I remember starting Sing, Unburied, Sing and immediately being drawn in by the descriptions in the first paragraphs. I think the first few pages in and of themselves could act as a separate story as they are so poignant and depict different themes with vivid imagery. In the first paragraph, we see Pop through Jojos eyes, which allows us to realize the influence he has on the way in which Jojo tries to portray himself. He is trying to fill the shoes of a man at thirteen - a task that Pop acknowledges as difficult. We learn that Pops opinion is crucial to Jojo, at one point he says, "I want Pop to know I can get bloody", a clear indication of his continual insistance that he is grown.
On page 6, the reader is given insight into a deeper tension hanging in the air when Jojo says "This smell is worse; it's the smell of death, the rot coming from something alive, something hot with blood and life." After reading the novel and coming back to this section, I realized it was not only the slaughtering of an animal that seemed to dwell in the air, rather it was the pain of the past and the recent death of Given. In reflection of the novel, there is a lot of foreshadowing that I didn't at first recognize.
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I felt the exact same way when I read that opening chapter. Usually when the narrator opens up with a background story, it’s fairly easy to predict what might happen later in the book. This was not the case for Sing Unburied Sing. When I read the scene about death, I knew there would be something possibly dying or getting killed later or maybe an act of violence, but I wasn’t exactly sure how. When pop kills one of the goats and the other ones are able to understand whats going on, I thought this would have some deeper meaning. If someone can enlighten me on this, that’d be great. I believe the author could have made the goats white and the one being killed brown and have the white goats completely oblivious to the situation. This would be a great foreshadowing and representation of the white community in Givens death. If anyone else thinks of other ways she could have done something like this, please feel free to add.
I agree Alana. The first chapter is very significant in terms of foreshadowing, especially when Jojo says he can look at death straight. Eventually he has to look at death physically in the form of Richie. The first chapter truly sets up the rest of the novel in an amazing way.
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