The Paradise Problem

These chapters mark several turning points and begin to foreshadow the dramatic conflicts to come as Anna and Liam struggle with the balance of Preserving Authenticity Amidst Pretense. As their relationship transitions from a sham to an authentic connection, they must nonetheless continue to maintain their cover story even as their physical attraction grows and they learn to cope with the emotions that accompany a deeper sense of intimacy. Within this context, they both experience significant moments with key members of the Weston family, for just as Anna is discovering her own affections for Liam, she is also forging new emotional connections with Reagan and Blaire, and she also recognizes Janet’s love for her son despite the woman’s inherent toxicity. Likewise, even Liam allows himself to be more honest with Ray, although his father is not emotionally equipped to handle such candor. When Anna bonds with Reagan, the girl’s troubles indicate that money and pretense cannot buy happiness, and her fear of being excluded from her friends’ activities back home implies that people “can feel like [they are] missing out even […] on a private island” (153). Thus, many of the shifting relationships in these chapters mark the vulnerabilities that authenticity can create in a world that is usually dominated by casual cruelty.

The character who most aptly represents this kind of cruelty is Ray himself: the manipulative and volatile patriarch of the Weston clan. When Liam confronts his father with the declaration that he will never rejoin the company because of a dire yet unexplained PISA incident and other issues such as the firing of the dock manager, his determined resistance to his father’s will proves that within his family’s complex dynamics, dropping the pretense of obedience to tell the truth is deeply dangerous. While someone like Anna might rejoice at Liam’s decision to lower his guard, Ray’s cruelty immediately explains why Liam has such difficulty in opening up, for rather than taking the time to appreciate his son’s perspective, he sneers and tells him, “The only reason you exist is because of what I gave you. The only reason you can live is because of my money” (169). Given Ray’s deeply damaging narcissistic tendencies, Liam must always maintain the pretense of power and control in this father’s presence, as Ray torments anyone who displays a shred of vulnerability—even his sons. When Liam describes the abuses that he and his siblings experienced as children, the authors begin to reveal the full extent of Ray’s villainous character and willingness to inflict physical and emotional pain.

Although Ray is the primary antagonist of the novel, Janet also demonstrates casual cruelty, and Blaire’s description of Janet’s derisive comments about her early in her own marriage suggests that Janet might be refraining from showing Anna a similar level of cruelty. Because Janet is the character most strongly associated with the compulsion toward societal pretense, most of her aggressions are focused on physical appearances, and her attitude suggests that there is only one right way to be a Weston wife. However, Janet briefly lets down her guard when she recognizes the real affection between Liam and Anna, and it is clear that Anna’s attempts at Preserving Authenticity Amidst Pretense are having a positive impact. Significantly, Janet describes Liam as “[p]rotective, loyal, [and] devoted” and claims that he “would do anything to protect the people he loves” (178-79). In addition to showing Janet’s love for her son, her words also create a sense of foreboding and foreshadow the fact that Ray will use the conditions of the siblings’ inheritance to manipulate Liam in subsequent chapters.

The most significant turning points in this section of the novel occur between Anna and Liam, who have deep internal conflicts about their feelings for one another due to their contrasting family dynamics. Although Liam allows himself to be vulnerable with Anna, her response—”I’m your ride-or-die, West Weston” (192)—fills him with a sense of fear and dread and causes him to pull away from her. Because he has spent so much time building walls around his feelings, he does not know how to react when Anna manages to knock those walls down. Meanwhile, Anna struggles with her inability to understand Liam’s motivations for kissing her at the spa, asking herself, “Is this all for show? Or is this real? It’s so wild that I can’t tell at all” (182). Her emotions are further complicated when Liam’s inner turmoil causes him to act jealous and possessive of her, for she hates the idea that Liam is emotionally manipulating her. This internal reaction is connected to the wounds of her own past, for her refusal to let people manipulate her emotions stems from the fact that her mother did this to her throughout her childhood. Ultimately, the authors imply that the two protagonists have the maturity to work through these challenges, for their mutual affection allows them to talk through these issues candidly and embark on an authentic relationship; however, their physical attraction also distracts them from the imminent threat of Alex’s growing suspicions.