Sing Unburied Sing, by Jesmyn Ward, tells the story of a boy named Jojo and his family. Jojo is a 13-year-old boy, but there are multiple situations in which he has to play the role of a parental figure and caregiver. With drug addict parents, Jojo has relied on his grandparents to raise him and his younger sister, Kayla. However, as they have aged and his grandmother has gotten sick, Jojo has had to become increasingly independent. He has become Kayla’s primary reach of comfort as well as the one his grandfather has come to rely on most. I found it particularly interesting how even though Jojo has been a caregiver to Kayla for the majority of the novel, he still always had his grandparents to fulfill the role of a guiding figure in his life, however, as the novel comes to a close Jojo becomes someone his grandparents rely on and trust in the same way he used to rely on them.
The father role which Jojo’s grandfather has played in his life can be seen as he is saying goodbye to Jojo as Jojo, Kayla, and Leonie depart to pick up Micheal. He sends Jojo off by saying “You a man, you hear?” (61). Their physical interaction is described as “He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed, and then looked at my nose, my ears, my hair, and finally my eyes when I stepped back” (61). The love Pop has for Jojo is made apparent, not only through his body language but also through the words of advice he gives Jojo. He signals to Jojo that he is old enough to handle what is coming for him, but the manner in which Pop says it further implies that he still sees the youth in Jojo.
Although Jojo doesn’t age much through the progression of the novel, his relationships and future interactions with his family portray that he has matured far beyond his years. His grandparents begin speaking to him with complete transparency. Jojo’s grandfather, Pop, finally tells Jojo the complete truth about what happened when he met a young boy named Richie at Parchman at the novel begins to conclude. After explaining how he is responsible for the death of the young man, Pop breaks down and Jojo is immediately there comforting him, the same way he would a child. Ward writes “I hold Pop like I hold Kayla. He puts his face in his knees and his back shakes” (257). Pop is compared to Jojo’s little sister who Jojo has always had to be a parental figure for. Through relating Pop to Kayla, it’s implied that Pop is leaning on Jojo for support the same way Kayla does, switching the fatherly dynamic between Jojo and Pop observed earlier in the novel. Now, Jojo is the one providing care for Pop even though a few weeks earlier in the timeline of the story Pop would have been the one Jojo relied on for comfort.
Jojo being Kayla’s source of comfort is an important relationship to analyze because it negatively affects Jojo and Leonie’s relationship. Leonie is incredibly jealous of the close bond between her two children. She says, “watching my children comfort each other. My hands itch, wanting to do something” (Ward 101). Leonie is unable to be the parent both Jojo and Kayla need, and every time she is given the chance to step and be the parent, she freezes or stops herself from doing anything helpful. This becomes abundantly clear after Mam’s death where she admits to herself that “[She] can’t be a mother right now” (Ward 274) which applies to both the current moment she is living through and all of Jojo and Kayla’s life. She has never been able to be a mother in any of the situations she needed to be. This is probably because Leonie is still mentally stuck at the age her brother died, still dealing with the trauma of her brother dying so quickly. Her mother even equates her to a baby when she’s speaking to Leonie about Maman Brigette: “They look at you, they see a baby” (Ward 215). Ward’s intent in portraying this particular family dynamic between Leonie and Kayla and Jojo is to show how unresolved trauma or ongoing trauma can affect parent-child relationships. Leonie is unable to mentally make space for Kayla and Jojo because she is still dealing with her own grief from Given dying.
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