The Bayliss house serves as a symbol of The Impact of Coercive Control Within Marriage in Anatomy of an Alibi. When Hank pulls up to the Bayliss house, he notes that the house was Ben’s passion project. When Ben bought the house, he became obsessive about the renovation, and Hank remembers, “Ben sat in on every meeting, and every decision, no matter how small, had to be approved by him. He was obsessed with each little detail, making sure he had the best of the best, the way only a poor kid turned rich would be” (20-21).

Ben begins to exert his control over Camille in the design of their home, making the very house Camille lives in into a physical manifestation of her lack of agency in her relationship with Ben. Ben controls the house décor and the security system and cameras, granting him hegemony over the tangible representation of his marriage. After Ben’s death, Camille refuses to return to the house, even as she finds living in Corbeau untenable, thinking, “I can’t wait to get out of here even though I know I can’t go back to the house I shared with Ben…There would never be enough time to make that house feel like a home” (297-98).