Monday, September 16, 2019
Why does Leonie only see ghosts when she is high?
I started thinking more about the novel and about the characters themselves. And I thought about when certain characters see ghosts and when they don't. One question that came to mind was: How is it significant that Jojo and Kayla can see the ghosts of Richie and Mam sober, yet Leonie can only see Given's ghost when she is high? And what does this mean? (Hopefully y'all will have some opinions on this question, but I started to think about the answer myself.) I think one possible answer to this question could be that Jojo and Kayla can see ghosts sober because they still contain some innocence, unlike their mother, Leonie. Leonie NEEDS to see Given, and therefore she NEEDS to use drugs to see him. Her innocence is long gone and the only way she can see him is by taking in the drugs and getting high. What do y'all think about this? What else could be the reasons?
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3 comments:
Cross culturally being high/intoxicated has always had some ties with the divine/divining. In ancient Greece when people would drink wine and get drunk they thought that they were channeling the God Dionysus and Pythia would sit in smoke to "see the future". Heck people still drink Ayahuasca to have experiences with the unknown(there are countless other examples but those are just ones that came to mind). It brings you to an altered state of mind which some people call divine so it's not that crazy that Jesmyn Ward uses this trope in her book as a way for Leonie to see Given. I mean this doesn't really answer your question but I found it interesting that she sees Given while high as well.
I agree with the point you’re making here. I feel that the reason Leonie only sees Given when she is high is because she longs for his presence and needs to see him as a comfort for her. But I think her innocence is reflected by the fact that she still does drugs to hide from her adult life. Whereas when Richie appears to Jojo, its more so the opposite. I think Richie feels as if he needs to talk to Jojo to warn him of the dangers of life. Richie also is trying to reach Pa (River) through Jojo. Richie sees parts of Pa within Jojo in the way he holds himself and in the way he walks, which is highlighted in the novel. I think in this resemblance, Richie is able to find comfort in Jojos character.
I would also like to point out that when Kayla and Jojo see the ghosts they are not totally in their best mind set. Kayla has been very sick and hungry, and I believe that this is when she firsts mentions the birds. Jojo is also not in best condition after trying to care for Kayla and Jojo is hungry as well. If we look at these instances we see that the ghosts usually appear to the characters when they are not truly "sober."
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