The Jumbies

Mr. Frog is the novel’s primary symbol for The Complexity of the Natural World. The frog’s rescue of Corinne from douens in Chapter 16 exemplifies this: Mr. Frog hops into a circle of angry douens that have surrounded a terrified, frozen Corinne. It distracts the jumbies and gradually leads them away, also revealing a path that Corinne takes home. This signals to readers the creature’s intelligence, even as Corinne wonders, “Was that the same frog from the well?” (92).

Corinne’s rescue of Mr. Frog occurs in Chapter 7, and the opening paragraphs are narrated from the frog’s point of view as it sits at the bottom of the well. This perspective offers a peek into the frog’s physical experience of its entrapment—it is “dying of thirst” (34)—along with its brief impression of Bouki and Malik: “If it had just been quiet, the boys would not have found it” (34). Significantly, the frog blames its natural, instinctual noises for the life-threatening conditions the brothers have placed it in. This not only reinforces the island animals’ sentience, but also foreshadows the unhealthy relationship between the islands’ humans and its other natural inhabitants.

Mr. Frog also comes to stand for humans’ proclivity for bullying and toying with the natural world. Importantly, “Mr. Frog” is a name given to the frog by Bouki at the beginning of Chapter 8, after he and Malik imprison it in the dry well. While talking to Pierre, Corinne spots the brothers beside the well with the frog: “Their next victim” (4), she thinks, knowing the boys like to play pranks on animals. In this early scene, Corinne observes Bouki “smiling with mischief” and holding “a small frog in his hands over the top of the well” (4). Apart from either senselessly wanting to exert power, or to torment Corinne, the brothers have no reason to hurt the frog.

Yet the frog, like the natural world it stands for, is not merely a “suffering victim” of humans’ whims; it is also capable of getting revenge for its suffering. This occurs in Chapter 44, when the frog trips Bouki, causing the boys to fall headlong into a muddy puddle. This symbolic revenge shows that humans will pay if they continue to misuse nature in big and small ways.

Corinne’s stone pendant necklace appears in the novel’s opening scene, signifying its importance to the protagonist and the entire narrative. The necklace’s significance changes and expands as the novel unfolds, developing alongside Corinne herself. This necklace consists of a silk cord threaded through a black stone pendant. In the first chapter, the necklace signifies Corinne’s relationship with her mother: “Over years of constant handling she had worn a smooth groove that fit her finger perfectly. The pendant had been her mama’s” (2). The necklace’s importance to Corinne signals her mother’s importance to her, as well.

The necklace also stands for protection, particularly as it burns Severine’s hand when she tries to grab Corinne in Chapter 22. Nicole gave Corinne the necklace as a form of protection, but its protective powers are momentarily removed when Severine takes it from Corinne later in Chapter 22. Her theft of the necklace stands for the jumbies’ threat to Corinne’s family; because the necklace belonged to Nicole and is a reminder of her love, Corinne is willing to go to great lengths to recover it.

By contrast, Severine takes the necklace because, for her, it stands for her sister’s powerful Forming Magic: “an ancient power that was created at the very same time the earth was made” (131). For Severine, the necklace represents “being able to do anything you want” (131) and the power to reign, unopposed, over the island. Because Severine is greedy to have this power as her own, the necklace also stands for her envy of Corinne and the power she inherited from Nicole.

Once Corinne recovers the necklace, however, its significance shifts a third time. In Chapter 43, the necklace comes to stand for the source of Corinne’s own magical abilities. When Corinne is wounded and unable to win another fight against Severine, the necklace becomes Corinne’s only hope. The seed contained in its pendant catalyzes this hope, sprouting a tree with the help of Corinne’s tears and voice. Just as the necklace holds its promise, which is Corinne’s power to grow and influence plant life, it is the source of her character’s growth. Though most of the narrative rested on Corinne finding the necklace, in the end, she must destroy it by freeing the seed within the pendant. This marks her growth as a character; now she no longer needs her mother’s protection, as she has learned to protect herself.