Water is a symbol of both death and comfort for the narrator in The Paper Palace. The novel opens with Elle entering water trying to find peace and clarity. She wants to be absolved of guilt and to get away from her regrets in life. She goes to the water for a source of comfort, but she also knows it is a place of danger and death. When she was a child, she witnessed a friend drown in the pond, and she heard of Joanne’s father drowning. This is important because Conrad’s death is also through drowning. Elle has an opportunity to save Conrad, but she and Jonas make the choice not to throw him the life preserver. Conrad’s death is foreshadowed when Elle flippantly remarks that he should go for a swim because it’s a perfect day to drown.

Elle imagines a shark in the water while Peter and her kids are swimming in the ocean. There is a fear of danger in the water with the shark, but Elle also imagines that she is capable of saving or not saving the people in the water. She feels unsure about whether she would save Peter, exhibiting the significance of water in her life as well as manifesting the theme of protection in the novel.