Honey

The song “You Are My Sunshine” is a motif in the novel, reflecting when a character is feeling or expressing love. “You Are My Sunshine” first comes up in Chapter 1, when Melody considers her father’s recent odd behavior: “He’d been whistling ‘You Are My Sunshine’ pretty much nonstop for weeks” (7). Melody later figures out he’s hiding a significant other, the titular “honey,” thus creating the link between the song and feelings of love.

The song comes up again in Chapter 9 when Melody catches Miss Hogan whistling the tune to “You Are My Sunshine” as she enters the Bee Hive. Miss Hogan later reveals that she’s getting married soon. Although this moment sets up Miss Hogan as the red herring in the novel’s main mystery, Miss Hogan’s excitement for her upcoming wedding is real, creating another link between the song and feelings of love.

This song is also significant to Mo, the dog. In Chapter 6, Mo recalls going home with his new family, “and the large woman was singing, ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…’ in a high clear voice as they sped down the road toward a new chapter in Mo’s life” (41).