“The memory is a living thing - it too is in transit. But during its moment, all that is remembered joins, and lives - the old and the young, the past and the present, the living and the dead.”
Jesmyn Ward’s novel Sing Unburied Sing begins by introducing thirteen year old Jojo and his desire to begin his journey to manhood. Although Jojo has spent his life confined to the borders of his hometown in Mississippi, his experiences have been broadened by the living memories that surround him each day. These memories from the troubled pasts of his family begin to collide with his present journey as he makes his way to Parchman. Jojo’s journey begins with the memories and stories he has inherited from Pop, it continues with the memories and regrets Leonie lives by, and it is brought together by the memories of Richie.
As Jojo learns what sort of man he wants to be, he often looks to the memories and stories that have shaped Pop. Jojo loves to hear these stories and share in the memories. He explains that “This is what Pop does when we are alone . . . He tells me stories.” These stories and memories are alive and they surround Jojo, constantly reminding him where he comes from and what type of man he wants to be.
When Jojo is forced to go along with Leonie to Parchman, he sees the way his mother is haunted by her own living memories. While Pop’s memories show Jojo who he wants to be, Leonie’s memories show Jojo who he doesn’t want to be. Although he is unaware of how exactly his mother is tormented, he knows that she mourns the death of her brother and is held captive by a drug addiction that has only grown since Michael went to prison. Even without knowing the details of Leonie’s pain, Jojo can see that the memories that have shaped and continue to bombard her make it impossible for her to truly live in a respectable way. At one point, Jojo even says, “I want to tell her: You don’t know what you’re doing. . . . But I don’t.” Instead, he takes over her responsibilities behind her back, striving to be like Pop instead of her.
Finally, Richie’s memories show Jojo not who he wants to be but who he must be. Although Jojo does not know the full extent of Richie’s suffering, he is surrounded by the memories Richie carries with him and the lessons he shares. When Michael and Leonie get pulled over, Richie tells Jojo they’re going to chain him. After Jojo is chained and then released, Richie tells him that “‘Sometimes I think it done changed. And then I sleep and wake up, and it ain’t changed none.”’ Richie’s presence forces Jojo to come to terms with the truth that he will have to be stronger and more durable than his age calls for because of the world he lives in.
The memories that surround and have shaped Jojo, therefore, play a large role in the novel’s plot. By unburying the past, Jojo is able to clearly see who he is and why he is that way. He is also able to see how he can begin to grow into the man he longs to be.
Your analysis of the memories that shape Jojo are well-rounded in that you combine both past and present, along with the living and the dead, just as the introductory quote suggested. To add to your claim, I think Jojo particularly enjoys hearing Pop’s stories about Parchman because, with each one, he is able to connect to Pop on a deeper level and understand who he was growing up. You are absolutely right that the stories are living memories for Jojo, and this is because he only receives bits and pieces at a time. He must wait on Pop’s timing to hear about the rest of his experience and what happened to Richie. This holds him in suspense, as if a small part of him is back in that time and living it.
ReplyDeleteFor Jojo, Pop’s stories are a way of escape. His present, lacking maternal love and warmth, can be ignored for a few minutes each time Pop indulges the boy with tales of working in the sweltering heat and learning to train dogs. When Jojo snaps back to the present, he is forced to face the realities from which Pop’s memories can’t relieve him. For example, after Pop tells Jojo about Richie, the first thing Jojo thinks is “Sometimes I think I understand everything else more than I’ll ever understand Leonie” (25). It is clear, as you suggested, that Jojo relies on Pop’s stories to understand how Pop relates to the world and to provide a framework for understanding his family’s past. Jojo seems to have accepted that he will never have a close relationship with Leonie, and he certainly doesn’t ask about memories from her youth.