Throughout Sing, Unburied, Sing, Ward focuses on characters' addictions to hard drugs and addictions impacts on their lives. In the first chapter, Jojo's mother, Leonie, is revealed to "[snort] crushed pills" in her introduction (Ward 7). Leonie and Jojo's father, Michael, are users of hard drugs, ranging from methamphetamines to crack cocaine. The point-of-view changes from chapter to chapter, giving different perspectives on Leonie and Michael's behaviors and actions. Ward paints a picture of a family broken by drugs and addiction.
Leonie is a failing mother, consumed by her addiction to a plethora of drugs and blinding love for Michael. Leonie often recognizes her shortcomings, from failing to buy Jojo a birthday present to an overwhelming urge to hit her children when they go against her orders (Ward 33, 146). To cope with her insufficient mothering and to escape her life, she turns to drugs and the short-term relief they bring. Although Leonie tries to hide her addiction, Jojo and her parents are aware, leading to built-up resentment against her. In one instance, Leonie drops a bagged jar of methamphetamines in front of Jojo, "It is clear, a whole pack of broken glass, and I've seen this before. I know what this is [...] Leonie will not look at me as she picks it up [...]" (Ward 113). Even when her children need her as a mother, such as when Kayla, her toddler, is sick and cannot stop vomiting, she shrugs the responsibility onto Jojo, choosing instead to get high with Michael (Ward 147-148). For Michael, Leonie has tunnel vision, blinding her from the responsibilities of motherhood. Leonie's consistent inability to care for her children on top of her addictions leads to the divide between her and her children.
Michael enters the story midway through Sing, Unburied, Sing, and similar to Leonie, is an absent parent addicted to methamphetamines. Jojo and Leonie describe him before his entrance, and he is revealed to have been a rig welder at Deepwater Horizon before the accident (ward 92). Following the rig's fire, he returns home without work and begins cooking and using methamphetamines. Initially, Leonie believes his dramatic physical changes are due to the trauma from Deepwater Horizon, "When he started getting skinny, I thought it was because of his nightmares. When his cheekbones started standing out on his face like rocks under water, I thought it was because he was stressed out over money" (Ward 93). Instead, the physical changes are due to his transformation into a junkie, cooking and smuggling methamphetamines to other users, which is implied to be the reason for his sentence at Parchman. Even after his return to the family's home, he continues to be an absent parent, with Jojo remarking, "[Leonie] come back every week, stay for two days, and then leave again. Her and Michael sleep on the sofa, both of them fish-tin, slender as two gray sardines, packed just as tight' (Ward 277). While Jojo holds animosity toward Leonie, Michael essentially functions as a stranger in his life, an attachment to Leonie. For Michael, his absence primarily drives the divide between him and his children, but his addiction leads directly to his absence as a father.
Leonie and Michael's blinding love for one another goes hand-in-hand with their drug addictions. Their love and addiction blind them from their abilities to raise and parent Jojo and Kayla, leading to gaping divides between them and their families. With the novel's conclusion, perhaps they will never escape the cycles of their addiction and behaviors. Ward's portrayal of their family is an all too realistic portrayal of drug abuse and addiction in America and the toll it takes on families.
I think this is a good way to look at Leonie and Michael! I completely agree that their relationship is even more codependent and unhealthy because of their shared drug abuse. Since they rely so heavily on one another, neither one has any incentive to recover from their addiction, so the cycle continues. It's unfortunate how the drug addictions and unhealthy relationships between characters in this book reinforce each other so strongly, especially since it reflects real life scenarios. You're right - this book makes us think about how many real-life families are hurt by drug addiction, among many other things as well.
ReplyDeleteI like the quotes you chose, especially the one from Leonie's perspective about Michael's physical changes. I think it gives a very realistic portrayal of how someone close might experience watching their loved one spiral into addiction, and it is very well written of course. The second quote in that paragraph is also a great example of how Leonie only seems to care about Michael above everyone else in her life, including their own children. Thanks for sharing your interpretation of their relationship, I personally think it is one of the most realistic parts of the novel so it's interesting to hear what others have to say about it.