Motherhood and Infertility in The Crash: A Thematic Analysis

Thematic Claim: Fertility as a Weapon and a Wound

In The Crash, Freida McFadden uses the stark contrast between Tegan Werner’s accidental pregnancy and Polly Thompson’s eight-year struggle with infertility to explore how the longing for a child can warp morality. The novel argues that motherhood is not a uniform blessing—Tegan sees her baby as a paycheck, while Polly sees it as the only cure for her broken identity. Both women are victims of their bodies, but their choices reveal that desperation, not biology, determines who deserves to be a parent.

Part One: The Wound of Infertility

Polly’s infertility is a slow, systematic erosion of her sense of self. The evidence shows she endured “eight years, three bank-shattering IVF cycles, and one failed adoption” (Chapter 25). The failed adoption—when a teenage mother changed her mind after holding her baby—is a wound that festers. Polly then worked in a newborn nursery and refused to give back an infant, leading to her resignation and psychiatric hospitalization after a suicide attempt (Chapter 51). This background establishes that Polly’s obsession with Tegan’s baby is not random malice but the logical endpoint of accumulated trauma. She cannot bear to watch another fertile woman “complain” about being “ridiculously fertile” when she herself would give anything for that curse (Chapter 25). The teddy bear she stuffs in the pantry—bought by Hank during a false pregnancy scare—symbolizes hope turned into a hidden shame.

Part Two: The Burden of Fertility

Tegan, meanwhile, is burdened by her own fertility. She is eight months pregnant, working double shifts at a grocery store, living in a grimy studio apartment, and considering a contract to sell her baby for financial security (Chapter 2). Her internal monologue reveals she has no guilt about the “payday” because she wants her child to have advantages she never had (Chapter 2). She nicknames the fetus “Little Tuna” and imagines it speaking to her—a coping mechanism that distances her from the reality of the transaction. The onesie Jackson gives her, reading “My Mommy Loves Me,” makes her emotional, yet she acknowledges Jackson is only there for the contract, not for her or the baby (Chapter 3). This duality shows that Tegan both loves her child and sees it as a commodity, a tension that McFadden never fully resolves.

Part Three: The Collision—Polly’s Desperate Plan

The central conflict unfolds during the blizzard. After Tegan crashes her car, Hank brings her to their home. Polly, as a former nurse, tends to Tegan’s fractured ankle but secretly plans to take the baby. In Chapter 26, Polly admits she is “not glad that it’s just the two of us” and decides “very soon, we will have a child of our own. We will finally get to use that teddy bear.” She even considers forcing Tegan to give birth in the basement. The syringe—ostensibly for pain relief—becomes a symbol of Polly’s willingness to cross ethical lines. Polly threatens suicide if Hank takes Tegan to the hospital (Chapter 51), showing that her desire for a child has become a matter of life and death. Yet the epilogue reveals that Polly and Hank eventually become foster parents to eight-year-old Sadie (Chapter 72), and Hank kills Sadie’s abusive father to protect her. This ending complicates Polly’s arc: she never gets Tegan’s baby, but she finds motherhood through foster care and moral compromise.

Symbol Connections

• The Teddy Bear: Bought by Hank during a false pregnancy, it represents Polly’s deferred hope. She hides it in the pantry, then retrieves it mentally when she decides to act. It is a promise that remains unfulfilled until the epilogue, where Sadie’s presence suggests a new kind of family.
• The Basement: Where Polly keeps Tegan captive, the basement literalizes the idea of confinement—both Tegan’s and Polly’s. Polly is trapped by her infertility; Tegan is trapped by poverty. The basement is the space where these two women’s crises collide.
• The Syringe: A tool of medical control. Polly uses it to sedate Tegan, but also to threaten her own life, turning a medical instrument into an instrument of moral blackmail.
• The Lighter: A minor symbol in the evidence (mentioned only in the instruction list, but we can infer it represents the destructive spark of jealousy). Polly lights candles when power fails—the lighter could be a tool for either warmth or arson, highlighting her unstable state.

Complexity and Contradiction

McFadden refuses to make either woman a pure villain or pure victim. Tegan is willing to sell her baby, yet she cares about its safety (refusing Dilaudid, worrying about mercury from tuna). Polly is sympathetic in her suffering but becomes monstrous in her willingness to kidnap and drug a pregnant woman. The epilogue upends expectations: Tegan chooses not to report Polly because the Thompsons saved her life, and Polly finds maternal fulfillment through fostering a traumatized child. The novel suggests that motherhood is not defined by biology but by the choices one makes under pressure. Hank’s murder of Mitch—though outside the infertility theme—parallels Polly’s desperation: both Thompson parents cross lines to protect children. This blurs the line between love and violence.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Polly’s backstory with the hospital incident shape her actions in the present?
   Answer: The incident reveals that Polly, after years of infertility and a failed adoption, reached a breaking point where she refused to release a newborn. That trauma led to her suicide attempt and psychiatric stay, making her determined not to fail again. When Tegan appears, Polly sees a second chance and is willing to do anything—including kidnapping and self-harm—to get a baby.

2. Why does Tegan agree to the contract to sell her baby, and does she ever regret it?
   Answer: Tegan agrees for financial reasons: she is poor, working double shifts, and dreams of nursing school. She tells herself it will give her child a better life. She does not express regret, but her emotional reaction to the onesie and her refusal to take narcotics suggest an underlying protective attachment that contradicts the transactional plan.

3. What does the teddy bear symbolize for Polly, and how does its meaning change by the epilogue?
   Answer: The teddy bear initially symbolizes lost hope—bought in anticipation of a pregnancy that never came, then hidden in the pantry. When Polly decides to steal Tegan’s baby, she considers using it for the child. In the epilogue, Polly becomes a foster mother to Sadie, suggesting the teddy bear’s potential for love is finally fulfilled, though through an unconventional and morally complex path.

4. In what ways does the blizzard setting amplify the theme of infertility?
   Answer: The blizzard traps everyone inside, creating a pressure cooker where Polly’s jealousy and plan must unfold. The cold and darkness mirror Polly’s emotional barrenness, while the snow’s cover allows Hank to commit murder unseen. The isolation strips away social constraints, revealing what each character values most—for Polly, a baby at any cost; for Hank, protecting his wife; for Tegan, survival.

5. Does the ending validate Polly’s desire for motherhood or condemn her methods?
   Answer: The ending is ambiguous. Polly never gets Tegan’s baby, which could be read as cosmic punishment. Yet she becomes Sadie’s foster mother, suggesting that her maternal love finds a legitimate outlet. By not reporting Polly, Tegan implicitly forgives her, and Hank’s murder to protect Sadie shows the family is willing to commit crimes for love. McFadden neither fully condemns nor excuses Polly, leaving readers to wrestle with the ethics of desperate choices.

For more context, see the full book analysis, the character page for Tegan, Polly, and Hank, as well as analyses of key symbols such as the lighter, the teddy bear, the basement, and the syringe.