56 pages • 1 hour read
The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem
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Chapters 17-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Later that morning, Bubber Brown walks down the streets of Harlem in a good mood. The song “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You” is playing, and he soon feels uneasy. He walks to the police station but decides to walk past it. Near an apartment building, he sees two men get in a fight over a woman and the woman’s man shoots the other. This disturbs Bubber, who then walks back to the precinct and reflects that this is the second death he’s seen. He remembers the sight of the death moon and the superstition about moon signs.
He enters the precinct to talk to Jinx and is permitted to see him by the lieutenant. Bubber tells Jinx that he saw two murders and that he is sure he will see another one. Jinx says that Bubber betrayed him to save himself from jail, but Bubber tells him that he kept himself from jail so that he could use his detective skills to free Jinx. Though Jinx is doubtful and worried that his assault charge will imprison him for 20 years, Bubber promises to find evidence that Frimbo’s assistant attacked Frimbo by the following day.
Chapter 18 Summary
In the late morning, Dart arrives at Dr. Archer’s practice. He admires the physician’s laboratory equipment, and Dr. Archer begins to explain conducted blood tests, including tests for blood typing and differentiating animal blood from human blood. He also explains the differences between individual people’s blood and the role of antibodies. He allows Dart to look at some red blood cells he collected. Dart notices the cells gathering, and Dr. Archer explains that in a different serum, blood cells would be attacked and eradicated.
Dart realizes that Frimbo and the corpse are different people, and Frimbo is now a suspect in the case. They also conclude that Jinx might not be the killer. Dr. Archer says that they must keep this revelation to themselves until the following day, and he must meet with Frimbo later for their biology discussion to avoid suspicion. Dart admires Dr. Archer’s great work and tells him he should have been a detective. He replies that he does detective work in his own way as a doctor, investigating and solving diseases that endanger people. Dart is concerned that Frimbo will suspect that Dr. Archer knows about the differences between his blood and the corpse’s and try to kill him. However, Dr. Archer assures him that Frimbo will not be able to get rid of him so easily.
Chapter 19 Summary
Dr. Archer looks at his revolver in one of his drawers as he prepares to leave his house for Frimbo’s. He closes the drawer, however, and leaves for Frimbo’s house without it. At Frimbo’s house, they quickly bond over Herbert Spencer’s classification system, other biology topics, and the relationship between psychology and physiology. Frimbo says that they must acknowledge the existence of the mental state to blend psychology and physiology. When Dr. Archer tells him that he thought he was a mystic, he explains that everything in which a person has complete faith is mysticism.
Dr. Archer says if he were a king, there would be no more disagreements. Frimbo then reveals that he is the king of a territory called Buwongo, near Liberia, though his brother had been ruling since he traveled to America. He explains that he was excited by the strangeness and challenges of urban life in a foreign country. He then tells a story about traveling to a town in Buwongo with his father when he was 12 and preparing for a feast. At this feast—a feast of procreation—he witnessed a ritual in which young girls and a man danced around a fire. The ritual concluded with the man and a girl dancing around the fire holding an infant, the man leaping over the fire, and then the girl leaping over the fire with the infant and delivering it, unharmed, to Frimbo and his father.
The story amazes Dr. Archer, who finds the danger so unlike what he has witnessed and experienced in his life. Frimbo then explains that Dr. Archer’s life has not been without struggle and conflict due to his education journey and career. Dr. Archer is astounded by Frimbo’s knowledge of his life. Frimbo replies that he can learn about one’s past, present, and future by looking at their face, and the future is determinable by its relationship with the present and past. However, different orders affect the past that people are bound to, but Frimbo is not. This explanation puzzles and impresses Dr. Archer, and as he returns home, he reflects that Frimbo took complete control of their meeting.
Chapter 20 Summary
Following the jail visit, a dejected Bubber walks around Harlem. He goes to Henry Patmore’s pool room and sees Spider Webb, who is still angry that Bubber brought the police to take him as a suspect in Frimbo’s case. Bubber then gambles and wins money from the other players, including Spider. Another regular, Red Williams, warns him that Spider told Tiger Shade about Bubber’s win and that Tiger wants the money. Bubber collects his money and leaves, but Tiger soon follows him. Bubber manages to distract him and runs to Dr. Archer’s house.
There, the husband of the woman who hired him the previous night walks out the door. The woman beat him, and he tried to see a doctor. However, because it is Sunday, no doctor will see him. The two men exchange stares before Tiger appears. Bubber accuses the husband of taking his money and runs to Frimbo’s house. The husband tells Tiger that he did not take the money and that he is also after Bubber. The two then follow him into the house.
The undertaker’s rooms unnerve the husband, but Tiger dismisses him. They also hear singing, a song about death that sounds otherworldly. Tiger lights a match, and the two find a body under a sheet, which seemingly rises after the match goes out. This scares them both, and they run out of the house. Bubber was under the sheet, and with his pursuers gone, he gets up and walks down into the basement. There, he sees light and notices the singing coming from there. The singing then stops, and he hears a church group talking. He realizes that there is a church meeting there.
