What is Jes Grew?
Throughout the novel, I found myself asking the same question over and over: "What is Jes Grew?" At first, I interpreted Jes Grew as a way of life inspired by the long-lost text that everyone is searching for. People suddenly began to groove to the jazz music that swept New York City and New Orleans. I thought these people started to just groove uncontrollably and that this new wave called Jes Grew was the mentality of "forget everything and just groove to the music." I later discovered that Jes Grew symbolizes grooving to the upbeat tempo of jazz but also describes this movement. In 1974, Ishmael Reed spoke at the Brockport Writers Forum in Brockport, New York. He discussed some of his works, including Mumbo Jumbo. During the discussion, Reed alluded to the meaning behind Jes Grew. He made a connection to the ragtime era of American history, which I found especially interesting. Reed speaks of ragtime as something that had no fabricated origin; it simply "ju