Sing, Unburied, Sing

Richie marvels at Jojo’s innocence: 

When I was thirteen, I knew much more than him. I knew that metal shackles could grow into the skin. I knew that leather could split flesh like butter. I knew that hunger could hurt, could scoop me hollow as a gourd, and that seeing my siblings starving could hollow out a different part of me, too (185).

Still, Richie admits that there were things he himself didn’t understand at Jojo’s age. Since dying, for instance, he has realized that “time is a vast ocean, and that everything is happening at once” (186). This explains why the version of Parchman Richie sees constantly changes, even as his spirit remains tied to the place: Sometimes, he sees the land as it was before European colonization, while at other times he sees the jail in its current state. However, Richie never sees Parchman as it was during his own imprisonment, except “in memory, memories that rose like bubbles of decay to the surface of a swamp” (187). 

One of these memories involves a prostitute, “Sunshine Woman,” who used to visit Pop and the other inmates. On one visit, she told Pop and Richie about the lynching of a local black couple and advised both of them to move north once they were free.