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Michael
Given is Leonie’s older brother, the only son of Pop and Mam. As a senior in high school, Given was a dedicated football player, close with both his white and black teammates. Ignoring Pop’s warnings about hanging out with white people, Given would go hunting with white people and one day struck up a bet with Michael’s cousin about who could kill a buck first. When Given won the bet, Michael’s cousin shot and killed him. Given then returns as a spirit, haunting the characters in the novel and particularly his sister Leonie. Given does not speak to Leonie, so his purpose as a ghost remains unclear. However, the fact that he appears whenever she is high suggests that Given is trying to encourage Leonie to stop engaging in self-destructive behavior and be a better mother to her children.
Given Quotes in Sing, Unburied, Sing
The Sing, Unburied, Sing quotes below are all either spoken by Given or refer to Given. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7: Leonie Quotes
This is a miracle, I think, so I close my eyes and ignore Given-not-Given, who is sitting there with a sad look on his face, mouth in a soft frown, and think of Michael, real Michael, and wonder if we had another baby, if it would look more like him than Michaela. If we had another baby, we could get it right.
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At Al’s house, all four adults get high and Leonie and Michael have sex. Afterward, Leonie sees Given in the room. She and Michael begin to have sex again; she hopes Given will go away but he doesn’t, and thus she chooses to simply ignore him. Despite Leonie’s ambivalence about motherhood, in the moment of having sex with Michael she experiences a utopian flash of feeling, imagining that if they have another baby they “could get it right.” Disturbingly, Leonie frames getting it “right” as having a baby that looks more like Michael, and thus more white than her real Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut al
Chapter 11: Jojo Quotes
I ain't never have the talent for it. Seeing the dead. I could read people, read the future or the past in they bodies. Know what was wrong or needed by their songs: in the plants, in the animals, too. But never saw the dead. Wanted it so bad after Given died––
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Jojo has asked Mam where she will go after she dies and if she will become a ghost. Mam has assured him she probably won’t become a ghost because she did not have a violent death. She asks Jojo if he’s ever seen a ghost, and Jojo lies, saying that he hasn’t. In this passage Mam explains that her special gifts do not extend to the ability to see the dead. Instead, Mam’s capabilities are focused on care and healing––with life rather than death. Mam’s words reassert the idea that plants, people, animals, the living and the dead are all Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea susc
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Given Character Timeline in Sing, Unburied, Sing
The timeline below shows where the character Given appears in Sing, Unburied, Sing. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Leonie
...feels sad. Every time Leonie gets high, she sees a vision of her older brother, Given. This time Misty notices her staring. Misty (who is white) has black boyfriend named Bishop,...
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In his senior year of high school, Leonie’s brother Given was a dedicated football player who was friends with both his white and black teammates....
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...with the “gift” can see dead people, but that Mam can only dream of seeing Given again. Leonie saw him for the first time three years ago, after doing a line...
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...house to say she is going to pick Michael up. After Michael’s cousin had killed Given, Michael spoke to Leonie for the first time. He came up to her in school,...
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Chapter 4: Leonie
Leonie looks at Jojo in the backseat and thinks that he looks like Given, but more serious. Misty wants to drive past a courthouse that is apparently beautiful, but...
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Chapter 7: Leonie
...sex, which Leonie describes as a transcendent, sacred experience. After they are finished, Leonie sees Given sitting in the room, but she tries to ignore him. She expects Given to disappear,...
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...officer searches the vehicle, and as he does so Leonie gets suddenly and violently high. Given appears, and Kayla vomits again. The officer finds nothing but Jojo’s gris-gris bag, which he...
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Chapter 10: Leonie
...take her out. Mam falls asleep and Leonie leaves the room, walking past photographs of Given and past Kayla, who has fallen asleep white eating a cracker. Suddenly, Leonie can feel...
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Chapter 11: Jojo
...rig during that fishing trip. Michael also admitted that it was his cousin who killed Given. Michael serves up the bacon, but it is burnt, and Kayla falls to the floor...
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...still be present, on the other side of the door, and that she’ll be with Given, Pop’s parents, and her own parents. Mam tells him that time isn’t a “straight line,”...
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Chapter 12: Richie
...Leonie tell Michael that she has something to do, and for a second he sees Given, but, just as suddenly, Given is gone. Richie watches Leonie walk to Given’s grave and...
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Chapter 14: Leonie
After bringing Mam the rocks from the cemetery, Leonie goes to find Given. She sees him and he shakes his head at her. Leonie knows that Given can...
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...says, but still young and in need of love. He wants to see his mother. Given is then in the room again, and Leonie feels frightened. Given repeats: “Not your mother.”...
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...to accept their offerings. Jojo tells someone that he got what he came for, and Given joins in: “You heard my nephew. Go, Richie.” Leonie cannot see Richie, only Given. Jojo...
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...and that she wants to go to Al’s. She wants to get high and see Given again, even though she knows he won’t come anymore. Michael says they need to stay...
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