The Leavers

by

Lisa Ko

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Leavers makes teaching easy.

Qing Character Analysis

One of Polly’s friends in the factories of Fuzhou. Along with Xuan, Qing talks extensively about sex with Polly, ultimately encouraging her to meet Haifeng at a motel, where they make love for the first time. Years later, Polly thinks she runs into Qing in New York. Having just met a woman who claimed to be moving from New York to San Francisco simply because she heard California was nice, Polly suddenly believes that the woman was Qing, and the entire interaction makes her feel restless and tied down by her life as a mother.
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Qing Character Timeline in The Leavers

The timeline below shows where the character Qing appears in The Leavers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Migration, Change, and Happiness Theme Icon
...to see Peilan, she doesn’t make much time for him. Instead, she befriends Xuan and Qing, two girls who live in her dormitory. Xuan and Qing speak extensively about their sex... (full context)
Migration, Change, and Happiness Theme Icon
...I had done anything I wanted to, without repercussions,” she notes. At the urging of Qing and Xuan, she visits a hospital, but the doctors won’t let her have an abortion... (full context)
Chapter 10
Migration, Change, and Happiness Theme Icon
Self-Deception and Rationalization Theme Icon
...the woman in the Chinese restaurant, Polly suddenly becomes certain the stranger was her friend Qing from the Fuzhounese factories. “She hadn’t recognized me, but perhaps I no longer resembled my... (full context)