Sing Unburied Sing Sparknotes

‘“What you want me to sing?’ I ask, even though she never tells me…she loves to hear me sing” (Ward 19-20). This is the first time of many that Jojo sings to Kayla throughout Sing, Unburied, Sing. While song shows up many times during the novel, its meaning doesn’t become apparent until much later in the story, when the dead tell more of their story, and characters can finally hear the titular song of the novel. The title, Sing, Unburied, Sing, acts as a command towards both the unfairly dead, and towards the living, as both are unburied. The song that the title and book references symbolizes unity, which means different things for the dead and living characters.
To the dead, the song means homecoming, of being able to move on beyond the trauma

In a novel that has very little hope or optimism in the characters that tell the story, the song that they hear is a spark of hope for them. The title, “Sing, Unburied, Sing”, is a command towards both the unfairly dead and the living characters that can see them in the novel. The dead are asked to share their stories, and to find closure so they can move on. The living are asked to sing to the dead and to each other, to comfort each other and to listen to the stories that others sing for them. This conclusion can be made by the ways that Richie and Leonie talk about their shortcomings in their ability to hear and sing the “song”, which will be explored later in this

Part of that need for homecoming and general theme of unity means the ghosts have a need to tell the story of their deaths. This need is shown on pages 284 when “the melody… cuts their whispering but twines with it at the same time…and the multitude of ghosts lean forward, nodding.” Kayla’s song stops the ghosts from their constant retelling of their deaths by cutting their speech, but it also mixes with it and seems to validate their stories, judging by the ghosts’ responses to Kayla interrupting them. Another need for hearing the song is pieced together through Richie’s narrative. At first, he describes his belief that learning the details of his death will help him, saying that “I thought once I knew, I could… Become. The song” (Ward 281), but later, after Mam has died, he describes that he is stuck “Wandering against. The song” (Ward 282). His inability to move on is directly related to his inability to move with the song/move on towards whatever comes after this