Summer in the City

Elle Leon, the protagonist of the novel, is a 27-year-old screenwriter who is guarded and fiercely independent. She built a career on the foundation of anonymity to avoid being associated with her billionaire father, David Salazar, and the risk of having her accomplishments devalued by theories that her father’s connections or wealth bought her success when, in reality, she’s worked hard for every ounce of it.

Her personality and her values are defined greatly by her mother’s teachings. Her mother “raised [her] to be fiercely independent” and to “never rely on anyone else or let anyone else control [her], especially a man” (22). After witnessing her mother’s over-reliance on her controlling father and suffering through the period of low income and instability following her parents’ split and her father’s abandonment, Elle has come to view Money as a Tool of Control. Her experience with her father led to her false belief that all wealthy people are the same, especially in regard to wealthy men as romantic prospects. She believes that wealthy men have an impulse to pay for whatever they wish, including a significant other. She watched her mom fall victim to her father’s wealth and, later, watched her sister Cali do the same.