In this specific case jQuery's `show` is just giving you a shortcut to show/hide arbitrary elements.

Try doing this with CSS, please.

    <div class="element"></div>

    .element { display: block; }
    .element.is-hidden { display: none; }

    document.getElementsByClassName("element")[0].classList.add( "is-hidden" );

You should never ask yourself "How can I accomplish that without jQuery", but rather "What would be the best way to do it!"