Darkness and Light
Darkness is pervasive throughout the novel. Consider the following sentence to be representative of the thematic foundation of the novel as a whole: “How does it happen that a devoted church-worker like you, Mrs. Snead, comes to seek the advice of a man like Frimbo, a master of the powers of darkness?” Darkness does not snuff out the light nor does the light always manage to fully illuminate the darkness. The theme is symbolic: a mystery is mostly the state of being in the dark with the light coming only in small, low-wattage lamps incapable of throwing light across the whole room.
Science, Religion, and Magic
The mystery begins as an investigation into the murder of the title character, one N’Gana Frimbo. He is a conjure-man which connotes and denotes the dark arts, but he is also a Harvard graduate. He is killed during a séance, but is a student of philosophy. That devoted church-worker mentioned above is the real deal, a deep-dyed African-American evangelical who seriously believes God can work miracles, but she also seeks out the conjurer of the dark arts. If not clear before, this should establish even more firmly that the novel is predicated upon the concept of darkness and light not being entirely oppositional but working in conjunction with one another. As for the science: Dr. John Archer is a vital companion to homicide detective Perry Dart in their attempt to solve what proves to be an even more impossibly fecund demonstration of how the dark and the light work in the world than is expected at first. Suffice to say that all is not necessarily what it at first seems; Archer finds another unexpected comrade-in-arms relative to scientific study. A very unexpected comrade, indeed.
Harlem in the Depression
Why is a brilliant physician able to spend so much time investigating a murder rather than dealing with his practice? Well, for one thing it is the beginning of the Great Depression. For another, it is Harlem. Combine the two and for perhaps the only time in American history, being a doctor was not a guarantee of being economically stable. If Archer is perhaps the darker symbol of the potential of Harlem not quite living up to expectations, Perry Dart is his counterpart in the light: the first black police officer promoted to detective. The sublime Mrs. Aramintha Snead manages to avoid becoming a stereotype of the black religious fanaticism while Doty Hicks is not your average drug addict. Spider Webb has too great a name to simply be another low-level Harlem mobster while Bubber Brown exceeds his unfortunate name to represent the desire to overshoot potential: he fancies himself a detective, but lacks rather much of the tools necessary to succeed. Harlem in the 1930’s is vital and alive and on display throughout and the possibility that was the Harlem Renaissance from which the author was writing is singularly incarnated in the person of N’Gana Frimbo, the conjure man who is absolutely nothing he seems to be. Nothing he seems to be.
