Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books

The Handmaid’s Tale (1986) by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian bestseller about a future authoritarian society that subjugates and sexually exploits women to produce children for ruling-class men. This chapter illustrates the parallels between religious oppression in Troy and in Atwood’s Gilead.

The disgraced mayor’s wife, Melody Sykes, has given up her idea to poison her husband, but she ruefully reflects on the havoc that a bad man can wreak on a woman’s life. She thinks, “Giving a marriage everything you’ve got means one day you could be left with nothing” (227). Melody’s father indoctrinated her with the belief that God favored an obedient wife as long as she didn’t stray from the path of the righteous.

After Randy’s disgrace and abandonment, Melody is no longer at the apex of Troy society, but she senses an opportunity after Lula is accused of planting banned books in her little library. Melody intends to challenge both Beverly and Lula for the position of mayor. She walks over to the little library with her 10-year-old son, Beau, in tow. This is a mistake since Melody plans to begin her anti-smut campaign by holding up Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. This is the book that Beau read to reassure him his mother wasn’t going to bleed to death. The boy tells the assembled crowd about his fears and that the book helped him. Feeling put on the spot by onlookers, Melody reassures Beau that there was no reason at all to ban the book, and everyone else agrees. Sensing that her political career is over, she goes back home.

Nickel and Dimed (2010) by Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist’s expose of the lives of low-paid workers in America. The book was banned by North Carolina politicians and communities in many other parts of the country have challenged it. Its placement as the title of this chapter criticizes the low-status position assigned to someone like Ronnie Childers, who never stands a chance of rising within Troy’s pecking order.

Lindsey returns to Troy after she hears of Logan’s death. She blames herself for his death since she was the one to swap out the banned books. Lindsey incorrectly assumes that the copy of The Catcher in the Rye found at Logan’s house must have pushed him over the edge. She thinks, “She’d kicked over a rock that had long sat undisturbed. Then she’d left town before all the horrible creatures crawled out. Nazis, rapists, and killers—not to mention hypocrites and opportunists” (235).

When Lindsey gets to her parents’ house, intending to confess her prank, the Wright family and news reporters are already there. Then, the sheriff arrives to charge Beverly with stealing the books in Lula’s library and substituting the banned titles, which she stored in her basement. Overhearing this charge, Lindsey steps forward and confesses. Later, Ronnie Childers arrives and offers to take the blame. He helped Lindsey commit the crime, and he already has a felony record for ingesting mushrooms, which are a schedule-one substance in Georgia. After hearing this offer, Lindsey starts to cry: “She broke down and sobbed for Ronnie and Logan and for all the other kids who’d fallen into traps towns like Troy always set for them” (241). Lindsey’s father asks Ronnie to wait a day before going to the police.

While The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette isn’t a real title, it represents many books offering advice to Southern belles who want to demonstrate impeccable manners. In this chapter, both Wilma and Bella misbehave.

Bella is recovering from her knock on the head when Wilma arrives to seek her assistance. The elderly lawyer has come out of retirement and intends to help Lindsey by forcing Lula to drop the charges. The first step is to establish that the value of the “stolen” books didn’t amount to the felony minimum of $500. Bella drives to the used bookstore in Macon, where Lula purchased the books for her library. The owner recalls that she only paid $7.75 for the lot. This reduces the charge against Lindsey to a misdemeanor, but the news still saddens the girl. She feels that she deserves to be punished and blames herself for Logan’s death.

Delvin tells her that Logan had never even looked at The Catcher in the Rye before he died by suicide. The postman insists that Lindsey did a good thing by circulating banned books in the community. That night, Beverly invites the Wrights, Ronnie, Bella, and Wilma over to dinner. Wilma agrees to handle Ronnie’s appeal since his arrest was based on unlawful search and seizure. The group then tries to pinpoint the leverage they can use against Lula. Betsy says, “You want to put an end to Lula’s nonsense, you need to find her children” (253). Ronnie says he knows how to reach them.

Fifty Shades of Grey (2012) by E. L. James is an erotic romance that has often been banned. Miller reveals Lula’s taste for erotica in this chapter.

The news of Lindsey’s arrest spreads all over town, and the people of Troy are wildly curious about the inevitable confrontation between Lula and Beverly at Sunday’s worship service. After the minister’s sermon on loving one’s neighbor, Lula waits outside the church to taunt Beverly. The entire congregation, along with two unknown spectators, observe their interaction. As the two mayoral candidates hurl insults at one another, Lula exposes the secret that Lindsey is a lesbian. At that moment, one of the unknown figures intervenes. This is Lula’s daughter, Talia. She informs the crowd that her mother is a hypocrite and holds up the copy of Fifty Shades of Grey that is part of Lula’s private collection of erotica. Talia then introduces the veiled figure as her brother, Taylor, who now goes by the name of Moxie Laguerre, Georgia’s most famous drag queen: “She pulled off the hat and veil, revealing a stunning face, gleaming diadem, and lustrous shoulder-length dark curls” (259).

