My Fault

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes child abuse.

The Leisters’ house is symbolic of both Noah's and Nick’s sense of dislocation. Located in Los Angeles, California, this micro setting makes both Noah Morgan and Nick Leister feel uncomfortable—William and Rafaella attempt to make the house their new family home, but both protagonists feel out of place. Noah has just left what she considers to be her real home in Toronto, Canada, and doesn’t see the Leisters’ home as relevant to her experience, even comparing it to a hotel when she first sees it. Meanwhile, Nick feels out of place at the house, because he’s spent his early adult years living with his friend Lion in a rougher neighborhood. This palatial, sprawling setting augments the characters’ internal unrest and social alienation.

The house’s appearance, location, structure, and atmosphere underscore its symbolic significance and directly correlate with Noah and Nick’s regard for it. The house is located in a neighborhood with “tall palm trees” where “the stress [are lined with] monumental mansions,” each one taking up “at least half a block” (5). When Noah first drives into the neighborhood with her mom, she “start[s] to get scared as […] the houses g[e]t bigger and bigger” (5).