Analyzing how a refrain about laughter repeats in the memoir.
“Laughed and laughed and laughed until” is a refrain I annotated in Heavy by Kiese. For this annotating-and-analyzing project, I used 14 tabs. Marking the quotes allowed my to look at them all together and come up with light analysis of the refrain’s purpose in the memoir.
I think the purpose of the “laughed and laughed and laughed until…” refrain in the memoir is
- for musical emphasis
- for characterization (specifically to encourage character comparisons)
- and maybe it’s heavy repetition is a titular nod
Additionally, what author PHILLIP B. WILLIAMS says about repetition hugely informs my reading of the refrain in Heavy too. 1
Here are two more ways the repetition of this refrain works in the memoir:
ONE: Haunting
“REPETITION AS A WAY TO SHOW HAUNTING: THAT SOMETHING ISN’T GOING AWAY, CAN’T GO AWAY EASILY, CAN’T BE GOTTEN RID OF.” – Phillip B. Williams
TWO: Attention
“REPETITION AS A DEMAND FOR THE READER TO STAY IN IT, TO PAY ATTENTION, TO WATCH LANGUAGE, TO WATCH THESE WORDS.” -Phillip B. Williams
Mark the Quotes in Your Book
from BEEN p 4:
“We were excellent at working until our bodies gave out, excellent at laughing and laughing and laughing until we didn’t.“
optional: BEEN p 1 “black laughs”
from MEAGER p 78:
“Every time he dunked, LaThon and I laughed and laughed and laughed until we didn’t.“
from ALREADY p 145:
“Nzola and I laughed and laughed and laughed until we hugged, turned the lights off, turned the lights on, said we were sorry, and said we were afraid.” & “We laughed….We laughed…We laughed…”
from NAN p 31:
“Grandmama laughed and laughed until she didn’t when I called the cheese Gourmet African American cheese.”
from BE p 49:
“Grandmama laughed and laughed and laughed until she didn’t.“
BE p 57:
“Quick feets?” she said again, and kept laughing until she almost fell out of her chair. “Quick foots?”
BEND p 238:
“Grandmama will laugh and laugh and laugh until she tells me she is sorry.”
HULK p 93:
“I laughed and laughed and laughed at Kamala Lackey’s joke until I didn’t.
FANTASTIC p 125:
“I laughed and laughed and laughed until I didn’t.“
BEND p 235:
“I will fall to my knees that day and laugh and I will laugh and I will laugh until I cry.”
CONTRACTIONS p 83:
“You laughed and laughed and laughed until you didn’t.“
TRAIN p 16:
“She was…all-world at never really laughing at anyone else’s sentences until she was good and ready.”
TRAIN p 19:
“That’s funny,” Layla said, and laughed and laughed and laughed until she didn’t.
HULK p 91:
“Not at all,” she said, and laughed until she started coughing.
ALREADY p 146:
“Nzola laughed and laughed and laughed until she didn’t.”
Check out this post on Instagram:
- Phillip B. Williams said this on Instagram Live on December 16, 2025 (his handle is @phillipbw_author) I learned so much about pattern repetition in poetry from this LIVE, but I found it applies so much to this memoir too. ↩︎
Annotate With Sara 