Jimmy Zizmo a.k.a. Minister Fard Character Analysis

Jimmy Zizmo is Sourmelina’s husband and Tessie’s father. He changed his name from Zisimopoulos while immigrating to the U.S. A mysterious man, he has a criminal record and is involved in various criminal operations, particularly bootlegging. He is a teetotaler and vegetarian, and is obsessed with herbal medicine. During Prohibition, Jimmy gets into the alcohol-smuggling business with Lefty, but Jimmy’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and he eventually accuses Lefty of getting Sourmelina pregnant. During a bootlegging trip gone wrong, Zizmo appears to die by driving his car into a frozen lake. However, later Desdemona learns that he actually faked his own death, and reappeared with a new identity: Minister Fard, the Founder of the Nation of Islam (who was a real person, although in reality this person was, of course, not Jimmy Zizmo). While working at the NOI temple, Desdemona listens to Fard’s lectures about the white race, which he claims are the invention of an evil scientist named Yacub. After getting in trouble for his association with a human sacrifice performed by a cult, Fard briefly reveals his identity to Desdemona, then disappears.