He goes to the cellar while the church group prepares to leave. He investigates the furnace room but finds nothing. As he prepares to leave, he hears a sound and hides. He sees Frimbo, who takes something wrapped in oily paper and throws it into the furnace with a shovel. Bubber notices that it catches fire at an abnormal level and speed. When Frimbo leaves, Bubber uses the shovel to pick up the remains of the paper-wrapped item and takes it to Dr. Archer. Dr. Archer studies it and learns that it is human remains that Frimbo covered and treated with alcohol and kerosene. Dr. Archer tells Bubber that his witnessing the cremation could incriminate Frimbo and help free Jinx.
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
Chapters 17 through 20 increase the conflict within the investigation by implying that Frimbo is hiding the truth. The investigation becomes even more complicated with the possibility that Frimbo is not only different from the corpse but could be the killer himself. At this point, very few of the early established facts remain true, creating suspense and mystery in the narrative.
Frimbo’s revelation that he is an African king and has mastered the ability to control his past adds more complexity to his character. Though Dr. Archer finds himself amazed by Frimbo’s intellect and ability to explain his complex philosophical and scientific ideas, he also concludes in later chapters that Frimbo is paranoid. This leads Dr. Archer to believe that Frimbo might have been involved in the murder. This is seemingly confirmed when Bubber sees Frimbo burn the corpse in the furnace, though this even occurs in the dark basement and therefore draws on that symbolism; parts of the truth remain obscured.
The chapter section also shows Bubber using his detective skills to help free Jinx, though their friendship is not yet repaired. The subplot develops Bubber’s character as he becomes savvier, thinking on his feet to trick Tiger Shade and his client’s angry husband. He also successfully hides and witnesses a crime, in contrast to his earlier failure to remain hidden while investigating his client’s husband’s affair. These scenes ramp up the narrative tension and atmosphere of excitement as Bubber alternately evades detection and is chased by dangerous men. Eventually, this leads to the big reveal of Frimbo burning the corpse and Bubber presenting the evidence to Dr. Archer.
The conflict of Science and Rationality Versus Mysticism and Superstition intensifies in this chapter section. Bubber witnessing a second death when he is walking through Harlem confirms his superstition about the skull moon sign, and he fears that the third death will be his. His fear shows that despite being a mostly rational person, he still believes in mysticism and supernatural elements, especially those he witnesses like Frimbo’s revival and the moon signs. Even if these deaths are a coincidence, the skull moon sign hints at future trouble and foreshadows Frimbo’s death toward the end of the novel.
Superstition also helps Bubber evade Tiger Shade and his client’s husband. Bubber uses the church group’s singing in the basement and a sheet in Crouch’s funeral parlor to scare them into thinking that Frimbo’s house is haunted by a spirit that wants to kill them. The husband becomes scared right away, believing in the supernatural and fearing the mystical enough to discourage him from following Bubber. Though Tiger Shade tries to show toughness, he is superstitious enough to believe that the disguised Bubber is a ghost and that the house is haunted and dangerous. Both men run out of the house in fright, showing the way superstition can leave one vulnerable to trickery.
The theme is also explored with Detective Dart and Dr. Archer’s study of Frimbo’s and the corpse’s blood cells. The clumping in the blood cells convinces Dr. Archer that Frimbo and the corpse are different people and that Frimbo is hiding the truth from them. However, Frimbo also has a scientific explanation for the clumping effect with his blood cells. He explains that Dr. Archer’s serum creates the effect, and when he uses his own serum, the blood cells do not clump. The chapter establishes that while Frimbo is a psychist and holds to determinism and even some elements of transcendentalism, he is a man of science. He also rejects the strict binary into which Dart, Dr. Archer, and many other characters put science and mysticism. He asserts that “Pure faith in anything is mysticism. Our very faith in reason is a kind of mysticism” (165); while the scenes with Tiger Shade and the husband show how the mystical can be used to trick people, Frimbo asserts here that blind faith in science can have the same effect. This statement fascinates and amazes Dr. Archer. Frimbo’s obsession with determinism also plays with the interaction between science and mysticism. Frimbo believes that he is now in control of his past and “that it is possible to escape this order and assume another” (175). However, there is a great deal of ambiguity surrounding his statements; his ability is not explained, and Frimbo refuses to say how he learned to do this. This creates ambivalence around Frimbo’s character as the characters try to determine whether he is trustworthy. His secrecy highlights The Concealment of One’s Self and Intentions.
Blood as a symbol of the truth becomes particularly important with the plot twists in the chapter section. Dr. Archer notices that Frimbo’s blood is different from the corpse’s due to the clumping effect one sample creates in his serum. Dr. Archer explains to Dart that “there are many ways in which one man’s blood differs from another’s” (153-54). He goes on to explain the differences in germs and blood. Here, Fisher integrates his medical knowledge into the text, creating a sense of realism and trust in Dr. Archer’s findings. Because each living thing’s blood is different, the truth about their blood cannot be completely hidden or distorted. Frimbo uses his own serum to challenge Dr. Archer’s assertions, but with the revelation of him burning a corpse, Dr. Archer’s turns out to be correct. As a result, the blood undermines Frimbo’s efforts to conceal his identity and intentions.
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