Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed

“Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed” is a maxim Polly Drayton’s mother likes to repeat, offering a blunt rule for avoiding hurt. In the New Year’s Eve scene, its neat certainty meets the messier truth of Polly’s attachment to Robbie Dexter: after six years, she had expected something from him, and the advice cannot make that hope disappear.

The Maxim at Home

The saying belongs to the household’s vocabulary of resignation. Polly’s mother delivers it with the certainty of someone acquainted with the philosophy it expresses, folding her arms and thrusting out her chin. It is more than a passing consolation: it sits alongside her other judgments about Polly’s relationship, including the claim that Polly had raised her hopes and given herself too freely, and the insistence that there was no use crying over spilt milk.

The surrounding advice frames disappointment as a mistake that could have been prevented by expecting less. Polly’s mother acknowledges that she always liked Robbie Dexter, but doubts his prospects because he spends his time among animals instead of building his business. Her appraisal makes the maxim practical as well as emotional: it counsels Polly not to invest hope in a man her mother considers insufficiently secure.

Polly’s Exception

The passage immediately sets the maxim against Polly’s feelings. At the dressing table, she chews her lower lip; the flush in her cheeks contrasts with the slump in her face. She has been helping in the kitchen and serving tables, but has slipped upstairs for a breather. Even so, she is watching for Robbie Dexter, convinced that he will come now that the black car has gone. Her expectation is specific, not abstract: she imagines him arriving on New Year’s Eve, when, as she reasons, nobody wants to be alone.

The narrator makes the contradiction explicit: Polly had expected something from Robbie Dexter after six years. Her mother’s maxim may be repeated in the house, but it has not displaced Polly’s hope or protected her from wanting a future with him. The phrase promises that lowered expectations can prevent disappointment; Polly’s attachment shows the limit of that promise.

Disappointment and Dependence

Polly knows that her mother’s practical objections have some basis, but the passage separates that judgment from what Polly feels. She loves Robbie Dexter’s crumbling cottage and messy life, and values how grateful he is for her help. That gratitude contrasts with her parents’ expectation that she work constantly, as though her labor were their entitlement. Robbie’s disorder feels easier to live with than the demands of home, partly because it makes Polly feel less like a burden herself.

Her limited prospects deepen the force of the saying without making it an adequate answer. With three CSEs and twelve years of work at the deep-fat fryer behind her, she has grown more timid about standing up to her parents; as her possibilities narrow, they remain the people she can rely on, especially now. In this context, “Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed” sounds like protection purchased at the cost of desire. Polly’s New Year’s Eve vigil exposes the tension inside it: she has been taught to expect little, yet she still waits for Robbie Dexter.