Is there really anything wrong with the Wallflower Order?

            Mumbo Jumbo, by Ishmael Reed, takes a very unique and critical view of western civilization, and claims that as we move away from our roots and focus on the advancement of technology and so-called “progress,” we lose some of our human spirit. It suggests that we live in an almost “Brave New World-esque” culture, devoid of passion, in which any sort of spontaneity or excitement, such as that embodied by Jes Grew, is not only frowned upon, but feared. This opposition to Jes Grew is led by the Wallflower Order, an organization that seeks to keep Jes Grew in check and maintain order in society. In the book, Reed portrays this Wallflower Order as the villain, and those who welcome Jes Grew, such as PaPa LaBas, as heroes. In my opinion, however, Reed’s argument goes a little too far.

Consider, for example, his description of the headquarters of the Wallflower Order in Chapter 17. “You have nothing real up here. Everything is polyurethane, Polystyrene, Lucite, Plexiglas, acrylate, Mylar, Teflon, phenolic, polycarbonate. A gallimaufry of synthetic materials. Wood you hate. Nothing to remind you of the Human Seed” (62). To begin, this idea of the “Human Seed” has the same problem as the slogan “Make America Great Again” – during the time of the Human Seed, we were hunter-gatherers who had to fight tooth and nail for survival, and we never had time to develop the culture of music, dance, and art that Jes Grew represents. It was only through technology and developments in agriculture that we were able to amass a surplus of food, giving us enough free time away from the fields to start the wave of Jes Grew. Secondly, the “gallimaufry of synthetic materials” Reed lists deserves praise rather than criticism. Just as the ancients used the resources they had to build buildings out of wood, we are using our resources to build buildings out of the most effective materials possible. Indeed, there is nothing natural about living in a wooden house – hypothetically, if we told some aliens that we sheltered under a plant cut into a bunch of pieces and stuck together with mud, they would laugh. We built wooden houses for millennia, however, simply because they were the most prudent and effective form of shelter. Similarly, our current buildings are made out of the best materials we have at our disposal. Whether these are synthetic or not is a non-issue, and while we don’t hate wood, it would be unwise to use it, given that we have better materials at hand.

The end of this description, from my point of view, is just as shortsighted. Reed says that “the Atonists got rid of their spirit 1000s of years ago with Him (…). Death will have taken over. Why is it Death you like? Because then no 1 will keep you up all night with all that racket dancing and singing. The next morning you can get up and build, drill, progress putting up skyscrapers and … and … and … working and stuff. You know? Keeping busy” (62 – 63). First of all, the idea that we work just to “keep busy” is ridiculous. I’m sure that Reed enjoyed his work as an author, and that he didn’t write Mumbo Jumbo just to keep busy. Indeed, many people are truly passionate about their work, and they get the same surge of excitement from reading a thought-provoking article or making a surprising discovery as one might get from catching Jes Grew. I find it extremely naïve to say that just because someone doesn’t show their excitement on the outside by singing or dancing, they have no spirit and are essentially dead. The second half of Reed’s statement, where he criticizes “progress” as being pointless, and says that doing things like building skyscrapers is progress solely for the sake of progress, is just as bad, but perhaps excusable. Reed wasn’t to know when he wrote the book in 1972 that the modern analog of Jes Grew is a result of technology, and that the discoveries of those soulless Atonist scientists he just adores would lead to something called the internet, to YouTube, to iTunes, and so on. Indeed, in hindsight, we see that it was actually the “progress” so loathed by those who got caught up in Jes Grew that led to music being so widespread in this day and age, and that opened up the western world to cultures all across the globe.            Mumbo Jumbo, by Ishmael Reed, takes a very unique and critical view of western civilization, and claims that as we move away from our roots and focus on the advancement of technology and so-called “progress,” we lose some of our human spirit. It suggests that we live in an almost “Brave New World-esque” culture, devoid of passion, in which any sort of spontaneity or excitement, such as that embodied by Jes Grew, is not only frowned upon, but feared. This opposition to Jes Grew is led by the Wallflower Order, an organization that seeks to keep Jes Grew in check and maintain order in society. In the book, Reed portrays this Wallflower Order as the villain, and those who welcome Jes Grew, such as PaPa LaBas, as heroes. In my opinion, however, Reed’s argument goes a little too far.

Consider, for example, his description of the headquarters of the Wallflower Order in Chapter 17. “You have nothing real up here. Everything is polyurethane, Polystyrene, Lucite, Plexiglas, acrylate, Mylar, Teflon, phenolic, polycarbonate. A gallimaufry of synthetic materials. Wood you hate. Nothing to remind you of the Human Seed” (62). To begin, this idea of the “Human Seed” has the same problem as the slogan “Make America Great Again” – during the time of the Human Seed, we were hunter-gatherers who had to fight tooth and nail for survival, and we never had time to develop the culture of music, dance, and art that Jes Grew represents. It was only through technology and developments in agriculture that we were able to amass a surplus of food, giving us enough free time away from the fields to start the wave of Jes Grew. Secondly, the “gallimaufry of synthetic materials” Reed lists deserves praise rather than criticism. Just as the ancients used the resources they had to build buildings out of wood, we are using our resources to build buildings out of the most effective materials possible. Indeed, there is nothing natural about living in a wooden house – hypothetically, if we told some aliens that we sheltered under a plant cut into a bunch of pieces and stuck together with mud, they would laugh. We built wooden houses for millennia, however, simply because they were the most prudent and effective form of shelter. Similarly, our current buildings are made out of the best materials we have at our disposal. Whether these are synthetic or not is a non-issue, and while we don’t hate wood, it would be unwise to use it, given that we have better materials at hand.

The end of this description, from my point of view, is just as shortsighted. Reed says that “the Atonists got rid of their spirit 1000s of years ago with Him (…). Death will have taken over. Why is it Death you like? Because then no 1 will keep you up all night with all that racket dancing and singing. The next morning you can get up and build, drill, progress putting up skyscrapers and … and … and … working and stuff. You know? Keeping busy” (62 – 63). First of all, the idea that we work just to “keep busy” is ridiculous. I’m sure that Reed enjoyed his work as an author, and that he didn’t write Mumbo Jumbo just to keep busy. Indeed, many people are truly passionate about their work, and they get the same surge of excitement from reading a thought-provoking article or making a surprising discovery as one might get from catching Jes Grew. I find it extremely naïve to say that just because someone doesn’t show their excitement on the outside by singing or dancing, they have no spirit and are essentially dead. The second half of Reed’s statement, where he criticizes “progress” as being pointless, and says that doing things like building skyscrapers is progress solely for the sake of progress, is just as bad, but perhaps excusable. Reed wasn’t to know when he wrote the book in 1972 that the modern analog of Jes Grew is a result of technology, and that the discoveries of those soulless Atonist scientists he just adores would lead to something called the internet, to YouTube, to iTunes, and so on. Indeed, in hindsight, we see that it was actually the “progress” so loathed by those who got caught up in Jes Grew that led to music being so widespread in this day and age, and that opened up the western world to cultures all across the globe.