The Leavers

Polly tells Deming of her childhood and her first years in New York, disclaiming: “If you knew more about me, Deming, maybe you wouldn’t blame me so much, maybe you would understand me more” (121). Polly’s own mother died when she was 6 months old from cancer, leaving Polly with only a few mementos from her. Back then in Minjiang, Polly was known as “Peilan.” She grows up poor, raised alone by her fisherman father, who she calls Yi Ba. As a girl, the river and open sky make her feel happy and free, whereas the enclosure of the mountains has the opposite effect. People from villages like Minjiang have limited options, and Peilan’s flouting of social norms causes her problems. She quits school in the eighth grade after being paddled for smoking a cigarette, an act she felt she’d been singled-out for as a girl. Her father and her briefly benefit from the opening of a canning factory in the village, but the prosperity is short-lived. While she stays home, she spends time with a former classmate, Haifeng, whom her father sees as a weakling. Haifeng’s mother attempts to warn Peilan away from her son, but they continue seeing each other, even though Peilan doesn’t return Haifeng’s enthusiasm for her.

When urban migrants are allowed into Fuzhou for work, Peilan goes regardless of it being unacceptable for women. She works at a garment factory in horrible conditions for lengthy hours, but she dreams of having her own apartment and takes pride in sending her father money. Haifeng is also sent to Fuzhou shortly after. Lonely, Peilan meets with him once and they go to a motel to have sex so that Peilan can “become a grown-up” (131). Peilan, however, does not reciprocate Haifeng’s interest and doesn’t speak to him again.

Weeks later, Peilan is pregnant and finds numerous hurdles to get an abortion. The procedure cannot be done at an urban hospital since she doesn’t have an urban hukou or registration. In a rural hospital, she would need Haifeng’s permission, if married. If unmarried, she would have to pay a fine that would bankrupt her family. Peilan returns to her father, fearing that she will confirm all the ideas he’s had about women. While she is at her village, she and her father attend a party thrown by a fellow villager who went to the United States and found success there. Thinking that the U.S. offers her a chance to escape her limits and achieve her independence, she follows in the villagers’ path, taking on a debt which she will have to pay through work abroad.

Her work in the States is similar to the work in Fuzhou, but she is energized by the city. In New York, her life was “unstable and unsure, but each day was shot through with possibility” (140). By then Peilan goes by “Polly,” and she is too far along in her pregnancy for an abortion. Going to the last stop in Brooklyn and walking out into the ocean, she thinks of herself as “Polly the girl who’d defy all odds, the girl who could do anything” (142). She decides she wants the baby, Deming, and will have him. Afterwards, she takes out another loan to take care of Deming, struggling first with the demands of a baby and her independence. Returning to work, she finds it difficult to afford childcare and to work while caring for Deming. Desperate, she almost leaves Deming behind in a bag at a park. Without options, she sends Deming to go live with his grandfather in China.

The novel returns to Daniel who has called Leon. Happy to hear from him, Leon gives him Polly’s number but mentions he hasn’t spoken to Polly in seven years. When Leon last talked to her, she was about to get married and was working at an English school. Daniel wonders why Polly didn’t get in touch with him. He doesn’t call the number, too afraid that his mother won’t want to speak to him.

At the Hennings’ party, Daniel sees his adoptive parents and Angel. He tries to apologize to Angel, but she is still angry. Daniel gives Peter and Kay his application for school. As he leaves the party, Angel’s boyfriend scolds him about the money he took from Angel. Ashamed, Daniel flees. He receives an angry call from his parents explaining that he gave them the wrong application and that he does not deserve a second chance. Daniel thinks of running to get them the correct application but goes to play poker instead. This feels like he has “confirmed his failures and he’d freed himself from having to fight his inability to live up to Peter and Kay’s hopes” (160). He stops by the East River to call his mother and leaves a message. If she doesn’t return his call, he thinks, she’ll have proved everything he thinks of her right.