Both One Hundred Years of Solitude and Sing, Unburied, Sing feature ghosts of the past haunting the people of the present. I find that we can view these ghosts in two ways.
The ghosts are reminders that the characters can't escape the past (and their guilt). Although Jose Arcadio Buendia killed Prudencio Aguilar at the beginning of his long life, he is haunted by his ghost for the rest of his life. Even at an old age, he talks to Prudencio's ghost like an old friend, who has, strangely enough, aged like Jose Arcadio Buendia even in ghost form. Jose Arcadio Buendia can't escape the ghosts of his past just as Leonie can't escape the ghost of her brother Given. Leonie only sees Given when she gets high; she feels guilty about doing drugs, which Given wouldn't have wanted her to do. Leonie also can't escape the past--the vicious cycle of drug use is entrenched in her community.
The ghosts can't move onto the next world because of the violent nature of the society they live in. Prudencio Aguilar is killed simply for implying that another man is impotent--one hasty sentence, possibly said in jest, ended his life at a young age. Given, a teenager, was killed because he beat a white kid at shooting; Richie, only thirteen, died at the hands of another teenager trying to save him from being skinned alive. The worlds these young men live in are very much flawed; people use violence as a tool to assert their pride. Marquez and Ward include restless ghosts who can't move peacefully into the afterlife in their novels to highlight the social issues their characters face.
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I completely agree with both of your readings of the ghosts in the two novels, but I'd like to add something that specifically focuses on "Sing, Unburied, Sing." Your first point can even be extended to society as a whole. Jesmyn Ward's inclusion of the ghosts of Richie and Given serves as a reminder of the past in general. Through these ghosts, Ward conveys the point that the past cannot simply be ignored and pushed under the rug; that the South's history of racism and slavery will never be completely erased. Even though the South has made major strides towards complete equality, its past is still tainted with the imagery of slavery-- an image that today's citizens cannot just wish away. Ward does not include these ghosts as if to say that the South will always be flawed because of its history, but rather to demonstrate that the South must accept its past in order to continue in the right direction. Richie and Given are living, breathing reminders of the racist past-- reminders that serve to further advance the South.
As all of these interpretations of the ghosts in “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Sing Unburied Sing” are well in accordance with what we’ve discussed in class, I would like to add some cultural insight on the topic that’s less analytical of the novels and plots themselves and more on the influence they’ve had or taken from societies trend to portray ghosts this way.
Throughout our lives we’ve seen ghosts be portrayed as symbols of guilt, regret, or the past as a whole, as Lainey has pointed out, whether that be from stories like “A Christmas Carol” to “Charlie St. Cloud”. Both of these stories contain characters that come back as ghosts to remind the protagonist of their past. The other purpose or trait of the ghosts, as Lainey explained, would be their struggle to find peace before moving onto the next world. Most of the time this struggle comes from violence that was involved with the death, which is symbolic of the society we live in now. Movies or shows like “The Ghost Whisperer”’s whole plot revolve around this concept.
However another point that we have failed to bring up thus far is a third purpose ghosts serve in novels and movies and tv shows:
***They provide guidance for the main characters (whether that be purposefully or unknowingly). ***
In both “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Sing Unburied Sing” as well as the movies (/shows) I mentioned and more all have ghosts in them to provide a guidance for the character that isn’t, well, dead— it’s almost like they’re wiser now that they’re in another realm of existence or something (or other times they’re just straight up lost). Sometimes their guidance may work, other times it may not, but it always seems clear that it’s there. For example in “Sing Unburied Sing” we see Givens attempt to remind Leonie that she doesn’t need to do the things she does because of him. He tries to change her for the better and provides his guidance by doing so.
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