Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses life with HIV/AIDS and the associated social and cultural stigmas.

Idlewild is symbolic of the past. Ava Johnson’s tiny hometown is located a few hours south of Detroit. Although it isn’t “a bad place to be a kid” (25), Ava grows increasingly desperate to leave Idlewild as she grows up. In 1984, she moves to Atlanta, Georgia, hoping for a new start. Therefore, when she returns to her hometown at the start of the novel, she feels as if she’s regressing. Although returning to Idlewild does force her to face buried facets of herself, Idlewild ultimately helps Ava to change. The place is a container for Ava’s past experiences and past self. Moving home challenges her to face her memories and mistakes, reconcile with them, and grow beyond them. She learns to see her town and herself anew over the course of her first summer back in Idlewild.

Atlanta is a symbol of freedom. Ava moves to the city in 1984 after hearing that “if you [are] young and black and [have] any sense, Atlanta [is] the place to be” (7). Atlanta gives Ava an immediate escape from her entrapping life in Idlewild.