In Chapter 8 through the end of Lisa Ko’s, The Leavers, the protagonist, Deming (Daniel) has the opportunity to establish a connection with his mother, Polly, and find out why she disappeared from his life and never returned or sought to reestablish contact with him. Polly and Deming talk about why she left in the first place and why she never came back. Polly goes on to say, ” ‘There wasn’t anything I could do,’ I said. ‘I couldn’t go back to America after being deported. I couldn’t go anywhere. If I thought about you too much I wouldn’t be able to live’ ” (page 309). Polly getting deported led to a multitude of issues for herself and her son. While she still had the ability to try and get in contact with her son, the effects that deportation had on her tremendously impacted her disposition in a negative way and influenced her decision to leave her past and Deming behind. Moreover, Polly getting deported and never attempting to establish a connection with Deming led to him developing both behavioral and identity issues growing up.
In today’s world, situations similar to Polly and Deming’s occur far too often and the effect that they have on the families that get separated during deportation are extremely detrimental and harming for both the parents and children. A study of the effects of deportation on families stated that individuals who end up getting deported have difficulty supporting their families. In addition to that, they experience difficulty maintaining relationships with their family members, which leads to fractured relationships between family members. Furthermore, the children are negatively affected from a psychological standpoint. Kids that are being separated from their parents will experience a wide range of emotions, which in-turn causes them to develop a plethora of behavioral issues. This is exactly what is depicted in the scene between Polly and Deming. She had difficulty trying to cope with the traumatic experiences she dealt with while getting deported and this played a role in her severing her relationship with Deming. As a result of this, Deming did not have a good sense of who he was as a child and struggled to establish a healthy relationship with his adoptive parents. This particular scene does an excellent job of illustrating that when families are separated through processes such as deportation, the impacts on both the parent and the child can lead to internal and external issues that will never get resolved.
Ko, Lisa. “The Leavers by Lisa Ko – PDF Drive.” By Lisa Ko – PDF Drive, www.pdfdrive.com/the-leavers-e189355587.html.
https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-leavers-e189355587.html
“The Effects of Deportation on Families and Communities.” Community Psychology: Social Justice Through Collaborative Research and Action, www.communitypsychology.com/effects-of-deportation-on-families-communities/.
https://www.communitypsychology.com/effects-of-deportation-on-families-communities/
Thank you for your presentation! When I think of deportation and the separation of families I tend to think about the parents that are being deported rather than the children it affects. While reading the first half of the book I was wondering why Polly doesn’t contact Deming, but your presentation shed some light on that. I guess it makes sense that Polly felt like her attachment to her son would make her depressed over time, but I think if she would have written Deming things could have gone better. I’m still not 100% sure how deportation in America works, but I think that we should do more to connect separated families. We could start by not ripping immigrants away in a swift fashion and instead allow them to prepare for the future ahead.
I really enjoyed your context presentation. It was very well thought out and I liked how you tied the book to what is going on now in the world. I can’t imagine being a child and being separated from the only person that you depend on to take care of you and be there for you. I can only imagine the amount of psychological factors that play into a child behavior after that. I can imagine that this separation definitely would cause problems for those children when they’re older and when they have to form relationships. I can understand Deming’s frustration and why he developed his behavioral issues growing up. Great presentation!
Your context presentation was insightful and reminded us of how real and complicated the issue of deportation is. This is an issue with many different facets, yet your presentation made one thing clear, the separation of families can be extremely harmful. Thank you for sharing the various impacts deportation can have on both parents and children, it is always important to remember that humans are humans regardless of where they were born. I appreciated the care you took in sharing these thoughts and tying them together with the novel. Well done!
Hi,
I thought that your context presentation did a great job of encompassing the issue of deportation both in real life and as it is depicted in the reading. The truth is that it can be so detrimental to the family dynamic of many immigrants and I think that you did a fantastic job explaining it. I really enjoyed how you specifically mentioned the impacts that this kind of upheaval can have on children as it is a very hot-button issue in our society today. Great job at getting deeper into the reading than just the surface and connecting that all back to the real-world issues that are going on today!
Nice context presentation, I enjoyed how you initially took a specific aspect of the novel and then related it to current events. I think you did well describing deportation and the effect it has on families and their relationships. I believe many people need to be reminded of the issues of deportation and what it puts people and their families through because it is a real issue and occurs very often. It is hard to grasp truly what these people go through but I think you did well articulating the long-lasting effects and impacts of deportation.
This is a very well written context post. You did a great job tying the novel and what it was trying to establish back to the real world. I think you did a great job describing the social and psychological effects that deportation and separation of families can have, and how that was evident in the novel. Deming had an identity crisis and it was difficult for him while growing up. I think this is how a lot of kids in real life feel when they are separated from their families. You also did a great job explaining why Deming, and countless others in real life, may develop behavioral issues. All in all you did a great job tying Deming and Polly’s struggles and lives to the lives of those in today’s society.
