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
On July 4th, Kya waits for Tate. She reads as she waits, but time goes by and there’s still no sign of him. The next day, she continues to wait, listening for his boat. That evening, she watches fireflies dash around her, frantic as they mate. She knows there are different species of fireflies and that only a male and a female of the same species can mate. For this reason, the females flash their lights in a pattern that is distinct to their species, thereby attracting the appropriate mates. As Kya watches this play out, she observes one female firefly attract a male and mate with him. After doing this, though, the same female changes her light pattern, attracting a different male from another species and eating him when he gets close. By noon the next day, Kya understands that Tate isn’t coming back.
Kya’s observance of firefly mating rituals is important to note, since the behavior of this particular female firefly shows her not only that nature is full of merciless survival tactics, but also that females can use sex to their benefit. In fact, that the female firefly attracts a male and then eats him shows her that sex can be wielded as a form of power. Given that Tate has failed to make good on his promise to come back, this is an especially important realization, since it helps Kya see that—although she might feel helpless in this moment—she, too, could someday live the empowered, individualistic life of a female firefly.
Themes
