Polly’s fear of walls signifies her desire to be unrestricted and free. After she’s taken from her family by U.S. immigration authorities, she’s placed in a prison-like camp for fourteen months, a period during which she spends quite a lot of time in solitary confinement. Isolated from the rest of the camp, she feels as if the walls are contracting around her. Years later, she still thinks about this feeling of claustrophobia. She even tells Daniel that she goes on a walk to a lake nearby her house “when the walls start to come” for her, meaning that her memories of solitary confinement still haunt her years after her release. As such, walls themselves take on a metaphorical significance in The Leavers, ultimately representing the limitations Polly has endured while also helping readers understand why it’s so important for her to feel liberated and uninhibited.
Walls Symbol Timeline in The Leavers
