Talking Androids!

 A persistent theme throughout Mumbo Jumbo is Von Hampton’s search for a “talking android,” a prominent figure capable of swaying the black population to reject Jes Grew. The search for a suitable talking android throughout the novel stands to ask the question: What are the ideals/morals that black people hold in America? and additionally, how much does Jes Grew define African American culture.

In Von Hampton’s search for the android, Reed introduces numerous characters. It is here that readers can get a sense on what the criteria for the android is. The android has to be an intellectual, some sort of respectable scholar so that it can be taken seriously. Pivotally, the talking android differs in that it cannot just be an Uncle Tom figure subservient to white people. The android must be almost obnoxiously “black” in its prose; Hampton rethinks W.W. as a candidate for his boring language, the android must be subtle in its rejection of black culture. As the novel goes on, as a factor of Hampton’s increased desperation, requirements for the android get progressively more arbitrary; W.W. is too dark to be an android (80) or Nathan Brown is not smart enough (100). Hampton continues to tolerate more flaws in android candidates until Gould is chosen, a 1000 year old man in blackface. All the candidates differ drastically in their writing style, it is hard to say what Hampton is looking for, perhaps this is because it is hard to say what black people will listen to. As Nathan Brown sarcastically quotes, “All Coons Look Alike to Me,” there is no standard for the colored experience (117). 


On the nature of Jes Grew, representing black culture, it is hard to believe that a talking android would be able to hinder it. W.W. 's initial entry in the Benign Monster becomes unpopular and controversial, Gould’s Harlem Tom Tom’s sways only the Guianese critic. Jes Grew is ended when its text is revealed to be destroyed. It is reduced to nothing when Labas is unable to procure the Book of Thoth, the text that would explain Jes Grew’s path forward. The flaw in the Talking Android was that Von Hampton had to create it himself. Abdul Hamid may have been a perfect Talking Android, but in the irony that is so prevalent in postmodernist literature, Von Hampton has him killed in an effort to find the Text, in an effort to define the culture.

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