Kyle Character Analysis in The Leavers

A student at SUNY Potsdam who—like Daniel—plays online poker. When Daniel learns how much money Kyle plays with, he starts gambling larger amounts, eventually plunging himself into debt. When this happens, he asks Kyle for a loan of $2,000, and when he loses this, he’s unable to repay it. As such, Kyle and several of his burly friends start visiting him on a regular basis to scare him into repaying what he owes. This intimidation tactic is one of the reasons that Daniel eventually borrows $10,000 from Angel.

Kyle Character Timeline in The Leavers

The timeline below shows where the character Kyle appears in The Leavers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Self-Deception and Rationalization Theme Icon

...he could recognize “patterns” in the way weak players bet. The next year, he met Kyle, another student who played for large sums online. Seeing Kyle’s success, Deming started betting more... (full context)

...poker. Hoping to rebound from this, he asks friends for money, eventually borrowing $2,000 from Kyle and assuring him that he’ll pay him back in two weeks. However, the more games... (full context)

Daniel plans to use Angel’s money to repay Kyle, at which point he’ll take out another loan and give back Angel her $10,000. However,... (full context)