Study Notes: Sing, Unburied, Sing - Themes, Structure, and Analysis

Course Logistics and Academic Guidelines

  • Upcoming Reading Assignments:

    • Transitioning from recent readings into the Holland Renaissance, while continuing the thematic focus on minority literature of the African American persuasion.
    • Assigned readings are accessible via links on the course syllabus and online learning modules.
    • Reading volume remains heavy, following a prior week of significant reading content.
    • Comprehensive reading equips students with a wider selection of topics for the upcoming paper, preventing repetitive analysis on single texts such as Pat May's book.

  • Paper and Assignment Guidelines:

    • Due Date: The paper is due on Wednesday, September 30.
    • Submission Policy: The assignment drop box will remain open for a 24-hour grace period following the deadline. Late submissions will be flagged as late but will incur no penalty or consequence.
    • Paper Length and Scope: Papers can effectively analyze narrow thematic elements within 1 to 1.5 pages.

  • Instructor Office Hours and Availability:

    • Tuesday: 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM.
    • Wednesday: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM.
    • Email Communication: Accessible 7 days a week starting early around 5:00 AM, with work concluding around 7:00 PM daily.

Literary Context, Setting, and Environmental Precarity

  • Geographic and Narrative Setting:

    • The narrative takes place in Mississippi on a rural farm located near the coast.
    • The setting portrays deep socio-economic precarity, illustrating families living in unstable, vulnerable material conditions.
    • A contrast exists between Louisiana's French Creole background (such as in the works of Kate Chopin studied in Course 3000) and the coastal Mississippi setting presented by Jasmine Ward.

  • Depiction of Disasters and Systemic Impacts:

    • Hurricane Katrina:
      • The hurricane is central to the backstory, though it is never explicitly named in the text.
      • It made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, generating a severe storm surge extending 6 to 12 miles inland.
      • The entire state of Mississippi was officially declared a disaster area.
      • The aftermath highlights long-term displacement, loss of homes, and persistent economic instability.
    • Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (British Petroleum / BP):
      • The ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is explicitly integrated into the narrative through the character of Michael.
      • Michael worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig as a rigid welder before it blew up.
      • Following the explosion, Michael returned home with severance pay, lost his savings, and suffered severe post-traumatic nightmares.
      • Media coverage on CNN depicting oil gushing into the ocean and oil-coated pelicans and wildlife illustrates the environmental destruction.

Creole Heritage, Animism, and Diaspora Spirituality

  • Philome (Mam / Mama):

    • Ancestry and Background: Holds a Haitian, French, or French Creole lineage, signified by her name Philome.
    • Animistic Belief System: Practices a natural, spiritual survival system centered on animism—the belief that all natural entities (plants, rocks, rivers) possess distinct spirits.
    • Role in Community: Acts as a traditional midwife bringing babies into the world through natural, non-scientific methods.
    • Terminal Illness and Deathbed Scene:
      • Suffers from terminal cancer and requires hospice or palliative care.
      • In her final days, she is heavily medicated on drugs administered by Leonie.
      • On her deathbed, she requests a litany—a structured series of formulaic Christian and spiritual prayers.
      • She attempts to draw the spirits of deceased ancestors and loved ones (including Given and Richie) across to her deathbed.

  • African Diaspora Deities and Water Symbolism:

    • Mami Wata: A prominent water deity of the African diaspora (phonetically echoing "mother water") venerated within Mam's spiritual framework.
    • Symbolism of Water: Water serves as a primary motif harboring elevated spirits, goodness, and life throughout the novel.

  • Character Nomenclature Based on Physical Traits:

    • Pop (River / River Red): Given the name River Red by Parchman Prison inmates due to his skin tone; possesses a profound connection to animals and natural life.
    • Blue: An inmate at Parchman Prison named explicitly after the specific shade of his skin color.

Character Dynamics, Trauma, and White Privilege

  • Sociological Analysis of Whiteness and Privilege:

    • Peggy McIntosh's Conceptual Framework:
      • Referenced through her seminal 1989 sociological essay, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.
      • Defines white privilege as an unearned, unasked-for knapsack of invisible assets that provides systemic advantages, reduced suspicion, and social ease.
      • Distinguishes phenotypical skin-color privilege from material wealth, acknowledging intersectionality (such as class or disability).
    • Misty's Characterization:
      • Portrayed with blonde hair, thin pink lips, freckles, and a stubborn milkiness of skin.
      • Employs her racial privilege effortlessly, navigating the world with an unexamined expectation of safety and friendliness.
      • Works as a waitress at a restaurant owned by her mother.
      • Dating a Black man incarcerated at Parchman Prison, establishing a shared dynamic with Leonie, whose partner Michael is also imprisoned there.
      • Engages in drug trafficking (smuggling contraband beneath vehicle floorboards) while remaining oblivious to the heightened legal risks imposed on mixed-race or Black individuals.

