Friday, September 14, 2018
Trees in "Sing, Unburied, Sing"
As I was reading the novel, I noticed a reoccurring emphasis on trees. I remembered our class discussions about the history of the southern setting and the significance of the past in both of our summer reading books. I think that the trees signify history; they grow and have roots buried deep, and remain an influential piece of the world. They don't disappear. On page 63, the trees in the area are described as tall, thick, and strong. This, I think, is a reference to the history of the South, and the culture. There has been a history with racism, and as we talked about in class, this past has not just disappeared; past actions and events still influence and have shaped the present. The ghosts in the end of the novel are sitting on tree branches; they are also pieces of the past and though their may be dead in body, they are still a part of the present, just in a different way than before. The trees also line the roads and surround them, even while on their road trip. The past is everywhere and can not be escaped, despite characters' attempts to do so.
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I think that this is a significant observation. Trees definitely are an essential symbol in this book as you said where the roots are representative of the past and the branches are representative of the present. In talking such a thing, its important to discuss how Leonie's past has affected her present. As we all know, Leonie's brother Given was shot by Michael's cousin. As we discussed Leonie and Michael's relationship in class, my group came to the conclusion that Leonie and Michael really only depend on each other to distract each other from their awful past. After Given's death, Leonie likely got with Michael because she needed someone to make her forget about her brother. Michael himself perhaps felt guilty about Given's death and as a result felt obliged to start a relationship with her. This is a good example of characters trying to escape their past like you mentioned. Instead of dealing with the fact that it happened head on and moving on from the event, the two try to indirectly deal with it by beginning a relationship. The same principle applies to Leonie getting high on drugs. She doesn't want to deal with her past so she takes drugs to deal with it only to find Given watching over, hoping that she quits her ways. Given's soul is meant to represent the fact that although Given not actually being there with her, he will always be in her heart. Thus, you could say Given himself and Leonie's past and the branches are the present with Leonie trying to cope with that past.
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