The Paper Palace

There are generations of women in the novel who each undergo certain trauma in their life. Wallace’s mother Nanette experiences a difficult life of multiple marriages and being dependent on her husbands for everything. This shapes how Wallace was raised and affects who she is as a person and a mother to Elle and Anna. For example, Wallace was sexually abused by her stepfather, and when Nanette found out, she slapped Wallace in the face. Elle reflects that, “The odd thing is, [...] my mother lost her respect for women but not for men. Her stepfather’s perversion was a hard truth, but it was her mother’s weak-willed betrayal that made her go cold. In my mother’s world, the men are given respect. She believes in the glass ceiling” (26).

Wallace’s tendency to blame women and see men as above reproach causes Elle to feel uncomfortable coming to her mother or anyone about being sexually abused. When Conrad first starts coming to her room at night, Elle believes that she can never let Wallace know because both of them would be tainted forever. Later, when Wallace discovers the abuse from Elle’s journal and asks why she never told her, Elle tells her that she didn’t want her mother to hate her. Here, Heller is demonstrating that the lives of parents and grandparents can alter the course of one’s own history. Elle inherits the aftermath of her parents’ choices, and this is something to consider as she chooses between Peter and Jonas; she’s unaware of how her decision might affect generations to come.

Furthermore, the male relationships in Elle’s life have different, but parallel effects on the shaping of her personality and the choices she makes. For instance, her father Henry is a distant presence in Elle’s life whom she only sees sporadically throughout the years. When he gets divorced from his second wife Joanne, Elle is excited that he’s finally chosen to spend time with them. However, Anna tells her, “He deserted us. And now that he’s back, we’re supposed to be grateful?” (99). Because Elle is conditioned to give the men the benefit of the doubt, she has difficulty holding the men in her life accountable, even when they are at fault or take advantage of her. This can also be seen with Conrad in how Elle allows him to take advantage of her.

The turning point for Elle comes when she is able to stand up to her father when his mistakes have consequences for Elle. When her father moves Granny Myrtle without Elle’s consent to a nursing home and she passes away, it is unforgivable to Elle. She tells him that she is never speaking to him again, marking a difference from how she has accepted her father’s behavior in her past when he would leave her and Anna at home while traveling with other women.