The Jumbies

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Where is Trinidad? What guesses can you make about its culture and people based on its location?

Teaching Suggestion: The Jumbies takes place in Trinidad, one of the twin islands in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Many students may be unfamiliar with Trinidad. After making sure that students understand that Trinidad is part of a Caribbean island nation, you might offer them an opportunity to make guesses about what Trinidad is like before offering them one or both of the resources listed below. As a follow-up, you might ask them to write a few sentences about which of their predictions were accurate and what new information they learned from the articles.

• This article from Britannica.com gives a quick introduction to the concept of Trinidad as one of two islands in a republic.
• This article from the Latin Post offers a succinct overview of Trinidad and Tobago’s history and culture.

2. What is “folklore”? How is it related to “mythology”? What are some examples of mythology or folklore from your own culture of origin? Have you ever heard any folk stories from the Caribbean?

Teaching Suggestion: The action of The Jumbies centers on the main character’s interactions with jumbies, figures from Trinidadian folklore. This prompt offers students a chance to clarify terminology and to begin thinking about the characteristics of Caribbean folkloric beliefs. Students may enjoy discussing examples of folklore and mythology; in the course of discussion, they may have questions about how to determine to  which culture a tradition or story “belongs.” This is a good opportunity to introduce the idea that cultures not only often invent similar ideas independently, but they also frequently borrow stories and traditions from one another.

• This overview of the terms “folklore” and “mythology” comes from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan and includes a helpful map of world mythology.
• This article from the Cincinnati Playhouse discusses some of the best-known characters from Caribbean folklore.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

What do you think about the idea of ghosts or spirits? What does your own cultural tradition have to say about these things? Do you think that most cultural traditions see things like ghosts and spirits in similar ways, or do you think there might be important differences from culture to culture?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may enjoy discussing this prompt aloud as a class or in small groups, so that they can hear a wide variety of perspectives on the idea of ghosts and spirits—and maybe even share a few stories they have heard. Since they are by now aware of how deeply Caribbean folklore is influenced by West African culture, you might challenge them to think about how even when two cultures have similar stories—stories about ghosts or spirits, for example—small differences in their perspectives can reveal important cultural characteristics. As an example, you might point out that many stories American children grow up hearing have European origins, but that the way the stories are told in America is sometimes quite different from the way they are told in Europe.