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Summary
Chapter 3
The morning after his birthday, Jojo eats a cold breakfast of leftover goat with gravy and rice. He was abruptly woken up by his mother to go and pick up Michael from Parchman, and though he doesn’t want to go he knows he must. Jojo prepares for the trip by dressing and stuffing clothes into a plastic grocery bag, as he doesn't own an overnight bag. He attempts to heat his breakfast, but Leonie rushes him out, so he eats it cold.
Pop is waiting outside, and Misty is already in the car. Leonie is impatient, but Jojo lingers to say goodbye to Pop, who tells him to take care of Leonie and Kayla. Jojo hugs him, something he hasn't done in a long time, and the group drives away. It's hot, and Kayla falls asleep with snacks in her hand. Jojo is thirsty, but when they stop for gas Leonie tells him to buy a Coke for her and forbids him from getting a drink himself. To distract himself he reads the map Leonie has marked, thinking about Parchman. He recalls another chunk of Richie’s story, which Pop told him after Jojo had just had an embarrassing conversation about safe sex with Mam. Again, Pop only tells him a small part of it, describing the long line of prison workers in the fields. He describes to Jojo how just few generations back, their own relatives had been kidnapped and enslaved to work the land of those same fields. Returning to the present moment in the car, Jojo finds a gris-gris bag in his bundle of clothes, left there by Pop to give him magical protection. Pop believes that these bags help maintain the balance of the universe, and that the things inside lend people their power in the right circumstances. Jojo recalls another chunk of Richie’s story, where Pop described how he came to be given the task of caring for the watchdogs at Parchman.
Leonie and Misty discuss hair and the weather, ignoring Jojo. They eventually reach a cluster of houses where a dog chases chickens, and a little boy pretends to shoot at them with a stick. Leonie honks the horn to get someone's attention, which stirs a woman to come out of one of the houses. The woman’s name is Carlotta, and she invites them all inside. Jojo doesn’t know why they have stopped here, and he is instructed to stay in the living room with Kayla while Leonie, Carlotta and Misty go into the kitchen to talk. The boy from outside is playing Grand Theft Auto, but is bad at it and he keeps losing. He reacts violently by throwing the controller, getting rapidly angrier and eventually smashing the television with a baseball bat. Carlotta hears it break and screams obscenities at him, violently beating him with the same bat.
Leonie insists they need to leave soon, and Jojo asks to use the bathroom but is told it's broken. He goes outside to pee, and smelling something chemical and familiar, peeks into a shed. He sees a man—Carlotta’s husband Fred—cooking meth. Jojo recognizes the setup from the meth lab that Michael had, before he was sent to jail. As they leave the house, Jojo notices Misty trying to hide a paper bag she got from Fred. In the back of the car he shares some snacks he stole from the house with Kayla, trying to eat the crunchy crackers quietly.
Analysis
Jojo's role as a caretaker within his family is already clear to the reader, but it crystallizes in this chapter. The day of the road trip, Leonie treats her son even more dismissively than she usually does. Jojo’s morning routine is disrupted by Leonie's urgent preparations for the trip, none of which include helping him or Kayla prepare. His bland observation, that "breakfast today was cold goat with gravy and rice," sets the tone for the day's events. The food is cold and stale, but Leonie is colder. Her focus is entirely on the journey ahead, rather than talking to her children about their dad’s imminent return from jail. Leonie's insistence on rushing and her lack of consideration for Jojo's needs aren’t unusual for her, but with the prospect of Michael’s return she’s not even trying to seem interested in her children.
Jojo's reflections on the journey to the jail to pick up Michael remind the reader of the inversion of parent-child roles in this family. Jojo tries to act proactively and protectively toward his mother and Kayla, while Leonie tends to prioritize her own needs and goals. The traditional roles of caretaker and child are switched, allowing Leonie to act independently and imposing adult responsibilities on Jojo. The advice Pop gives Jojo about car maintenance—"You remember how to change a tire? Check the oil and coolant?"—is both practical advice for the road and a moment that emphasizes these premature burdens. This dialogue suggests the direct transmission of responsibility for Leonie and Kayla from grandfather to grandson. Pop totally bypasses Leonie, who is physically present but emotionally and functionally absent. His clear concern for the children's safety contrasts with Leonie's dismissiveness towards her responsibilities.
The detail of Leonie's "real bag, something made of cotton and canvas," in contrast with Jojo's "plastic grocery bag" foreshadows the lack of generosity Jojo receives. She takes care of her own belongings, but Jojo's well-being seems like an afterthought. Leonie's focus on herself, even in such a minor instance, reveals a larger pattern of behavior. When they stop at the gas station and Leonie gives Jojo money to buy a Coke, she insists that he buy only one and bring her back the change. The Coke is for her, and Jojo has to continue enduring his thirst in the backseat. Leonie's insistence on keeping the change is an example of her tendency to prioritize her own needs over her children's well-being. She knows that Jojo is thirsty but decides to relieve her own discomfort and let him suffer. This act, though small, speaks to a larger emotional disconnect, one which Mam and Pop see clearly and Leonie tries to ignore. Leonie is fundamentally self-centered, focused on her own struggles rather than attending to her children’s basic needs or fostering a connection.
To distract himself, Jojo reads the map Leonie has marked, thinking about Parchman. This doesn’t last long, as when he sees Misty applying lip-gloss in the wing mirror, she winks at him. Instantly, he has an unfamiliar flash of sexual desire. It also instantly makes him remember a time when he was called into Mam’s bedroom to have “the talk,” and how hideously embarrassed he was by it. This uncomfortable confluence of memories is evidence of how Jojo's awakening sexuality conflicts with the expectations of his family. The unexpected desire he experiences towards Misty clashes with the awkward memory of "the talk" with Mam. The two suddenly seem tangled together, which confuses him. He's thrust into a caretaker role, forced to act like an adult, yet bombarded with confusing sexual urges that he’s too young to properly understand.
