The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem

Darkness symbolizes secrecy and deception in the novel. Frimbo resides in darkness for much of the novel. He only works at night, which leads Martha Crouch to collect his rent at night rather than during the day, as she would for her husband’s other clients. Frimbo also makes his chamber dark, in part to hide himself (and N’Ogo) from his clients. Doty Hicks notes in his interrogation that he “[C]ouldn’t see Frimbo” because it was “too dark” (79). This statement helps support Frimbo’s desire for secrecy and foreshadows the reveal of his and his assistant’s role switch. After he and his assistant began to switch roles, Frimbo had the room dark to keep the pretension that his assistant was him, thus allowing his assistant to be a proper decoy. The darkness also allowed Frimbo to project his voice from his laboratory with little suspicion. Frimbo uses darkness again in Chapter 15, flipping the switch box to give himself time to appear in the chamber and convince everyone that he came back from the dead. However, Frimbo is not the only one who can use the darkness for cover. Bubber hides in the dark basement and witnesses Frimbo burning a corpse.