Point of View

Sing, Unburied, Sing is told through multiple first-person viewpoints that allow Ward to make connections between the past and present and represent the different ways that multiple generations are shaped by, and respond to, their history.

The first narrator is 13-year-old Jojo, whose perspective reflects both his innocence as a young person but also his dawning, adult knowledge of the impact of race and his mother's drug addiction on his life and that of his sister. As a child during contemporary times, Jojo is able to represent what happened to the grandchildren of the civil rights generation and the difficulties of black childhood that emerge because of the persistence of white supremacy. Jojo is the target of extra disciplinary measures by his white teacher, reflecting a realistic take on what happens to black children within the educational system, especially African American boys. Jojo also represents...