Spiritually Pure Mud

The short story "Rhobert," by Jean Toomer, uses imagery to depict Rhobert as a spiritual man living a life within moral and religious expectations. His failing health brings him only closer to a glorious end, whereas others who journey outside his spiritual boundaries are denied eternal life and entrance to Heaven. The accomplishments of Rhobert's life are impressive in themselves, but the fact that he is a spiritually pure African American man causes the end of his life to be a cause of celebration for the African American community as well, coming together at his death to sing spirituals praising Rhobert's journey into the realm of God.

Toomer uses imagery to create the figure of a man tested to his limits, mortal and weak, struggling to support a large weight upon his head: "Rhobert wears a house, like a monstrous diver's helmet, on his head. His legs are banty-bowed and shaky because as a child he had rickets" (40). The imagery enhances the sense of a struggle with the description of Rhobert having had rickets, a disease plaguing him his entire adult life, which suggests that this great weight upon his head creates a constant unsteady struggle for its support. In fact, the house slowly conquers Rhobert's weakness and exploits his handicaps, pushing him "way down. He is sinking. His house is a dead thing that weights him down" (40). Slowly Rhobert sinks because of the forces of the house, which far exceed those of his weakened physique.

The imagery continues further to describe what Rhobert sinks into, the mud that water leaves behind: "He is sinking as a diver would sink in mud should the water be drawn off" (40). As the mud engulfs him, Rhobert dies, much as the house that weighs upon him increases his weakness, and he sinks further into the mud as the water disappears, water that represents life: "Life is a murky, wiggling, microscopic water that compresses him" (40). Yet, although water represents life, it also struggles to claim Rhobert and crush him, although by means contrasting that of the house. Instead of the vertical push of the house shoving Rhobert into the waterless mud, the water tries to compress him at all angles, which would claim him if not for the protection of the house and "compress his helmet and would crush it the minute that he pulled his head out" (40).

Therefore, Rhobert fights two battles: the battle of fleeting life which leaves only mud behind which will slowly claim him, and the battle of life without the shelter of the house, which acts as a helmet for his head to shield him from the outside water's pressure. Like a helmet the house is also hollow and filled with padding that protects him: "God built the house. He blew His breath into its stuffing. It is good to die obeying Him who can do these things" (40). As God has blown his breath of life into the house, the contents of the house represent spiritual life, which, so as long as he stays inside the house immersed in this stuffing, Rhobert can enjoy a spiritually pure life.

If Rhobert chooses to stray outside of the house and the breath of God, he will die without God's presence: "It is sinful to draw one's head out of live stuffing in a dead house" (40). For to be in the water, or life, without God is to live an existence lacking spirituality, and you will die forsaken, crushed and destroyed forever. Such a death, crushed by the waters of life, is also a sin: "It is sinful to have one's own head crushed" (40). Death, either by being so crushed or by sinking in the mud, is accepted universally as inevitable, but how one dies is determined by how one lives, and Rhobert chooses to stay inside the spiritual stuffing of his house, and therefore "Rhobert is an upright man" (40). This word choice of "upright" can have dual interpretations as meaning both upright in the moralistically pure sense in itself, and as standing upright under the weight of the house instead of leaving its burden and confines to die a death after a life devoid of religion and spirituality, and therefore be denied eternal bliss.

By continuing to support the house and wear it as a helmet, Rhobert will be saved: "sink where you will. God is a Red Cross man with a dredge and a respiration-pump who's waiting for you at the opposite periphery" (40). Death in mud after a life contained within spiritual and religious bounds ensures Rhobert's salvation. He does not exist in the waters of life without his spirituality, but instead embraces his spirituality no matter the burden it bears upon him, and therefore when he eventually sinks into the mud and approaches his death, God will be there to take him to "the opposite periphery" or heaven, as "the earth is round. Heaven is a sphere that surrounds it" (40). Like a Red Cross employee who can bring a drowning man back to life, God can save Rhobert from such death and deliver him into eternal life. He will not die and be gone forever, but exist throughout time in Heaven.

