Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing is a novel that deals with the complexities and nuances of the inter-generational Black American experience. It is also one that speaks on the shared experiences of Black folk within the United States. In particular, Ward makes use of the motifs of singing, and, what I'll be focusing on, water, to better express the ways in which Black Americans cope and experience life in the United States.
Water is a symbol of nature, freedom, and life, but also that of risk and drowning, of losing oneself. One character who encompasses the good behind water is River, also known as Pop. His name is symbolic to the importance of water as a guide. He has a connection to nature, as shown by him giving Jojo the gris-gris bag when he didn't notice, and how he interacts with and treats animals. He is accepting of and actively interacts with the nature at the beginning of the story, killing and cooking the goat with Jojo. He is both a bringer and a taker of life, in an all natural manner. He similarly took Richie's life when he was younger, as an act of mercy. "Yes, Richie. I'm a take you home, I said. And then I took the shank I kept in my boot and I punched it one time into his neck. In the big vein on his right side" (Ward, 255). Like the water, River acts as a merciful taker of life for Richie, despite Richie's anger about it in the future. Ward shows the reader through this, and through a later section, that water acts as both a guide home and a damning pull for those dead and alive.
When Leonie wakes up after her cocaine trip in the car, she describes a dream she had, with her and her family, where she is "trying to keep everyone above water, even as [she] struggle[s] to stay afloat" (Ward, 195). Here, with this dream, Ward uses water as a metaphor for life itself, and how even people who try their best to uplift others can fail, resulting in one thing: drowning. Similarly, Michael's despair about oils ruining the sea reflect back on Ward's views of life, of how things with obvious causes can still be brushed aside as small issues, flukes, rather than systemic ones. Finally, the water that Richie mentions when Jojo sees his ghost brings everything back to Ward's use of the symbol. He says "I thought once I knew, I could. Cross the waters. Be home" (Ward, 281). Here, the water that Richie talks about acts as a sort of barrier between him and home, between life and death, between peace and not. And here, Ward reminds us that water, the source of life, can also be the source of anguish, of tragedy.
The theme of water being a source of tragedy can also be seen in Jojo’s last private interaction with Mam. When he observes Mam’s pain he says “Like she is floating on her back in an ocean of [pain]. Like her skin’s a hull eaten hollow with barnacles...Filling...Pushing her down” (Ward 234). Ward depicts pain with the qualities of water; expressing how expansive and destructive it can be. Mam is losing her fight to the pain, she is drowning in it, and as mentioned in the essay above, losing herself to it. But, Jojo and Leonie react differently to her metaphorically drowning. Jojo is determined to “not sink her” (Ward 238), he wants to serve as a barrier between her and her pain. He does so by not burdening her with the knowledge that he can see ghosts. Ward shows Jojo’s maturity with this specific decision because at this moment he took it upon himself to become her emotional caregiver. However, when Mam asks Leonie to be her guide through death, and off of this ocean of pain, Mam has to beg her to do it, saying “Let me leave with something of myself. Please” (Ward 216). Again, we revisit this idea of water posing a risk of drowning, of losing oneself. Mam does not want to leave this Earth a hollow shell of the person she was, but Leonie does not want to let her go until she has sunk completely. This goes back to what was said in the essay above of how Leonie dreamt of being the one sinking by upholding others but she cannot even see her own mother drowning in an ocean of pain.
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