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The first things we learn about Lily’s father are that he is now dead, that in life he was the mayor of their town, and that he was abusive towards her mother. Lily tells Ryle when she first meets him that as Andrew Bloom’s daughter, she loved him, but as a human, she hated him. Lily’s introduction to Ryle so soon after burying her father highlights the connection between the two men that Lily can’t yet see; Ryle, like her father, possesses a charming demeanor disguising less admirable traits, such as selfishness, possessiveness, and a propensity for violence. She may be free of her father at last, but her attraction to Ryle—whose actions from the very outset foreshadow the ways in which he will later abuse Lily—makes it clear she will find herself trapped in the same situation her mother once did. Lily describes to Ryle the pattern inherent in her father’s abuse: he would hurt her mother and spend the next week or two making up for it. Without realizing it, Lily is also describing Ryle’s future behavior.
Later, when the abuse actually occurs, Lily instantly recognizes the parallels; she hears in Ryle’s words the same apologies, rationalizations, and promises that her father would say to her mother. She is both confused and heartbroken, and having found herself in a relationship with someone who hurts her despite her best efforts, she now sees shades of gray in her parents’ equally destructive relationship, where before things were strictly black and white. She realizes that her love for Ryle doesn’t go away as soon as he hurts her, and it’s this inner conflict that makes it so hard for her to come to the realization that she needs to leave him, enabling her to empathize with her mother in a way she previously couldn’t. By reading her teenage journal as her relationship with Ryle develops, Lily is able to see the similarities between her father and Ryle—for instance, her father’s blind fury as a result of bursting in on Lily and Atlas having sex mirrors Ryle’s blind fury when he walks in on Lily at Atlas conversing in the bathroom at the restaurant—and make the decision that’s not only best for her, but best for her daughter. In the end, she breaks the cycle of intergenerational trauma and violence, hoping to give her own child a life unlike her own.
