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
Kya replays the way Chase looked at her when they spoke at Jumpin’s, thinking that nobody—including Tate—has ever gazed at her like he did. As she thinks this, she moves her hands over her body and dances amongst the trees. The following morning, she meets Chase and gets into his boat, at which point he takes her to a stretch of beach. Saying little, they walk along the white sand, letting their hands graze each other from time to time. When they stop to sit for a moment, Chase takes out a harmonica and plays several songs before looking at the ground and finding a pretty shell, which Kya tells him is somewhat rare. She also tells him facts about this shell, awing him with her knowledge. Of everything he’s heard about the “Marsh Girl,” he never would have thought she’d know so much about shells.
Chase and Kya’s relationship starts innocently enough, though it’s worth noting that it is predicated on a look that Kya has never experienced before. This suggests that Chase’s gaze was full of sexual desire, a kind of lust that even Tate didn’t let her see. After all, Tate was interested in Kya for multiple reasons, not just because he found her attractive. Chase, on the other hand, has very little upon which to base his interest in Kya other than her looks, considering that he isn’t—like Tate—interested in wildlife or the natural world, nor is he interested in teaching Kya to read or do math. Furthermore, Chase’s thoughts about the “Marsh Girl” remind readers that he still sees Kya as a strange outsider rather than as her own unique person.
Themes
Chase gives Kya the shell, which she puts in his pocket. They then walk back to the boat and set up for a picnic on the sand. The food is so delicious and well-prepared that Kya suspects Chase’s mother must have made it, and she wonders if the woman knew that her son would take the meal to the “Marsh Girl.” After they finish eating, they begin to kiss, and suddenly Chase is on top of her, pressing her into the sand and trying to undress her. Frantically, she scrambles out from underneath him, and when he tries to tell her that everything’s all right, she flinches from his touch. She had thought the night before that she was ready to have sex, but this moment with Chase is too sudden and emotionless, as if he thinks he can do whatever he wants to her.
Unlike Tate, who was so concerned about respecting Kya’s boundaries that he refused to have sex with her even when she wanted to, Chase tries to satisfy his own desires without paying much attention to anything else. For this reason, Kya reacts strongly to his heavy-handed sexual advance, realizing that she doesn’t actually want to have sex yet. Considering that she’s so hesitant to let people into her life, it’s unsurprising that she doesn’t want to have sex with Chase on the very first day they spend time together. Already, it seems, her decision to open up to human connection again isn’t going particularly well.
Themes
Breaking the silence, Chase apologizes to Kya and offers to take her back, but she refuses. Standing up, she begins to walk away, and though he tells her that it’s too far for her to reach home on foot, she ignores him. For hours, she cuts through the woods, swearing out loud because she feels angry, ashamed, and sad. She had only wanted to be touched, she thinks, but Chase seemed as if he wanted to take something from her. Finally falling to her knees, she cries and cries. Then, calming herself down, she stands and continues home.
In this moment, Kya feels violated and betrayed, and for good reason, too—Chase has just tried to use her for sex without even making an effort to discern whether or not she’s interested in him romantically. Once again, then, Kya finds that interacting with others only leads to pain and regret—an unfortunate confirmation of her belief that it’s best to keep to herself.
Themes
