Big Lies in a Small Town: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide references a sexual assault and discusses suicide.

“Because though they were young, one thing they'd already learned. Colored boy found with a dead white body? That didn't look good to nobody.”

When a group of Black children discovers the body of a dead white man, they instinctively know to leave it alone and to pretend that they never saw it. In the American South of 1940, guilt by association (or even mere proximity) is a very real fear. In this scene, Chamberlain establishes the dangers faced by the Black community in the South, even before she introduces her main characters or plot. In this way, she emphasizes the overarching presence of racism within the fabric of society during this time frame. This reality will ultimately result in Jesse and Anna’s decision to run from their crime rather than to defend it.

“From somewhere in the heavens, her mother was applauding.”

When Anna decides to accept the Edenton mural commission, she does so on blind faith. She has never been south of the Mason-Dixon Line before, she is still grieving the death of her mother, and she knows no one in Edenton. But her mother always advised her to take risks, and so, heeding that advice feels like a tribute to her. Despite her mother’s mental illness, the connection between them was strong up until her death, and the best way for her to honor her mother’s memory is to take that leap into the unknown.