Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Where the Crawdads Sing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival, Necessity, and Violence
Independence vs. Human Connection
Education, Coming of Age, and Adulthood
Prejudice, Intolerance, and Acceptance
Summary
Analysis
Tate and Kya spend as much time as possible together, savoring each moment. They laugh and twist into each other’s arms, and Tate teaches Kya multiplication. One day, he arrives with a picnic basket and wishes her a happy birthday, telling her that he knows she’s 15 today because he saw her birthdate written in her family Bible. Overcome, Kya relishes the beautiful cake Tate brought and is astonished to discover that he also came with presents: a magnifying glass, a barrette for her hair, and a collection of paints and brushes, which he tells her she can use for the illustrations she makes of her feather and shell collections.
It's worth remembering at this point that Kya has been forced to celebrate her birthday by herself for the past eight years, starting when her mother left just before her seventh birthday. Accordingly, the fact that Tate not only remembers her birthday but also goes out of his way to give her presents is significant, since it indicates to Kya that she finally has somebody in her life who cares enough about her to do such things.
Themes
Tate and Scupper go to dinner after working on Scupper’s boat. Scupper has started paying Tate to work for him when he’s not in school, and though this cuts into his time with Kya, he doesn’t say anything because he hasn’t told Scupper about their relationship. Nevertheless, Scupper mentions this at dinner, saying that he’s heard gossip about Tate seeing “that girl in the marsh.” Although he claims to not believe the stories people tell about her, he warns Tate to be careful not to start a family before he’s ready. This comment upsets Tate, who thinks it suggests that Scupper actually does believe that Kya isn’t all that “innocent.” As Tate talks about how she’s more “pure” than the girls in town, Scupper insists that he’s just doing his job as a parent, urging Tate to stop arguing with him because he’s only trying to guide him.
Tate becomes defensive when Scupper starts talking about Kya because he’s all too aware of the unfair and disparaging things that people say about her in Barkley Cove. Not wanting to hear his father perpetuate the various prejudices that surround Kya’s public image, he’s desperate to stop talking to Scupper about the matter. However, Scupper isn’t actually interested in saying mean things about Kya. Rather, he simply wants to make sure that his son doesn’t accidentally start a family before he’s ready, ultimately showing Tate the kind of guidance and support that Kya herself lacks because she doesn’t have parents to help her navigate her way from childhood to adulthood.
Themes
Whenever he can, Tate goes to the marsh, where he and Kya lie in one of their boats or go for walks on the beach. They spend their time holding hands and kissing, and though Tate desperately wants to see her naked, he holds back because he worries that she’s too young. He knows that if something between them goes wrong, the experience might negatively affect Kya. Instead of focusing on the physical aspects of their relationship, then, he continues to bring her books, primarily about biology, which she likes best. On her own, Kya pores over these books, learning about the building blocks of her immediate surroundings. As she reads, she also tries to find an answer for why a mother would ever leave her children, but she finds nothing of the sort.
Tate doesn’t want to engage physically with Kya because he worries that she—as a young person—is too impressionable. This concern is something that comes along with the nature of their relationship, since he is simultaneously her boyfriend, her only companion, and the person who mentors her in both intellectual and emotional capacities. Simply put, Tate recognizes that he has an outsized impact on Kya’s life, which is why he’s cautious to stifle his physical urges. Meanwhile, Kya focuses on learning biology, searching for ways to apply this newfound knowledge to her own life. In doing so, she tries to understand why her mother abandoned her. Unfortunately, though, biology doesn’t necessarily take human emotion into account, so Kya finds it difficult to grasp why her mother did what she did.
Themes
Tate visits Kya the day after Christmas. They go to her shack and have a warm, cozy meal. When Kya goes to the sink to do the dishes, he comes up behind her and puts his arms around her. As she leans into him, he lifts his hands under her shirt and feels her breasts, and a completely foreign feeling sweeps over her body. It is, she thinks, a sudden sense of passionate emptiness that she desperately wants to fill, but because she doesn’t know what to do, she pushes back against Tate’s advancements, and he stops. “It’s okay,” he says, and then they simply stand there together, their breathing heavy and slow.
