We Deserve Monuments

Third-person omniscient narration describes the residents of Sweetness Lane, which the residents do find sweet despite its run-down qualities. Carole has spent her life there, inheriting her childhood home and living there through the birth of three children and the death of one of those children, after which her husband left her. She frets over her letter to Zora, whom she considers “a ghost from her childhood” (23).

Avery unpacks the car, catching her mother’s anguished comments about not knowing the state of Letty’s illness, though Zora quickly covers up her distress. Sam brushes off Avery’s question about “what is up with [Zora] and Mama Letty” by emphasizing that their role is to help, “stay out of Mama Letty’s way” and get through the temporary situation (25).

Avery enters Zora’s old bedroom, which will now be hers, pushing aside romantic thoughts about Simone. She thinks of the family motto, “focus forward,” which has helped her through hard times in the past. She looks at texts from Hikari and Kelsi, though she doesn’t respond. Mama Letty criticizes her for staring at her phone, then rudely dismisses Avery’s offer of help.

Avery settles into Bardell, finding life quiet and lonely. She feels increasingly resentful of Hikari and Kelsi, particularly when they criticize her course load at what they call “Hickstown High.” Avery connects with their excitement for their senior year, however, thinking about how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their expectations about their high school experience. Though the three friends long planned to attend Georgetown together, Avery is less enthusiastic about the plan following her breakup with Kelsi.

Zora shows Avery her high school yearbook, leaving Avery marveling over the younger versions of Zora and Carole. Avery cautiously asks if there was something remarkable about their last visit to Bardell, as she vaguely remembers screaming. Zora comments that “nothing really” notable occurred. Avery sits with Letty while her parents go purchase dinner; Letty smokes and calls Avery “Fish,” taunting her about her lip ring. Simone exits her house and invites Avery to meet her best friend, Jade. Avery, determined to avoid “drama,” refuses. Avery overhears Carole commenting that she dislikes Simone spending time with Jade, but Mama Letty refuses to explain. (In Chapter 4, Avery learns this is because Jade’s father is rumored to have ordered Jade’s mother’s murder.)

Sam teases Avery good-naturedly about her school uniform as she prepares for her senior year, while Zora offhandedly calls the outfit “cute.” Avery enters Letty’s messy room, intrigued when Letty calls her “stubborn [like her] grandfather” (40). Avery knows nothing about her maternal grandfather, but Letty refuses to offer more information. Sam asks if Avery would like to accompany him on a weekend work trip back to DC. She agrees, though she is unenthused.

Avery is unimpressed with the small, run-down Beckwith Academy. Simone and Jade greet Avery and show her the statue of the school’s founder, Richard Beckwith, who was “a giant, racist prick” (44). The three girls have their first class together; Avery notes that all the students are white except for her and Simone. A student named Tim makes probing comments about Avery’s sexuality until Jade embarrasses him in front of the other students. Avery feels warmed by this gesture of support.

Jade and Simone introduce Avery to Beckwith. At lunch, Simone complains about a teacher’s racist comments about her locs but reports giving in rather than letting him “mess up [her] chances at Spelman” (47). Simone and Jade tease Avery about being “afraid” or “too cool” to hang out with them. Avery asks about Tim, and Jade and Simone are surprised when Avery casually talks about being gay. Simone encourages Avery to spend the weekend in Bardell instead of returning to DC.

Locals in Bardell consider Beckwith Academy and Bardell High School “the white school and the black school,” respectively (51). Beckwith, originally opened by white parents who opposed desegregation of schools, is highly funded and remains overwhelmingly white, while underfunded Bardell High is overwhelmingly Black. From her freshman year, Simone rubbed the toe of the Richard Beckwith statue, not for luck (as school tradition held), but to remind herself that “she wouldn’t rest until the metal shards of this racist man made a home on the concrete where they belonged” (52).

Despite her resolve to focus on schoolwork, Avery becomes closer to Simone and Jade. The two locals take Avery on a tour, which ends at a mural of an angelic-looking white woman painted on the Draper Hotel & Spa; Jade painted the mural of her late mother, Amelia. Jade’s family owns the hotel, while Carole works there. Simone criticizes Jade’s stepmother, Tallulah, for marrying Jade’s father “like two seconds after Amelia died” (58). While Jade is unimpressed by her family business, Simone posits that it “single-handedly saved this town” (58). She believes the main draw isn’t the town’s history but the sordid rumor that Jade’s father orchestrated his first wife’s murder, as he was having an affair with Tallulah.

The three girls enjoy the various appetizers that Syrup, the Draper’s restaurant, sells. Avery reflects on how her friends’ allergies and dietary preferences restricted where she ate in DC. Jade and Simone explain how Jade’s family, after the civil rights movement, created an “idyllic Southern fantasy” that would let white tourists visit the South without “[being] reminded of all the evil shit they were responsible for” (61). Amelia added the spa, greatly increasing the Draper’s profile.

Tallulah enters, needing little prompting to brag about the Draper at length. She makes veiled comments about Jade finding “nice” friends, making Avery self-conscious about her piercing. Lucas, Jade’s father, enters. Avery finds herself instinctually disliking him. Carole enters, urging the girls to leave, and Lucas criticizes her for her “uniform compliance,” claiming her perfect shirt is “wrinkly” (66). When they leave, Simone congratulates Avery on “[surviving her] first meeting with the Murderer and the Mistress” (66).

The Oliver family has owned Ivy Rose Plantation since 1828. The land’s visible signs of its history of enslaved labor were only erased when one white owner considered it “unsightly.” Ohio native Amelia felt uncomfortable about living on a plantation, though this discomfort diminished over time. She transformed the Ivy Rose into a wedding destination and ignored her in-laws’ racist rhetoric and her knowledge of her husband’s affair, afraid of losing her daughter and her comfortable life.

Jade fervently apologizes for her parents, citing her hatred of Bardell and desire to move to New York. Avery, discomfited by all she has learned, resolves to enjoy her weekend in DC. Jade comments on the difficulty of watching Mama Letty die slowly, though Simone argues this is easier than the sudden death of Amelia and Simone’s brother, Shawn, who died in a car accident. Jade and Simone encourage Avery to enjoy the time she has left with Letty. Avery puzzles over how to do this, given Letty’s combativeness. She resolves to get to know her grandmother.

When Avery seeks more information from Zora, Zora cites her “old family drama” as painful and not worth discussing (78). She tells Avery, however, that “if Simone is anything like her mother,” then she is “a friend worth having” (78). She cautions, however, that Avery should be careful about gossip in small towns. Avery feels that her life is changing, though she cannot yet pinpoint how. She resolves, however, not to go back to DC for the weekend and instead spend time with her new friends.