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.