Audre & Bash are Just Friends

In Audre & Bash Are Just Friends, author Tia Williams uses the framework of a conventional romance novel to explore deeper thematic issues. In particular, she delves into Audre and Bash’s family dynamics to explore the profound effects that their parents have, knowingly or not, on their mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. With the portrayal of the complex relationships between Bash and Milton, and Audre and Eva, Williams highlights the deep impact that their parental expectations have on their children’s health and futures.

Bash’s relationship with his abusive father allows the author to explore the difficulty of living up to family expectations. Milton controls every aspect of his son’s life in an attempt to vicariously live his dream of Olympic greatness, brutally punishes his son when he doesn’t conform to his expectations, and casts him aside when Bash’s sexual orientation conflicts with his bigoted views. The perfection and obedience that Milton demands cause lasting physical and psychological harm. Bash had the injuries one would expect to see in “the body of a forty-year-old athlete” by the time he was 14 (299), and the teenager deals with guilt, trauma, and a compulsion to resolve every issue around him. Bash still grapples with these problems after Milton sends him to Brooklyn, but he defies his father’s expectations by pursuing his passion for art and acting with the gentleness his father mistook for weakness. Bash’s triumph over the pressure his father placed on him culminates in his email to Milton, in which he describes the man as “a dictator, not a dad” and liberates himself from the obligation of repairing the father-son relationship that Milton destroyed (340). Milton represents the novel’s gravest example of the potential damage inflicted by familial expectations, and one of Bash’s most important developments as a character is his ability to cast off this pressure.

Although Audre and Eva share a stronger bond, the pressure of familial expectations takes a toll on their relationship, too. The novel suggests that teenagers who don’t meet adults’ expectations are often depicted as rebels, and Eva initially accuses Audre of entering a “rebellious era” when she doesn’t rise to her mother’s standards. However, Williams challenges the common narrative of reckless teenage rebellion and instead examines how young people are harmed by adults’ unreasonable standards. In stark contrast to Milton, Eva is presented as a sympathetic character who sincerely cares about her child’s well-being, adding nuance to the theme by revealing how even well-intentioned parents may impose unrealistic standards. Eva hopes that teaching her daughter that “Mercy girls do what can’t be done” will give her daughter strength and courage (62), but the motto actually evokes feelings of shame and failure. However, they begin to repair their relationship after Audre opens up about how her mother’s expectations contribute to her anxiety: “I’ve always felt like if I stopped being perfect for one second, the world would end. You put me on a pedestal! Your greatest gift. Your golden child. Your perfect daughter” (323). The characters’ connection grows stronger after the teenager challenges parental expectations, highlighting communication as crucial to their relationship growth. This shift emphasizes that Williams’s message is not about a rejection of family but rather an appeal for greater awareness of how even well-intentioned parents may impose harmful expectations. By making navigating the pressure of familial expectations one of the novel’s major themes, Williams advocates for less pressure and greater honesty in parent-child relationships.