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The Freshman
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in We Deserve Monuments, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth vs. Secrecy
Independence and Coming of Age
Family, Inheritance, and Legacy
Grief, Resentment, and Isolation
Racism, History, and Resistance
Summary
Analysis
Avery grows closer to Jade and Simone. The two girls take Avery around Bardell, including the Draper Hotel and Spa. On the wall of the hotel is a mural that Jade painted of her late mother Amelia, who was murdered outside the hotel. Jade is hoping the historical society will erect a statue in her mother’s honor. Her family, the Olivers, have owned the Draper for generations and are thus very wealthy. Simone and Jade explain to Avery that many people in the town believe Jade’s father, Lucas Oliver, hired a hitman to kill Amelia so that Lucas could marry his mistress Tallulah. Lucas agreed to let Jade paint the mural because the mystery around Amelia’s death is good for business. This is why Carole and Mama Letty disapprove of Simone’s friendship with Jade.
Unlike Simone and Avery, Jade comes from a wealthy White family with significant influence in Bardell. Jade uses that influence to direct attention to her mother, honoring Amelia with a memorial. However, not all dead people have the privilege of being memorialized; notably, the only people with memorials to them in Bardell are Richard Beckwith and Amelia Oliver, both of whom were wealthy and White.
Active
Themes
Carole works at the Draper, and she waits on the girls as they eat an extravagant meal and charge it to Jade’s father’s tab. Jade and Simone explain the history of the Draper, which caters to tourists’ desire for an “idyllic Southern fantasy” that erases the history of Jim Crow. Amelia was the person who suggested adding a spa to the hotel, which led to business booming. Jade’s stepmother Tallulah interrupts, telling Jade with false charm that she should spend more time with “nice girls” instead of Simone and Avery. Jade’s father Lucas arrives, and he and Tallulah reprimand Carole for having wrinkles in her uniform.
