Mums

Today in class we talked about how women in Mumbo Jumbo are treated as less than fully developed characters. This especially bothered me in the scene where the mothers of school children confront “Safecracker” Gould. It went by pretty quickly so here’s the whole scene for reference:

“Just as LaBas and Herman and their assistants, the 6 unidentified men, and T Malice reach the door, it opens and in walk some proletariat Black women and their little children. The little children point to Hubert “Safecracker” Gould, author of a children’s anthology, 1 time carpetbagger, now “radical education expert” and former charter member of the Knights Templar known by this esteemed body as “the Caucasian blackamor.”

            That’s him, that’s the man, mommy, a pigtailed little girl cries, pointing out Hubert “Safecracker” Gould. He took our homework and hung around the school playground, taking down everything we said on a recorder.

            The mamas rush across the room and commence bamming Hubert “Safecracker” Gould all about the arms and legs with their umbrellas.

            No! Wait, sisters! Black Herman cautions, let us have him before you jump on him, we’ll take care of the child molester, be assured.

            Someone may call upon your children to give accounts of his deeds but for now we’ll take care of him.

            Black Herman, one of the mothers warns, wagging her finger in his face, you’d better do something with this man or else it’s going to be me and you.

            Gratified that they will receive justice, the women leave the house.” (196)

There’s a lot of potential here to portray the women as strong independent people since the scene begins with them seeking justice. They are seeking justice on behalf of their children so their power is somewhat limited to the traditional female sphere but they are still taking control of a situation in a way that other female characters in the book do not.

But instead of portraying the women’s search for justice as powerful and positive, Reed undermines them. They “rush across the room,” their actions are sudden, and they do not seem to have a plan or a goal. Being beaten by a bunch of women with umbrellas would hurt, but Reed’s choice of the verb “bamming” suggests less harm. That they beat Gould “all about the arms and legs,” instead of, say, in the face, further suggests that the women aren’t even capable of properly beating up Gould. The manner of their sudden arrival and descent on Gould and then ineffective beating seems almost comical.  Reed might even be mocking the powerlessness of these women.

Not only does Reed make the women powerless, he also makes them fine with that. The women happily turn over the responsibility for exacting justice to Black Herman and LaBas without an argument. Herman merely says “we’ll take care of him” and the women do not receive or ask for any further explanation of why Herman is there or what they are specifically going to do to Gould. The women trust Herman and LaBas immediately while the men inside the house at the party get to question them and receive answers. One woman does threaten Herman, but her threat is vague and she leaves without a question.  Given that Benoit Battraville’s presence in New York is something of a secret, Reed doesn’t even give her an opportunity to check in with Herman and carry through on her threat. The worst part though, is that the women all leave quietly after Herman calls Gould a “child molester,” something not included in the list of grievances the women have against him. Even if Herman means that Gould has molested children by stealing their homework, you would think that if some creepy guy had been hanging around your children and someone called him a “child molester”, you would want to know more about it. But the women just leave, “gratified” that the men will take care of it for them.