Jesmyn Ward’s book, Sing, Unburied, Sing, is my favorite novel I have read in class so far (although the other two have been excellent). Ward's incorporation of the “natural world” of animals and plants practically on every page of the book really stood out to me. As we discussed in class the comparison between humans and animals is an ongoing and incredibly potent symbolism throughout the book.
Although Jojo is the one who frequently makes remarks about humans being animals, a line that stood out to me towards the end of the book comes from Michael. One page 226 Jojo recalls Michael telling him about the oil spill and BP scientists saying that the spill wasn’t necessarily responsible for the tragic animal deaths. Michael says, “And when the scientists said that, I thought about humans. Because humans is animals”. This line really speaks to deaths of African Americans like Given and Richie in the book. White characters have clearly murdered these men yet they are able to get away with it and act like these deaths are natural occurrences. In Jojo's words following what Michael told him he realizes that his father is worrying about him. Worried that he will too die at the whims of white hatred.
Not only are animals likened to humans, but plants are also used to describe the characters throughout the book. Again I see this as a way of symbolizing that humans are part of nature, powerful and resilient, yet also vulnerable. As an environmental studies major this representation of plants and animals stands out to me as being a commentary on human exploitation of the earth. This can be applied to the relationship between the white and black characters in the book. Ever since they were brought to be slaves in America, African Americans have been exploited, abused and murdered by white people. America was built by slaves, its success is owed largely to this population yet as the book shows, racist white people see these African Americans as disposable. Like the BP scientist seeing sea creatures as disposable.
I think it’s important to note how integral the natural world is to the lives of these characters, especially Jojo. There is an element of magical realism in the book as he can communicate with ghosts and hear animals. Mam and Pop understand and value the power of nature, it guides and shapes their understanding of the world. Although the story is told from multiple perspectives I think it is crucial to see how Jojo is learning and realizing the natural world’s significance. Understanding it helps him decipher the nature of his own existence.
I really like this post because I think it touches the ultimate point of the novel: that life, no matter the form, ought not to be seen as dispensable. I drew a couple of connections between Michael's story about animals killed by the B.P. spill and Given and Richie's murders. Firstly, when Leonie recalls Given's murder, she connects the deer's murder with her brother's, noting the deer was as "cold and hard as my brother. Their blood congealing" (50). The use of the word 'their' implies that both Given and the deer are facing the same natural processes, and therefore, connects their experiences. Just as the scientists were willing to disregard the dolphins killed by the oil spill because their deaths didn't fit their narrative, so to was the deer because Given had to prove himself, and so to was Given because "he was supposed to lose" the wager (50). Comparing Given's life to an animal in this way, suggests that society saw his life, just like the dolphins' and the deer's, as ultimately superfluous. They were all snuffed out to prove a point. When Pop recalls Richie’s death at the end of the book, he necessarily has to justify killing Richie himself to Jojo. Pop describes the man Richie attempted escape with, Blue’s death in horrifying detail to Jojo. The white mob which pursued him cut pieces off of him while he was suspended over a bonfire, exclaiming that “They kill animals better than that” (255). Blue’s death is an example of pure racist hatred. He wasn’t just killed because his actions didn’t fit into the Southern status quo of black inferiority but punished for daring to deviate from it so severely. In doing so, the white mob made Blue less than a life, animal or human, so Pop, wanting to spare Richie from that fate, killed him like an animal.
ReplyDeleteThe world of the wild is much crueler than human society. To ensure the stability of the ecosystem, animals have to kill or to be killed. I love animals as everyone does, but what differs human beings and animals is that we have a moral foundation and we can think and judge. To build off of Atom's post and continue the discussion of Theron's comment, the people in the book, especially white and privileged people, lost their humanity and turned into animals. The hounds and their dogmen at Parchman were great examples. The hounds chase people down and tear them apart in the most brutal way they could. What people did to each other was nothing different: "Kinnie put a bullet through that running gunman's head at two hundred yeards: the gunman's skull burst" (77). Kinnie is like his dogs, but dogs don't know what is right and what is wrong - they just follow orders. Kinnie was the real animal who carries racism and hatred to black people.
ReplyDeleteJust like the scientist's pale explanation on Deepwater's explosion: "This didn't have nothing to do with the oil, that sometimes this is what happens to animals: they die for unexpected reasons" (226). People were dying like animals just like accidents, but nobody made the effort to think about why things like that happen. In the end, everyone is an animal.
This was also my favorite book we read! I don’t know if it was the theme, but I tend to like the books that have more of a serious message that doesn’t throw it right in your face- this book really made me think about what it was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI interpreted the quote on page 226 in a different way. While I agree that it’s about white characters getting away with deaths, I don’t know if it’s in so much of a natural occurrences wise. I think when the hate crimes were done, they knew exactly what they were doing. It’s not a natural occurrence, and more so natural selection or natural order. They think that they’re animals, so their deaths (albeit unnatural) are something to not care about.
I see the natural selection outlined on pages 254-255, where River is describing what they did to Blue when they found him. They skinned and cut him up like an animal for slaughter; “they kill animals better than that” he says (Ward 255). But again, they don’t give it a second thought. To them, this is how it is. A black person commits a crime (of any caliber) and they pay the same price, with little thought for over kill. Just like the dolphins and the oil spill, it’s just the way the world works. There doesn’t need to be correlation.