What is "The Work"?

While plenty Jes Grew related topics receive somewhat scarce explanations, few come up as much as the work. It's a central part to the Moses story arc, it's used by both Papa LaBas and Black Herman, along with others in the past. The work shows up all over, and is in essence any expression of the supernatural done by a practicioner of the Osirian religion. But is there a solidly defined work?

That's a harder question to answer. For one, we see the work done in different ways. Moses uses his own destructive version of the work, causing massive damage to Egypt and showing how destructive practicing the work with the left hand can be. On the other hand when the work is practiced properly, with the right hand of course, it can bring good results. Causing the healing of Earline, being believed partially responsible for the knockings, as well as other beneficial aspects of Jes Grew.

On the one hand, life and the growing of living things / nature are all aspects of Osiris. On the flipside, destruction and death are more Set-esque. Most noticeably is the presence of both of these sides within the work. Could this suggest some kind of balance or compromise between Set and Osiris years ago? Maybe the work could transcend both of these gods, as it is clear Osiris was up to some magical things all those years ago. Maybe Osiris was the first practitioner of the work, rather than its creator, and the work is just some supernatural force we'll never understand. Who knows?

Coalhouse vs. Mumbo Jumbo

In class, the idea of the "New Negro" as it appeared in the Harlem Renaissance was brought up. Now writing a blog post around one book is nothing new, but it gets spicier when you start to compare  concepts that span different books. In this sense, I want to connect Coalhouse Walker Jr. to the world of Mumbo Jumbo, and see how he would fit in it? As it stands, I'd like to see how our 2 protagonists compare to Coalhouse, Berbelang and Papa LaBas. Before we get to Coalhouse, we should focus on the differences between Berbelang and LaBas. The former seems to be deeply concerned by the "Jes Grew Epidemic", while the latter has no qualms  "Jes Grew"

With this in mind, even Papa LaBas is considered to be an old school character or atleast old, so how exactly would he embody a "New Negro"? For one, the new negro during the renaissance was considered to be "with it". Dressing nicely, being respectable, but also expressing their connections to Africa as well as their Blackness in general.

By this vein, one could consider "Jes Grew" as an experssion of blackness. It comes from Jazz, a black music form, involves the expression of one's emotions through dance, as well as it being considered an illness by white people in the book. Thus, I'd consider one's stance on Jes Grew indicative of their status as a new negro or not.

With that, how would Coalhouse view Jes Grew? Well, as a ragtime musician, I'm sure he'd be more than supportive of its successor. In a sense Coalhouse was a "New Negro" before his time, holding pride in the black ragtime artist in his time. Now on that note, what would one consider Berbelang, if not a New Negro?