The twins then tell the crowd stories of how their mother forced them into the pageant circuit as children. Talia never wanted to appear onstage, but Taylor liked dressing up in girls’ clothing. Lula reacted to Taylor badly: “She called me a pervert. Said people in town already treated her like a leper, and she didn’t need me giving them something else to gossip about” (260). When they grew up, the twins left home and put together a successful drag show with Talia as the costume designer and Taylor as the performer. In retaliation, Lula set out to destroy the music teacher, Mr. Minter, blaming him for her son’s cross-dressing. She took Minter’s photo outside the Atlanta drag club where Taylor was performing. The twins now give their mother an ultimatum. Either she stops persecuting everyone in Troy, or they will never come home again. Lula agrees to their conditions.

Battling the Big Lie (2022) by Dan Pfeiffer is a study of right-wing media and its concerted effort to promote disinformation. In this chapter, Keith Kelly’s paranoid parents learn how their favorite channel uses scare tactics to manufacture disinformation.

On the day of the Wainwright family reunion, a news reporter interviews Ken and Kari Kelly. The couple is happy to see all their friends and neighbors gathering and tells the reporter so. However, the reporter takes their comments out of context and edits them for that night’s news broadcast. The Kellys come across as people terrified of the crime running rampant in their town. As they watch their segment on TV, Ken asks his wife, “‘What the hell just happened?’ […] ‘I don’t know, Papa,’ Kari told him. ‘But I think we’re fake news’” (267).

Heroes of Troy (1924) by Lawton B. Evans offers a traditional representation of the central characters in The Iliad, Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War. This chapter features a different set of heroes in a different town named Troy.

Nahla Crump is Delvin’s 12-year-old daughter. She offers to work at Betsy’s flower shop in exchange for some cupcakes. Nahla tells Betsy about her ambition to be an author one day. She is working on a writing project inspired by an old, musty book about Trojan heroes. Nahla is offended because none of the heroes are girls or Black. Her grandmother says, “Those stories were written by Greek men for other Greek men. We have heroes, too, you know. Difference between ours and theirs is our heroes are real” (270-71). Nahla is intrigued and starts to plan her book about the real heroes of Troy.

Humankind: A Hopeful History (2020) by Rutger Bregman traces human evolution from the standpoint of cooperation and kindness, which the book asserts are the real keys to species’ survival. This chapter demonstrates the kindness that the Troy community contains despite people like Lula.

Beverly waits nervously in the town square for the visitors to arrive for the family reunion. She isn’t sure anybody outside of Troy will come. As she waits with her friends, they all compare notes about the banned books in Lula’s library that changed their perspective. Since Lindsey still doubts that she did a good thing by swapping the titles, Beverly asks everyone to tell her daughter just how much those books helped them. She concludes that Lula was right in one respect. Those books were dangerous because they had the power to change minds.

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1949) by Fulton Oursler is a biography of the life of Jesus. It was filmed as a biblical epic in 1965. In this chapter, Mitch Sweeney thinks he has a better use for that title.

Mitch awakens his brother at 3:00 am to tell him about his brainstorm for a movie project with a happy ending: “Everybody’s so fucking angry these days. I wanna see a bunch of people coming together to fix a bad situation instead of bitching and moaning all the fucking time” (286). Mitch wants to tell the story of his hometown and cast himself in the starring role. Jeb needs to remind him that the protagonist is Black, so Mitch must choose another part. He settles for playing Augustus Wainwright. As a gesture to demonstrate his newfound kindness, he also gives his brother ownership of the family farm.

Many books and movies are titled “Happy Ending.” In the context of the novel, this chapter title refers to Troy’s recovery from Lula’s reign of terror.

The year is now 2034. It has been a decade since Troy sent Lula packing. The town realtor, Melody Sykes, is showing houses to the new physician. The female Dr. Bamba is replacing Dr. Chokshi, who has relocated to New York. Melody tells the new doctor the town’s history as they pass many of the sites that played a role in the events of 2024, including Troy’s new library. Beverly is now the governor of Georgia, and Isaac Wright is a member of Congress.

The general’s statue has been replaced with one of an unknown Black woman—the anonymous matriarch of the Wright clan. She is known as Justice. Mitch’s movie was a huge success, and he won an Oscar for portraying Augustus Wainwright. The house that Melody is showing Dr. Bamba used to belong to Lula, who has since moved to Atlanta to live with her children. Outside the door stands Lula’s Little Library. Among many other volumes, a handbound book rests inside: The Heroes of Troy, Georgia by Nahla Crump.