We Deserve Monuments

Content Warning: This section of the guide references racism, colorism, anti-gay bias, anti-fat bias, emotional abuse, and terminal illness.

In the early chapters of We Deserve Monuments, Avery dreads moving from Washington DC to small-town Bardell County, Georgia. She views the Confederate Flag hanging from a local bar and bullet holes on the town’s welcome sign as confirmation of her expectations about Bardell: that, as a small town in the Deep South, it must be unilaterally socially and politically conservative. As a Black, pansexual teenager, Avery assumes that Bardell will be unwelcoming. Her understanding of setting as contributing to political atmosphere—which, for liberal and justice-minded Avery, equates to potential happiness in a location—starts off as binary and based on stereotypes. For Avery, a city in the North must be liberal and accepting, something Avery equates with being “good.” Similarly, a small town in the South must be conservative and unaccepting, which Avery mentally frames as “bad.” The longer she spends in Bardell, however, the more Avery embraces that this paradigm is insufficient. Avery learns that it is the individuals within her city or town who determine her relationship with the place and give her a sense of home.