Isolation vs Pursuing Passions in Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing depicts the effects of ostracization, abuse, and abandonment on a strong, intelligent girl who is determined not only to survive but to thrive.

This is not a review. See why.

Context

Many dangers lurk in the marshes of 1950s North Carolina—among them, the criminals who hide there. Kya Clark’s father, an abusive drunk, is one such criminal. When his wife decides she can’t take it anymore and leaves, four of their five children follow, until at last only ten-year-old Kya is left. At first, her dad is around sometimes; he teaches her to drive their boat and to fish, and provides a pittance for their groceries. But eventually, he leaves too, and Kya is left all alone.

Kya learns to survive mostly on her own, digging up mussels and smoking fish to sell to a local shop owner, a black man nicknamed Jumpin’. He and his wife help her out from time to time, especially by providing her with clothing, but for most of her needs, she’s on her own. She attends one day of government school (lured by the promise of a free hot lunch) but the students tease her for being unable to spell, calling her “Marsh Girl,” and she runs away, never to come back. She grows up isolated and ostracized. Her sole comfort is her interest in the flora and fauna of the marsh; she collects shells and bird feathers, and paints what she sees. When she reaches her teen years, one person, Tate, reaches out to her and befriends her. He teaches her to read and the two form a close relationship—which he ruins when he goes off to college and doesn’t keep his promise to come visit her. But he gave her the gift of words, and she uses it, poring over biology textbooks and making detailed notes recording her observations. Eventually, she uses her extensive knowledge to free herself from the desperate poverty of her youth.

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Key Ideas

• Isolation can lead to vulnerability

• Ostracization can lead people to misjudge the victims

• Pursuing your interests and passions can dramatically improve your life

Isolation can lead to vulnerability

In many ways, Kya is the picture of independence. She learns to cook for herself, to trade what she grows or forages for items she needs but can’t get in the marsh (such as gasoline for her boat), and she spends hours contentedly thinking and observing the marsh. The nearest town isn’t far away, but she’s been thoroughly ostracized by its people. She can’t go to a store on the main street without mothers pulling their children away from her and cashiers implying that she shouldn’t be in their shop. As a result, she’s totally vulnerable to the few who have shown her kindness—Jumpin’ and his wife, and Tate.

Eventually, though, Tate makes her fear of abandonment worse by never writing to her or visiting her when he goes to university. Kya is left not only grieving their relationship, but pining for any kind of human connection. Thus, she overlooks the disappointing courtship of Chase Andrews (he moves quickly to physical intimacy and laughs at her interests) and gets together with him anyway—until she discovers he’s been unfaithful. She refuses to tolerate his behavior and ends things, but Chase decides that he has a right to Kya, and tries to forcibly claim her. Kya eventually finds her way out of this mess, but she likely wouldn’t have been so susceptible to him in the first place if she had had any kind of support system or normal interaction with others.

Ostracization can lead people to misjudge the victims

The story has two parallel timelines; in one, Kya grows up from childhood to young adulthood; in the other, police investigate a crime that the adult Kya is accused of and stands trial for. Because many of the townspeople distrust Kya, they are inclined to believe her guilty regardless of the evidence. In a scene reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, her lawyer points this out:

When I was a younger man, I heard the tall tales about the Marsh Girl. . . . Some people whispered that she was part wolf or the missing link between ape and man. That her eyes glowed in the dark. Yet in reality, she was only an abandoned child, a little girl surviving on her own in a swamp, hungry and cold, but we didn’t help her. Except for one of her only friends, Jumpin’, not one of our churches or community groups offered her clothes. Instead we labeled and rejected her because we thought she was different. But, ladies and gentlemen, did we exclude Miss Clark because she was different, or is she different because we excluded her? (340)

He goes on to urge the jury to judge Kya based solely on the facts of the case, not on prejudice or rumor. He recognizes that Kya isn’t bad, she’s just been excluded and teased, turned into an object of hatred through no fault of her own.

Given the setting (during the American civil rights movement in the South), it’s unsurprising that Owens included another form of ostracization—racism. Kya’s first and primary trade partner is a black man nicknamed Jumpin’ who owns a bait shop that sells gasoline for boats. The only person who helps Kya with clothes and who teaches her about menstruation is his wife. Kya once goes to visit them in the “black” side of town, and scares off two boys who are taunting Jumpin’ out of wanton cruelty. Despite being looked down on by the white, Christian residents of the town, Jumpin’ and his wife fulfill their ideals of charity better than most of those residents—and their kind, generous natures go largely unrecognized.

Pursuing your interests and passions can dramatically improve your life

Despite the many negative elements of this story—the domestic abuse, the poverty, the ostracization—the novel is not overwhelmingly depressing. This is in part due to Kya’s resilience, and in part because she has something she cherishes and pursues: an understanding of the flora and fauna of the marsh. She spent hours watching the creatures, seeing how the plants change from season to season, painting mushrooms, collecting bird feathers, searching the shore for shells, and more.

And with the help of Tate, she learns to study biology texts to deepen her understanding of what she’s seeing. With his encouragement, she sends her paintings, captioned with scientifically accurate observations about the life cycles of the subjects, to a publisher. They are impressed and happy to publish her work, offering her an advance that enables her to pay off back taxes on the little shack she calls home so that she becomes the legal owner, protecting her shelter from her father or anyone else who would try to claim the land. Her collaboration with her publisher continues for several books; it’s an inspiring case of a person applying observation, study, skill, and creativity to what she loves—and dramatically improving her life.

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The Vibe

Mostly, Owens uses a lyrical, descriptive style to set an eerily beautiful tone—presumably the way she sees the marsh. During these passages, I was reminded of the song Taylor Swift wrote for the movie, “Carolina.” However, at times I found this clashed with the harsh, “realistic” dialogue and gritty passages dealing with the town.

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Conclusion

Where the Crawdads Sing depicts the effects of ostracization, abuse, and abandonment on a strong, intelligent girl who is determined not only to survive but to thrive. Kya doesn’t merely escape the negatives in her life, she pursues the positives—resulting in inspiration amongst the darker elements.