How would you describe Polly’s relationship with her parents? Was her relationship different with her mother than with her father, and if so, how? Why did she feel more animosity toward her father, and do you feel that was justified?
I thought Polly’s relationship with her parents was sad. Her father was clearly a leech who had no problems taking money from her until he found out where it came from. I also didn’t understand why her father waited so long to bring her mother over. Her mother seemed to be a mix of a women with some backbone (in that she finally took money from Polly to come to the US) and a women stuck in her time believing she couldn’t do anything without permission from her husband.
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I felt so bad for her when it came to her family. Her mother wouldn’t come to America until her father sent for her. Which was going to be never. He was more than willing to take her money never caring what she was doing for it just asking for more and more. If he truly cared he would have visited years before.
Polly’s relationship with her parents was strained. She definitely respected her mother more than her father. Polly had been sending her father money in the hopes that he would be trying to get Polly’s mother and siblings to be able to immigrate. I do feel her animosity was justified because he wasn’t making her mother and siblings a priority.
Her relationship with her parents was unfortunate. I think her mother really loved her but her father kept them apart and only cared about the money Polly was providing him. He was a poor excuse for a father. Who sends a 12 year old girl out on her own to a country far away where she doesn’t know the language? It’s like he set her up to get involved in the business she ended up in.
I understood why she would not want them to find out how she made her money. I thought it was terrible that they sent her alone to a new country without even knowing the language. I was hoping her mother would come around since she seemed to be affected by Polly’s revelations of what she went through. Her father remained harsh which I thought was unfair. It wasn’t really addressed in the book, but I was hoping she stopped sending him money!
in today’s world, her Father would have been arrested for child abandonment. He was selfish prick and did not deserve to have Polly’s love. He abandoned his daughter when she was twelve years old and then again 25 years later. No unconditional love - it was all what can you do for me.
Hard to imagine being sent halfway across the world at 12 and being expected to send money home to bring the rest of the family. The fact that Polly’s father and brother came to the US and were happy to take her money without ever see her was telling - another avenue for men to profit off of women’s hard work. It really bothered me that her father did not bring her mother and other siblings over. He was more than happy to use her to fund his own interests. A very selfish man. From Polly’s interaction with her mom, it was clear her mom loved her and felt anguish at what Polly had been through - but she was still under her husband’s thumb - so very sad for the two women.
I felt very sad about her relationship with her family. Her father clearly cared only about himself. He was glad to take her money and leave his wife and other children in Russia. Her mother was so dependent on her husband that she couldn’t reach out to her daughter after finding out her true profession. So very sad.
I would call Polly’s relationship with her parents very sad and broken. Her relationship with her mother was better than with her father, but both relationships were highly fractured. She felt more animosity towards her father than her mother because he was so willing to profit from her painfully gained income, and understandably so, but her mother suffered from a disease of denial revolving around her father’s character.
Poor Polly being sent to a foreign country to fend for herself at such a young age was very concerning. Although she did not want to admit to her parents what career she was involved in, she certainly made a name for herself and her parents had no problem accepting the money she sent them. Her father should have protected his daughter, not feeding her to the wolves.
As I said in response to another question, her father was lazy and ungrateful. He put burdens on Polly no child should have to bear. Her mother was under his control and took no steps to free herself from his domination. Polly understood her mother would never change vis a vis her role as a wife and mother, but her father was the one who set everything in motion that led Polly to who and what she was as he stood on her doorstep calling her vile names. I would have slammed the door in his face and never spoken to him again. But then, I wouldn’t have been giving him $$ all those years. Women are more empowered in many ways now than they were in 1936. (And, to be clear, my father was nothing like that creton and would never have treated his daughters that way, so it’s nothing I have ever had to worry about, thankfully.)