![]() Both Leonie and Michael are too caught up in their addictions to pay attention to the needs of their children. Jojo witnesses his parents' drug abuse firsthand, and he learns how substances can destroy livelihoods. In addition, Jojo's tone and style of narration reflect the intergenerational consequences of addiction. The details reveal the socioeconomic conditions that often go along with meth addiction in Jojo's rural, Southern community. In this excerpt, Jojo describes watching a man cook meth. There are tables with glass beakers and tubes and five-gallon buckets on the ground and empty cold-drink liter bottles, and I know I’ve seen this before, know that smell because when Michael built his lean-to in the woods behind Mam and Pop’s house, it looked and smelled like this. He is tattooed, like Michael, but has shaved his head. ![]() Someone is listening to country music inside, and when I put my eye to the slit, I see a shirtless man with a beard. There is a light coming through slits in one of the windows, which have been blacked out with aluminum foil. While slavery was abolished before the story's events took place, the novel shows how racism continues to shape American society. In this way, Sing, Unburied, Sing traces intergenerational trauma and the continuing effects of racism. The dogs at Parchman parallel the dogs that hunted Black runaway slaves in the 19th century. Richie's quote further establishes him as an omniscient, "all-knowing" character who is able to view history from his detached perspective as a ghost. After Richie is stabbed, he is "torn apart and eaten" by the dogs that Pop trains. The only thing knows how to do is slave." Ultimately, Pop is able to protect himself amidst the violent prison system by taking on a leadership position in which he reprimands his fellow inmates.Īdditionally, this quote foreshadows Richie's own death at the hands of Pop. A colored man doesn't know how to master because it ain't in him to master. In another excerpt in the story, a white prison official expresses his hesitation towards Pop's new role, saying, "it ain't natural for a colored man to master dogs. However, this "promotion" came with additional scrutiny and suspicion on the part of the wardens. While imprisoned at Parchman, Pop was "promoted" to train and manage the hounds used to hunt down escaped convicts. Throughout the story, Blackness is depicted as threatening and "savage." These choices in diction equate Blackness to something that must be tamed or controlled. Richie's quote provides additional commentary on Pop's role within the prison ecosystem. There had always been bad blood between dogs and Black people: they were bred adversaries-slaves running from the slobbering hounds, and then the convict man dodging them. ![]() ![]() While Jojo aims to impress Pop with his maturity, the scene that follows this shows that Jojo becomes overwhelmed when slaying a goat. Although Jojo thinks he understands death and other painful aspects of the human experience, he is still an innocent boy of just thirteen years old. In the story, characters suffer in the face of death and their loved ones are left to pick up the pieces. This excerpt immediately establishes the theme of death and its ubiquity throughout the novel. These are the opening sentences of Sing, Unburied, Sing. I like to think that it’s something I could look at straight.
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