. He is too dark to be the Android, which is a shame. But he shows how White talking out of Black can work better than mulattos can to curb Jes Grew activity.
Before Jefferson leaves, Hinckle brings up Abdul Sufi Hamad, of whom Jefferson says writes stirring, apocalyptic poems and is going around telling people he is compiling an anthology that will upset the nation because it is about Jes Grew.
This is staggering news to Hinckle, who gasps out more questions. Jefferson says it has hieroglyphics and strange drawings and only 14 people have seen it and a crazy White man pays them all to send it around. Hinckle is flummoxed and blames his odd behavior on old war pains.
Hinckle tries to change the subject, asking about the Harding election and how Negros feel about it, but when Jefferson replies that Harding is called the Race President and went to a Rent Party, Hinckle faints.
Chapter 23
The Mu’tafikah are meeting in a basement building near Chinatown. They have been very active carrying out excursions into hallowed museums and collection and reaping a harvest of their countrymen’s stolen work. White students and intellectuals help them.
Berbelang, Yellow Jack, and Thor Wintergreen are waiting for Jose Fuentes to arrive. When he does, the four spread out a map of the Center of Arts Detention and start to plan out what they will take from each room. Thor is surprised at the magnificent pieces there and is eager to help, but since he is white and the son of a rich tycoon, some of the group give him a hard time and do not trust him. Thor protests that he is not like Cortez and Balboa and the conquistadores, but Fuentes tells him he will always “carry them in your blood as I carry the blood of Montezuma…the costumes may have changed bit the blood is still the same, gringo” (86). Berbelang tells Fuentes to leave the boy alone, as he is the only one who can get into a museum without arousing suspicion.
Yellow Jack suggests that the North American Africans are docile because all the strong ones were left behind in South America, and that the South Americans actually fight invaders. Berbelang springs at him, but then desists, saying they can argue later but have to work on this plan now.
Berbelang leaves the building, wanting to call Charlotte to ask for a favor. Thor follows him and says that if he is just going to cause trouble maybe he should leave. Berbelang chides him for wanting to jump ship now that it is a little rough. He speaks of the mission to be the West’s desecrators, to send loot back to where it was stolen and wait for the rise of Shango, Shiva, and Quetzalcoatl.
Thor tells him earnestly that he is in agreement with all this, but Berbelang sighs that he isn’t. He invites Thor to sit and eat something, so they settle in a diner. Berbelang speaks of Faust, who was a real person, eventually seen to be a supernatural being and one who gains wealth and prestige. A Black man visits him and strange drums are heard and people wonder if Faust is dead. They all say the Black men have collected, and this is the “nagging notion of the Western man” (91). Ultimately, Faust was a charlatan and knew he was one.
Furthermore, Berbelang continues, the Atonists crushed all knowledge of other forms of spirituality and religion, and they must infuse Jes Grew into society, and into Thor. Thor sighs that this is a lot of responsibility, and he is just an individual. Berbelang replies that he hopes that there is not a racist soul, a “piece of Faust the mountebank residing in a corner of the White man’s mind” (92). He stands and says he has to get back to the basement.
After Berbelang leaves, the waiter, who has been giving the two the side-eye, says disgustedly he does not know how he can mix with Black people. Thor tells him coldly his father owns this dining chain, and the man is quickly chagrined.
Chapter 24
Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty faces the newsreel cameras and microphones and speaks boldly of how threatening Jes Grew is to the nation. He delivers a plague edict along with his warnings.
It becomes a federal crime to dance in Washington D.C.
Analysis
In this section we meet Hinckle Von Hampton, whom we immediately realize is not all quite…there…and who we realize by the end of the novel is one of the original Knights Templar, his life prolonged by some grotesque means. Reed writes him memorably, saying he “resembles the 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse as depicted in a strange painting by William Blake” (55). While sartorially and verbally elegant, Hinckle still has a whiff of decay, of the zombie (“he daubs his 2 faint pink lines where lips should be” [79]). Like many of Reed’s other characters, Hinckle is based on a real figure: Carl Van Vechten, a white writer, intellectual, and self-appointed bard of Harlem in the 1920s. His novel Nigger Heaven (1925) was a celebration of Black life, but its controversial title overshadows any merit it might possess. He was very much the “Negrophile” Reed describes Hinckle as, and while he obviously wasn’t a centuries-old monster, he was and is a problematic figure. In a New Yorker profile of Van Vechten, Kalefa Sannah writes that “Decades later, Ralph Ellison remembered him as a bad influence, an unsavory character who ‘introduced a note of decadence into Afro-American literary matters which was not needed’ and “in 1981, the historian David Levering Lewis, the author of a classic study of the Harlem Renaissance, spoke for many when he called 'Nigger Heaven' a 'colossal fraud,' an ostensibly uplifting book whose message was constantly upstaged by “the throb of the tom-tom.” He viewed Van Vechten as a hustler, driven by “a mixture of commercialism and patronizing sympathy,” and "treated the novel as a quaint artifact of a less enlightened literary era: the scribblings of a former hipster who no longer seemed very hip.” Reed brings all of this into his character of Hinckle, poking holes into the façade of the white Harlemite who hobnobs with the Black elite and thus thinks he can speak for Black people.
