Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Leavers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Cultural Identity and Belonging
Migration, Change, and Happiness
Racism, Cultural Insensitivity, and Implicit Bias
Self-Deception and Rationalization
Parenthood, Support, and Expectations
Summary
Analysis
Two days before Psychic Hearts’s important show, Daniel’s phone rings. Hoping it might be Polly—whom he hasn’t heard from in a week—he rushes to it, but it’s only Kay, who leaves him a message making sure he won’t forget about his meeting with the dean of Carlough in two days. “I might have to go upstate the day after tomorrow. For a meeting,” Daniel tells Roland. “You’re fucking with me, right? We have a show on Friday,” Roland says. Angry with his friend’s reaction, Daniel tells him to get another guitarist. “You know what? Don’t bother coming to rehearsal tonight,” Roland says, and Daniel rushes out of the apartment to go to work.
Daniel is pulled between people who want and expect something of him. On one side, he has Roland pressuring him to play the show on May 15th, despite the fact that he doesn’t even like Psychic Hearts’s music. On the other side, he has Kay pressuring him to come to Ridgeborough on May 15th to secure a place at a school he doesn’t even want to attend. With so many expectations to be a certain way, he hardly has a chance to determine what he wants—a dilemma that in some ways resembles his struggle to navigate the complex intersection of his cultural identities.
Themes
After his shift, Daniel goes to Psychic Hearts’s rehearsal space and finds one of Roland’s friends playing guitar instead of him. When he asks what’s happening, Roland tells him he isn’t “reliable” enough to be in the band. “I’m going to play the show tomorrow,” Daniel says, but Roland doesn’t relent, saying, “You’ll change your mind again.” Leaving the rehearsal space, Daniel goes back to Roland’s apartment and takes only ten minutes to gather his belongings, leaving his electric guitar but bringing his acoustic. He then spends the night drinking coffee at a diner and composing tweets to Roland, though he doesn’t end up sending him anything. He does, however, send Angel a text that says, “hi, hope you’re well.” This, apparently, is something he does “every few days,” though she never responds.
Daniel’s decision to go to the rehearsal space even though he explicitly told Roland to find another guitarist accentuates the fact that he doesn’t know what he wants. Torn between the expectations other people have of him, he isn’t sure what kind of life he himself wants to lead. By showcasing this dynamic, Ko demonstrates how difficult it can be for a person to be himself when other people pressure him to be something else.
Themes
In the morning, Daniel goes to Michael’s house, but he isn’t home, so he spends time with Vivian, finding relief in the process of cooking a Chinese meal with her. In the kitchen, Vivian tells him that Polly never would have left if she didn’t have to. She also tells him that Leon talked to Didi after Polly disappeared. “Turned out someone ratted their boss out to ICE,” she says. “Immigration. They came and arrested a lot of people at the salon.” Going on, she explains that many undocumented immigrants are taken to jail-like camps, where they languish for long periods of time before getting deported. Now Daniel wonders if Polly was in jail while he was living his quiet life in Ridgeborough.
Upon learning of his mother’s imprisonment, Daniel’s resentment abates. Instead of feeling angry at Polly for abandoning him, he feels guilty for the privileged life he led in Ridgeborough while she experienced such immense hardship. Worse, he has spent the past ten years either trying to forget her or blaming her for their separation.
Themes