Because of this spiritual existence, Rhobert need not fear death, and "a futile something like the dead house wraps the live stuffing of the question: how long before the water will be drawn off? Rhobert does not care" (40). After his life on earth comes to a closure, Rhobert believes in an endless life following its termination. Rhobert therefore sees life after life, and "like most men who wear monstrous helmets, the pressure it exerts is enough to convince him of its practical infinity" (40). This pressure can be caused by the surrounding waters of life that lack spirituality, representing the prevalence of life of sin, in which people die and are crushed forever, which re-enforce Rhobert's ideals that he, for all his pains and all his choices, will continue into the next life when this present life runs out, when his life waters have vanished.

Since he views his life as just a beginning to another, better life, Rhobert has no attachments to anything in his present life, and sees nothing he should regret leaving as everything worthwhile will eventually make the journey to Heaven and enjoy an improved existence. Therefore, "he cares not two straws as to whether or not he will ever see his wife and children again" (40), as if they are spiritual beings he will become reunited with them in the next world, which holds glories that the values of this world cannot compare. Thoughts of his family departing and making it to Heaven, leave Rhobert joyous: "Many a time he's seen them drown in his dreams and has kicked about joyously in the mud for days after" (40). Spiritual death is not something to mourn over, but something to celebrate, as nothing is lost and everything is gained, therefore when family members pass from this life to the next Rhobert finds it a reason for joy.

Rhobert soon will find himself passing on, as he chokes on the stuffing and th breath of God, coughing as he slowly comes apart and faces his mortality: "painfully gulping great globules of air...air floating shredded life-pulp. It is a sad thing to see a banty-bowed, shaky, ricket-legged man straining the raw insides of his throat against smooth air" (40). The description of Rhobert's shakiness and physical decline emphasizes his vulnerability and fragility and his "raw insides" suggest that his defenses have been penetrated under his very skin. He is falling apart, becoming "shredded life-pulp" (40). Though it is a natural demise, indicated that he chokes on "smooth air" which suggests nothing but life itself, he slowly dies as a victim of passing time. He recognizes this impending mortality, and shifts his thoughts to the great beyond: "Holding furtive thoughts about the glory of pulp-heads strewn in water" (40).

His demise comes on stronger and stronger: "He is way down. Down. Mud, coming to his banty knees, almost hides them" (40). Not only does this imagery work to suggest his approaching end, but it also suggests his approach to a holy afterlife, as he sinks further down and his knees are obscured. Having his banty knees covered in mud, his handicaps have vanished from sight, and he appears whole and strong, much as he was as a child, almost as if he is being born again, without flaws: "Soon people will be looking at him and calling him a strong man. No doubt he is for one who has had rickets" (40). Rhobert can now be considered strong, to have lived out his beliefs and never wavered from a spiritual existence, with a strong willpower and persistence to wear his heavy helmet despite its great weight.

When the weight of his house finally claims him and the mud engulfs him, there will be no need for sad thoughts, but Rhobert must be commended for his life: "Lets give it to him. Lets call him great when the water shall have been all drawn off" (41). He shall be remembered for his greatness of character and purity of spirit after he has died, after the life waters have vanished around him, and all should honor him with a monument as an example for all: "Lets build a monument and set it in the ooze where he goes down. A monument of hewn oak, carved in nigger-heads" (41). This diction could infer that the monument would prove that an African American man can live a spiritually pure existence as well and deserve to continue on into the afterlife with God, as an example to others. As a celebration for this achievement, the author suggests an African spiritual be sung in Rhobert's honor, "Lets open our throats, brother, and sing "Deep river" when he goes down" (41), a spiritual about reaching the afterlife, crossing over the Jordan river and its muddy banks, and making it into the eternal campground. Through Rhobert's death, the whole black community has found reason to celebrate, calling on their "brothers" to sing traditional spirituals together to commend his example.