Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the novel’s treatment of substance misuse disorders, mental health conditions, death by suicide, child abuse, domestic abuse, and racism.

“The mythic South” (112) is a particularly potent setting; it doubles as a motif that expresses ways in which Louisiana culture and its complicated race relations shape the lives of the Ya-Yas and Vivi’s daughter, Sidda. The Ya-Yas all come from wealthy families and each of them grows up with Black nursemaids caring for them, as does Sidda. Sidda thinks: “Black women. […] changed my diapers, fed me, bathed me, and dressed me… They did the same for Mama, and now they’re doing the same thing for my nieces” (113). Sidda continues to feel a deep affection for her nannies and resents the way that people of the South are expected to let go of this connection when they grow up.

The Ya-Yas also struggle with Southern ideas of femininity and decorum. Growing up, Vivi struggles with the expectations placed both upon herself and upon the women around her. She stands up against them time and time again. Southern culture expects women to be “ladies”—well-dressed, calm, pretty, and rule-abiding. The Ya-Yas do everything they can to go against these expectations.