Turning to Hinckle’s role as a Templar, the Templars of Mumbo Jumbo are not the heroes the West commonly depicts them as; rather, they are rapacious, thuggish, and cruel, desirous above all of propping up Christianity and the Anglo-Saxon. Their present-day goal is to destroy the Text of Jes Grew so that Jes Grew itself will evaporate, but Hinckle has also savvily orchestrated a plan to bring the Templars back to prominence within the Atonists, as they were nearly destroyed by the Order. This entails taking the Text, which he actually did possess, and splitting it up among 14 men in Harlem. He is the only one who knows who they are and where the Text is, which is what he tells the Hierophant when he calls Hinckle before him to demand the Text. Hinckle hopes he can have his cake and eat it, too—he can destroy the Text, but only after the Hierophant realizes he needs him and elevates the Templars to their former place of prominence. Unfortunately for Hinckle, as Jefferson unwittingly tells him, Abdul Hamid has somehow collected the entire Text and is translating it.
While essentially working towards the same goal of eliminating Jes Grew, the Wallflower Order and its leader, the Hierophant 1, are depicted very differently than the Templars and Hinckle. The headquarters is sterile and plastic, diffused with a brilliantly unbearable light, and filled with busy, loyal employees all dedicated to their task of “progress putting up skyscrapers and…and…and…working and stuff. You know, keeping busy” (63). Reed is very interested in setting up binaries but then revealing how even within those binaries there are divisions: W. Lawrence Hogue writes, “in the Jes Grew/Atonist binary, Atonists are not monolithic; they have differences. In Reed's invented myth of Osiris, the Atonists are not represented as the same. The Knights Templars, one of the military Christian orders during the Crusades, were killed by the Teutonic Knights because the Templars had attained too much power and were threatening the power of the hegemonic Teutonic Knights. There is difference among the Atonists. Perhaps Reed illustrates this diversity amongst the Atonists best with Biff Musclewhite and Thor Wintergreen. Within the Atonist Path, Thor is considered better than Biff…Here, Reed is defining Atonist history not only as one of dispersion, but also as one that has been represented by hegemonic Atonists as unified. Also, Reed in Mumbo Jumbo undermines the white/black binary, and thus defines African American history as one of dispersion. Reed also problematizes the white/black binary by showing how blacks and whites can be both Atonists and followers of Jes Grew [Abdul, most critics suggest, is actually an Atonist–my note]. He implies indirectly that racial categories are not inherited racial essences or biologically defined, but are culturally and socially constituted.”
Readers also learn more about what is happening in Haiti in this section, something alluded to a few times in the prior set of chapters. First, a bit of background info about the situation Reed is dealing with: the Wilson administration sent Marines into Haiti in 1914 after several years of instability and assassinations of Haitian leadership, but this was done primarily to secure American assets and preclude German influence in the country rather than to assist the Haitians in forming a stable, self-determined government. According to the State Department, “The U.S. Government also forced the election of a new pro-American President, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave, by the Haitian legislature in August 1915. The selection of a President that did not represent the choice of the Haitian populace increased unrest in Haiti. Following the successful manipulation of the 1915 elections, the Wilson administration attempted to strong-arm the Haitian legislature into adopting a new constitution in 1917. This constitution allowed foreign land ownership, which had been outlawed since the Haitian Revolution as a way to prevent foreign control of the country. Extremely reluctant to change the long-standing law, the legislature rejected the new constitution. Law-makers began drafting a new anti-American constitution, but the United States forced President Dartiguenave dissolve the legislature, which did not meet again until 1929. Some of the Gendarmerie’s more unpopular policies—including racial segregation, press censorship, and forced labor—led to a peasant rebellion from 1919 to 1920.”
That background is only the barebones of the story, constituting what Reed wants to deconstruct with his work. He writes in Mumbo Jumbo that “The Wallflower Order launched the war against Haiti in hopes of allaying Jes Grew symptoms by attacking their miasmic source. But little Haiti resists. It becomes a world-wide symbol for religious and aesthetic freedom” (64). He has the New York Sun, an arm of the Atonists, state outright that they were trying to keep this news from the public. Reed is clearly trying to explode any notions of America’s legitimacy and rightness on the world stage, and placing Haiti in the 1910s and 20s squarely amidst a larger narrative of Black and White, East and West, Polytheism and Monotheism.
