The Conjure Man Dies Literary Elements

Mystery

The novel is set in 1930s Harlem, New York

Third-person narration

The tone is witty and the mood is suspenseful and enthralled.

The protagonist is N’Gana Frimbo while the antagonist is the murderer behind his mysterious death.

A local conjure-man –Frimbo – is murdered mysteriously however he later turns out alive and has to solve his own murder. The cops alongside the detective duo have to solve the same mystery with the available evidence which also incriminates detectives.

The climax takes place when the murderer successfully kills Frimbo the second time as he had initially planned in the basement.

Frimbo’s ‘murder’ that initiates the mystery around the incident foreshadows his eventual death in the same location.

“It is not the first time I have outwitted death, my friend.”

Frimbo understates his murder once he reveals that he is still living contrary to the previous belief.

It refers to the social and economic struggles of black communities in Harlem during the depression illustrating the African-American experience.

“The basement of this house was quite black; its first floor, high above the sidewalk and approached by a long greystone stoop, was only dimly lighted; its second floor was lighted more dimly still, while the third, which was the top, was vacantly dark again like the basement. About the place hovered an oppressive silence, as if those who entered here were warned beforehand not to speak above a whisper.”

"A native African, a Harvard graduate, a student of philosophy—and a sorcerer. There’s something wrong with that picture."

The paradox of African mysticism and western philosophy.

N/A

“The “Frimbo” suggests it, too—mumbo—jumbo”

“A succulent forkful of kale crowded its way in with the roast and potatoes”