The Set and Osiris Story
In Mumbo Jumbo , as in many detective novels, the climactic scene appears as an exposition, where the reader is shown exactly who the murderer is, and the detective explains why and how the murderer committed their crime. In Reed's deconstruction of the detective novel, the reader already knows that Hinckle Von Vampton is guilty, but the "unmasking scene" is still used to explain his motive. The story jumps all the way back to Ancient Egypt, where it describes the King of Egypt, Osiris, and his jealous brother, Set. Osiris is a Prince, and instead of caring about "princely" things, he focuses more on his education. There, Osiris learns agriculture, and with agriculture comes dance. Osiris becomes a master of both these dances and of agriculture, and so when he becomes King, he teaches this "civilization" to the people of Egypt. They love it, but Set is enraged by the dancing and farming. He wants the people of Egypt to be cannibals, and to go back to...