Nice job on your presentation. I think a lot of the time with deportation people don’t look into much on how the kids are effected. When Daniel’s mom is deported and he goes into foster care, he loses his connection to his family and culture. His mom being gone also causes him a hard time creating new relationships, and you did a good job backing it up with how real families face similar problems too. There are so many real life stories like Deming’s and the author did a good job relating it to reality.
As all of my peers have said, your context presentation did an excellent job of elaborating on Polly’s motivations. Deportation affects the mother as well as the child, both losing a sense of family and sense of safety. I really agreed with your point about the long term psychological affects of separation on children. That moment of abandonment instills a lack of trust that is likely to remain for a long time, not to mention any PTSD that exists if the child witnesses the deportation. I think it is also important to consider the psychological effects on the parent, and Polly’s perspective is evidence of this. The overwhelming guilt and feelings of inadequacy are unimaginable. Your context presentation definitely forced me too consider the text on a deeper level, which I feel allowed me to develop more thorough analysis of the text.
Hi! Thank you for this presentation. The subject of deportation is obviously widely discussed today and I found the scene in the novel when Deming got to reconnect with his mother years after she was deported to be very powerful. It quite literally tore their family apart, and ruined their relationship as mother and son. Deportations and their psychological effects on families aren’t considered enough in my opinion. Deportations effect everyone in a family or a circle and definitely can create complex issues with everyone effected.
Hello! Well done on the context presentation. Immigration started and made this country what it is today. You bring up a lot of problems that can happen during the immigration process. I can not even begin to think about the pain and sadness that people feel every day. On the United State’s Southern border, a surge of illegal immigrants are coming to the US. Many kids are getting separated from their parents and are put in cages. This destroys the mental health of the whole family.
Hello! I found your context presentation to be very interesting and filled with lots of great knowledge. I really liked how you talked about Deming and the effects of not having his mom with him. It was really difficult for him and he didn’t understand why she left him. Deportation is a very serious topic in today’s world. It is a difficult thing to talk about for everyone. It is hard to say what is right or wrong. However, everyone can agree that the effect it has on children is massive. Children have to learn how to survive without their parents at a young age and don’t know when they will see them again. I think adding in how deportation effects children and families today was a really good idea.
I enjoyed your presentation and appreciate your focus on the harmful effects of deportation. As you point out deportation led to a multitude of issues for Peilan and Deming. Thank you for providing us context in current events in trends of deportation. I dream of a day when we can embrace the value of each individual and culture and use each others strengths to make a better world. It is tragic to see so many peoples lives wasted and all of the hurt it causes those close to them.
This was a great presentation that really helped enhance my understanding of the reading. The Leavers did a great job at trying to show the struggles of families that are affected by deportation. Polly came to America in search of better life, and instead she ended up being deported and separating her family. The scene where Deming and Polly are discuss these problems clearly shows that they have both been scarred by the effects the deportation had on their relationship. Immigrants need to have easier opportunities to become citizens because deporting family members and tearing apart families isn’t beneficial to anyone.
I really liked your presentation! I thought that you provided us with a good understanding of this reading and highlighted on important details. I also think that this author did a great job at showing us how hard immigration and the separation of families can be. I think that this can help the reader have empathy to those at the US and Mexico border in ICE camps. Thank you for a good presentation!
Thank you for the great context presentation this week! I loved how you took the time to really establish a connection between the themes in the book to occurrences in real life. Talking about How deportation affects so many people like it did Polly and Deming really solidifies the importance of the story. The emotional trauma that people get from these experiences, like Deming and Polly did, is disheartening to think about but is the sad reality of the world we live in. Overall, great presentation and I liked your comparisons to the novel, its characters, and real life situations.
Hello, I hate that so many parents and children are separated because of deportation or the immigration laws. I really hate that so many people try to brush off the topic or try to say that it is deserved because the parents did something wrong. I do not see it that way and believe that and the thought is a child being left parent less and alone does not sit right with me. Deming did not know what happened and no one game him answers for years to what happened to his mother and it effected him in a negative way. I think that people need to be more sympathetic towards immigration because no one knows what they are going through or why they moved to a different country. Nice work
Hey,
Thanks for the context presentation. I liked the way you described how the situation occurs in the real world and what it does to families who are affected by deportation. I always hear from people around me and see in the news that deportation is a real problem that destroys a lot of people’s lives but I’ve never seen a firsthand experience of it and what happens to those who are left behind. Children having to be separated from their parents is a horrible thing and for the parent to have no control of being able to take care of their child and leave them unexpectedly has a lasting mark on both parent and the child.