Random Bombing Chart in Mumbo Jumbo

I was going to write a post on the chapter 52s and about how their version of history compares to traditional Egyptian and Greek mythology as well as our understanding of history today, but while reading over that passage again I noticed something extremely odd. Just a few pages into the chapter, there is a diagram about the US bombing campaigns during WWII, the Korean War, and the Indochina War. There is seemingly no reason for it to be there, as there is no mention of the United States or any of those places, nor anything to do with bombs altogether in the surrounding passages. It just appears out of the middle of nowhere in the middle of LaBas’ story. The interesting thing is that all of its data seems to be correct. There’s nothing to suggest that it has any relation to what is happening in the story, so why is it there? Its exact placement is also very interesting, as it is placed between the introduction of Osiris and the introduction of Set, and their different values and ideas. All of these wars also include the Soviet Union, usually as the main opponent to the united states. Now this may be a bit of a stretch, but perhaps Reed is trying to portray Set and Osiris as the United States and the Soviet Union and suggesting that the Cold War is somehow an extension of the eternal conflict between Atonism and Jes Grew. With the United States representing traditional Atonism while the Soviet Union represents something closer to the ideas of Jes Grew. This would also explain why Reed couldn’t openly state this, as he was writing this book in the midst of the Cold War, where anything that could be interpreted as pro-communist could land you in jail. I mean, what if Reed was secretly a communist? He couldn’t come out and say it for fear of serious repercussions, but it would make sense. His criticisms of western culture and capitalism, and his focus on the idea of giving back to the community and helping each other. I know that might be going a bit too far down a rabbit hole, and with Reed you never know if it could just be something that he added for no reason, but I think it’s an interesting thing to consider. Let me know what all of you think, why did Reed decide to add in this chart? (pg. 163) 

Comments

  1. KeshavMarch 5, 2020 at 1:04 PM

    I really like this observation, as I skipped over the diagram entirely. I thought it was an irrelevant detail that might have been a stronger reference to something during 1975. The way you framed this as a Cold War conflict interests me because it was a very relevant conflict when the book was written. Also, Marxism was created in a European country, and Reed describes it as the secularizing of other parts of Atonist ideology. Perhaps he is against both capitalist and communist governments, which both have Atonist origins. However, even with these observations, I still do not know why Reed would include this chart in the first place.

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  2. Sarah H.March 5, 2020 at 1:15 PM

    I think while reading Mumbo Jumbo it was really easy for me to skip over the images in the novel because I could never make an immediate connection to the content. I like how you brought up how this image could be interpreted as a critique on the Cold War. However, I'm a little hesitant as viewing the communist side as Jes Grew because as Keshav mentioned above Reed is against Antonist ideology. Maybe this chart could be anti-war? Especially now that we're reading slaughterhouse 5 I wonder if Reed's pointing out the insanity of war.

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  3. Ethan AshbrookMarch 6, 2020 at 6:42 AM

    Good on you for bringing up the photos in the book, since they seem like they could be important parts of the novel that we all just kind of skimmed over. I have to agree with you that the chart does seem to be playing into the Jes Grew metanarrative of history, but I'm not entirely sure I agree with the "Jes Grew" force being the Soviets here. At least with what little I registered when I looked at the diagram, I saw it as mainly the U.S.'s attack capacity against smaller, less developed, or particularly "Non-Western" countries (kind of a stretch with WWII, but still). And even if these Eastern countries were backed by the Nazis or Soviets, it still follows the concept of the United States using its muscle to assert its own capitalist virtues and ways of living on these smaller countries. The fact that the Indochina War's tonnage was still growing demonstrates that the American Atonists aren't losing ground, and that the battle of Western vs. Non-Western culture was still going very strong and ever more destructive.

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  4. spolonus282March 11, 2020 at 8:01 PM

    I feel like the connection could be made the other way around, with the United States representing Jes Grew with all of its "freedom," and the Soviet Union representing Atonism, as Atonism was described as being industrial, control-oriented, etc. However, the inclusion of bombing amounts for the United States throws this through a loop, as it puts the United states in a bad light. I think it's a stretch to say that Reed was a Communist, as this book wouldn't support those ideas, even on the sly, but he certainly holds something against America.

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  5. Anya Kaplan-HartnettMarch 12, 2020 at 12:51 PM

    Thanks for explicating this image! I like the idea that the Cold War dramatizes conflicts around the Atonist viewpoint, but I would argue that both the US and the USSR exemplified Atonism in markedly different forms. Marxism may aim for equality for all, though ultimately it becomes another form of totalitarian government that restricts citizens' personal liberties. The Soviet Union was also really into cultural and religious control, so I can't quite see that regime supporting a spontaneous movement such as Jes Grew. But it's interesting to consider different forms of Atonism and their manifestations in the Western world.

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