A Country You Can Leave Literary Elements

Fiction

Set in early 21st-century rural America

Narration in the third person from the protagonist's point of view

Intriguing, Empathetic, and Intimate

Lara is the protagonist while her mother, Yevgenia is the antagonist

The novel's central conflict is the conflict between Lara, a biracial adolescent, and her mother, Yevgenia, a Russian immigrant. Lara is constantly attempting to reconcile her two identities—her Russian ancestry and her African American ancestry—but is hampered by her mother's insistence on her Russianness. Yevgenia is determined to carve her path in the world and refuses to acknowledge Lara's race or cultural background, causing friction between the two of them. Yevgenia's unwillingness to open up about her past, combined with her insistence on remaining together, causes a major breakdown in their relationship. Yevgenia's fear of intimacy and vulnerability impedes their relationship because she is unable to open up to her daughter.

When Lara and her mother, Yevgenia, arrive at the Oasis Mobile Estates, they are met with the scrutiny of a white woman with a Black child. This is the culmination of Lara and Yevgenia's tension, as well as the racial tensions that have plagued their relationship throughout the novel. Lara begins to understand the depth of her mother's struggles and the lengths she has gone to protect Lara from the harsh realities of the world as she surveys the trailer park and meets Carlos, the property manager. This is also a watershed moment in Lara's understanding of her identity, as she is forced to confront the scrutiny of the outside world as well as her mother's lies about her own identity.

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Understatement is used to emphasize Lara's tumultuous relationship with her mother, Yevgenia. Lara's commentary is subtly understated throughout the passage to contrast with the more dramatic elements of the scene. For example, when Lara notices a boy giving them the middle finger, she simply says, "That kid." This understatement expresses her shock and confusion about the boy's actions, as well as her reluctance to express her feelings. Later, when Yevgenia snubs the boy, Lara simply says, "Better now?", expressing gratitude for her mother's response while remaining detached.

The novel's allusion to Mickey and Minnie Mouse is used to convey the idea of opposites and being an "outsider." By referencing beloved Disney characters, the author highlights the differences between the two elderly women, one older and wearing a rainbow umbrella hat, and the other younger and wearing a yellow baseball cap. The author emphasizes through the comparison that people who are perceived to be different from one another are frequently not accepted or welcomed by society. Furthermore, Papa Bear's remark about them being named after the characters implies that the elderly women have been given nicknames that do not reflect who they truly are, implying that society is trying to diminish their unique identities.

The novel's imagery of the Oasis Mobile Estates paints a vivid portrait of a dilapidated trailer park whose residents live in poverty and desperation. The setting is described in detail, from the "rusted metal boxes" lining the roads to the residents' "dilapidations and failures." The description of the two elderly women, Mickey and Minnie, dressed in winter clothes in the summer heat emphasizes the sense of poverty, as does the image of the "black plastic garbage bags flung one on top of the other like bodies in an open grave."

The novel's paradox is that Yevgenia, who is desperate for security and stability, is constantly on the move, leaving a trail of broken promises behind her. She is also a woman who is always looking for romance and connection with men, but she is constantly leaving them behind.

Parallelism is also used by the author to emphasize the similarities between Yevgenia and her daughter. For example, during a conversation between Yevgenia and Papa Bear, the author describes how "Yevgenia's powers of seduction specialize in lonely, sexually frustrated men," and then immediately adds that "in my mother, he sees a drinking partner, hot sex, the chance to introduce her as his 'old lady,'" to emphasize the similarities between Yevgenia and her daughter.

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The author personifies the "foe of the living," desert heat, to make it appear as if the heat has a mind of its own and is actively working against the characters. The author also employs personification to compare the Hefty bags full of discarded possessions to a "taxonomy of restless belonging," endowing inanimate objects with a sense of belonging and identity. The character's feelings of isolation, alienation, and rootlessness are emphasized by this personification.