Harlem

The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

     Rudolph Fisher sets his novel The Conjure-Man Dies on the streets of 1930’s Harlem in New York City. He calls it “A Mysterious Tale of Dark Harlem” already impressing upon the reader the importance of the dark and shadows within the novel. “The literary genre of the detective story snoops into the “dark side” of the metropolis, transforming it into a place of danger, fear, and angst” (Salzani, 158). However, he begins the novel by describing the “bright-lighted gaiety of Harlem’s Seventh Avenue” which complicates Salzani’s argument by not only exploring Harlem’s dark side but directly contrasting it to the bright and shiny exterior (Fisher, 3). Also, in specifying “Seventh Avenue,” he is creating believability through the use of a real street. Like Noir set in a city of the real world, its actual existence and our preexisting knowledge and familiarity of the area add to our understanding of the mystery. Like Hammett and Chandler, Fisher makes Harlem into a player in the mystery almost as important as Bubber, Dart, Dr. Archer and Frimbo, our detectives. Each detective has a unique relationship with the city, and with the extreme contrasts of its light and dark character, and each in turn brings Harlem to life in their own way.

     Bubber Brown, our somewhat atypical Noir detective, seems as though he is our private eye just starting out. Although he lacks the desirable, dashing, and seductive qualities of Philip Marlowe, like a true Chandler detective, he has uncompromised honor despite his close relationship with the mean streets. Bubber’s form of detection is that similar to Hammett’s Continental Op. He hits the streets, making Harlem his partner in the mystery. Although the shadows of Harlem serve to hide felonies and murders, the shadows alternatively serve Bubber, concealing him as he follows and does his detective work. He is a man who is close to the streets, utilizes them for justice, but does not let the murkiness of the darkness compromise his honor.

     Dr. Archer however, does not have a physical relationship with the streets themselves, but his form of deduction is related to the stark contrasts of Harlem’s light and dark. He is a man of science, and therefore he sees things scientifically and rationally. He is able to sift through the fogginess, cloudiness, and confusion that a shadow may put on a situation and see the solution for what is true. In this way, Dr. Archer’s relationship with Harlem is his ability to decipher Harlem’s genuineness from its fraudulence.

     Unlike Bubber’s ability to function in darkness and Dr. Archer’s ability to discern the darkness, Frimbo has taken his relationship to Harlem’s darkness a step further. He is able to manipulate it, giving him a psychological advantage in his work. He utilizes the darkness in order to create intrigue and mystery in the surroundings of his work.

     Detective Dart actually seems to me to have a far deeper handle on Harlem’s darkness for most of the novel. He is able to read and sense the light and dark within people, or in other words, the truth and lies in their words. Because of his incredible profiling ability, he seems to also be able to pick up on the way others perceive darkness and is able to manipulate light and dark just as Frimbo had for his own purpose of interrogation.

     Because of Harlem’s sharp contrast of light and darkness, and all of the deceiving shades of grey in between, the way we perceive Harlem is made more and more complex. This personification of Harlem is particularly culturally significant. The portrayal of Harlem as a complex and deep city of darkness is important when considering the thought provoking and intellectual works produced in the Harlem Renaissance. By making complex relationships between the characters and the shades of light in the city, Fisher has created an interesting dimension of the way we perceive justice in detective novels. Harlem’s justice is seen through light, darkness, and shadow, but completely different by each detective.