Music

Music is one theme which takes a different meaning for each character in the novel. Music opens the novel, as the orchestra acts as a symbol for the day's celebrations and merriment. It also is the background noise of the tension between Melody and Iris. Between arguments about what music should be played at Melody's sixteenth birthday celebration, Melody and Iris show substantial resentments towards one another. At one point, Melody pointedly says, "you regret the hell out of me" (7). Underneath the argument about music, Woodson illustrates the tense relationship between Melody and her mother.

On the other hand, music as a theme is also used in a positive sense. Melody's own name is "like a song," as her grandfather announces that her birth was "cause for the world to sing" (47). For Po'Boy, he explores his love and excitement about Melody's future by talking about music...