By this point, it’s clear that Kya knows what it feels like to experience sexual desire. Like most young people who have never felt this way before, though, she doesn’t know what to do with these desires. Because she doesn’t have any adults to tell her about these things, she is especially unaware of how sexual experiences normally unfold. Thankfully, though, Tate is cognizant of this and remains mindful of Kya’s inexperience, backing off when she indicates that this is what she wants. In doing so, Tate shows Kya that he’s willing to follow her lead, thereby strengthening their connection and her willingness to invest in their relationship.
Themes
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One spring day, Tate and Kya kiss against a tree trunk. Leaning against her, Tate unbuttons her shirt and looks at her breasts, then takes off her pants and reaches between her legs. She is surprised by how pleasurable this is, but Tate suddenly backs away and apologizes. She tells him that she wants to keep going, but he refuses. He says that he, too, wants to have sex with her but that she’s too young. When she points out that he’s only four years older than her, he responds by saying that he can’t get pregnant and doesn’t stand to get hurt by the experience. He then tells her that he loves her, but she complains that he thinks of her as a little girl and asks when they’ll be able to have sex. “Just not yet,” he says.
Tate’s feelings of discomfort regarding his and Kya’s age difference continue, this time making their way into the open when Kya asks why they can’t have sex. When she asks this, Tate is forced to admit that he’s worried he might emotionally hurt her. While this might seem like Tate is patronizing Kya, it’s worth pointing out that he has good reason to refrain from letting their relationship advance physically. After all, he is 19 and she’s 15, and though four years might not seem like very much of a difference in age, Tate knows that the latter years of adolescence hold quite a bit of emotional development for most people. This, in turn, means that Kya has yet to fully mature into an adult, which is why Tate worries about doing something for which she might not be ready.
Themes
In May, Tate tells Kya that he will be going to college soon. He has already told her that he’ll be leaving, but she hasn’t paid much thought to this development because she thinks it won’t happen until the end of the summer. Now, though, he tells her that he got a job for the summer in the college’s biology lab, meaning that he’ll be leaving in just a few weeks. He tells Kya that he’ll come back as often as possible, but this does little to comfort her. Kya asks why Tate can’t stay in Barkley Cove and become a shrimper like his father, but he insists that he wants to become a research biologist. In turn, Kya points out that there aren’t any research biology jobs in this area, meaning that Tate will leave her forever once he finishes college. Nonetheless, he promises to never leave her.
The fact that Tate is leaving to go to college underscores why it was wise of him to suggest that he and Kya wait to have sex. After all, sex is something that often intensifies a couple’s emotional bonds, meaning that it would be even harder for Kya to say farewell to Tate if they had actually had intercourse. To add to this dynamic, Kya has been abandoned by loved ones in the past, and Tate’s departure most likely threatens to recall this heartache. Accordingly, he is right to stop their physical relationship from advancing too far, though it’s worth noting that he utterly fails to do anything to slow down their emotional relationship. In turn, it seems likely that Kya will be just as upset about his departure as she would have been if they actually did have sex (though this is certainly not to say that they should have done so).
Themes
Kya jumps up and runs away from Tate after they talk about him going to college. He tries to follow her, but she quickly and easily loses him in the woods. The next week, Tate visits Kya and delivers the unfortunate news that he has to leave even earlier than expected. He has, he says, come to say farewell. Kya worries that he’ll forget her, but he assures her that this would never happen. He also gives her two big bags of library books and promises that he’ll be back in little more than a month’s time, since he’s coming home for the Fourth of July. Promising to see her then, he says goodbye, kisses her, and gets back into his boat.
Once again, Kya watches an important figure in her life disappear. However, Tate has promised to come back, which isn’t something anyone else—not Ma, Pa, nor Jodie—ever promised. In this way, Tate gives Kya something to hope for, easing the pain of his departure, though it’s likely that Kya still feels as if he’s leaving her behind, since her daily life will once more become isolated and lonely.
Themes