  • Leonie's Maternal Failure and Narcissism:

    • Narcissistic Escape: Uses methamphetamine as a mechanism to escape physical, moral, and spiritual pain, ignoring her parental responsibilities.
    • Environmental Indifference: Displays zero empathy toward ecological destruction or animal suffering (e.g., indifferent to oil-slicked pelicans), standing in direct contrast to Michael's emotional trauma over environmental ruin.
    • Physical Abuse: Frequently displays aggressive, violent behavior toward her children, including striking Jojo in the face/nose and harboring physical urges to hit Kayla.

  • Jojo's Role as a Moral Mirror:

    • Reaches 13 years of age at the start of the novel.
    • Embodying the legacy of his grandparents, Jojo reflects a combination of Pop's stern, hard moral judgment (censure) and Mam's soft, forgiving empathy (pity).

Textual Analysis and Specific Chapter Excerpts

  • Page 91 (Chapter 4 - Leonie's Perspective):

    • Excerpt Details: Misty proposes transporting drugs on Jojo's birthday to secure a deposit for an apartment, stating: "If we do this, the trip's paid for, and then you and Michael could have enough for a deposit. You'll could get your own place."
    • Analysis: Demonstrates ambiguity surrounding illegal drug runs, while highlighting Leonie's resentment toward Misty's casual assumption that actions carry no consequences ("take advantage").

  • Page 92 (Chapter 4 - Leonie's Perspective):

    • Excerpt Details: Describes Michael's return from Deepwater Horizon after its explosion, the depletion of his severance pay, and watching CNN reports of gushing oil while sitting in the house with Jojo.
    • Analysis: Highlights overlapping economic and environmental disasters, contrasting Michael's deep psychological trauma with Leonie's self-centered guiltlessness regarding environmental loss.

  • Page 146 (Maternal Aggression):

    • Excerpt Details: Leonie watches Kayla in the bathtub: "Before picking her up and missing her out of the tub, she kicks. I want to hit her."
    • Analysis: Explicitly documents Leonie's internal impulse toward physical violence against her toddler daughter.

  • Pages 201–202 and Page 271 (Chapter 14 - Leonie's Perspective):

    • Excerpt Details: Leonie observes Jojo looking at her while she tends to Mam: "He's hard as pop and soft as mama, censure in pity… He sees me. He sees it all."
    • Analysis: Illustrates the internal conflict Leonie experiences when confronted by her son, who embodies Pop's uncompromising moral judgment and Mam's compassionate grief.

The Brutality of Parchman Prison and the Mercy Killing of Richie

  • Conditions at Parchman Prison:

    • Characterized by extreme, unmitigated violence, inmate-on-inmate aggression, and weapon availability.
    • During an escape attempt involving a 12-year-old inmate named Richie and an older convict named Blue, armed inmates capture and execute Blue.

  • The Lynching and Mercy Killing (Pages 254–255, Chapter 13):

    • Narrative Account: Pop recounts the violent mob preparing to torture and lynch 12-year-old Richie: "They was going to come for that boy and cut him piece by piece till he was just some bloody soft screaming thing and that they were going to string him up from a tree."
    • Pop's Intervention: To save Richie from extreme torture and mutilation, Pop performs a mercy killing, taking the young boy's life himself.
    • Ethical Reflection: Pop reflects on the tragedy stating: "He wasn't nothing but a boy, Jojo. They kill animals better than that."
    • Traumatic Burden: Pop carries lifelong guilt and psychological distress from the act, describing feeling as though his hands were permanently stained with blood.

  • Spectral Dynamics and Ghosts:

    • Richie's Ghost: Unlike adult spectral figures, Richie remains frozen at 12 years old without further developmental evolution. He haunts the living to seek the familial love he was denied in life and desperately attempts to prevent Mam's spirit from crossing over so he does not lose her.
    • Given's Ghost: Appears visually to Leonie only when she is deeply intoxicated on drugs, remaining entirely silent to her while applying lotion, but eventually speaking directly to Mam at her deathbed.

Visceral Realism, Narrative Healing, and Affirmation

  • Visceral Realism and Unpleasant Imagery:

    • The narrative repeatedly uses graphic depictions of bodily fluids—vomit, blood, sickness, and decay—to emphasize the physical and emotional rot surrounding the characters.
    • Key instances include Jojo vomiting after Pop slaughters the goat, Kayla experiencing severe car sickness during the road trip, and the physical decay present at Mam's deathbed.

  • Narrative Healing and Final Affirmation:

    • Breaking Secrets: The novel asserts that psychological recovery requires disclosing hidden, unbearable trauma and bringing buried secrets to light (exemplified by Pop finally telling Jojo the truth about Richie).
    • The Metaphor of Singing: "Singing" acts as a metaphor for speaking, telling, narrating, and disclosing painful histories.
    • Core Message: While human existence remains fundamentally marked by tragedy and socio-economic fracture, articulating and sharing difficult stories transforms silent suffering into a powerful, affirmative force for survival.