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
Having escaped from Chase, Kya worries that he’ll come back for her. Despite her fear, she decides not to tell anyone about what happened because she doesn’t want the authorities to find out. After all, the police would believe Chase over the “Marsh Girl.” Thinking this way, Kya avoids going to Jumpin’s for as long as she can and spends the next few nights in the cabin that she and Tate used to visit to read. This cabin is much different than it used to be, since Tate has recently started using it as a place to stay when he’s out in the field doing research. Accordingly, he has fixed it up and even put a bed inside, which Kya uses while in hiding from Chase.
Kya doesn’t go to the police because she doesn’t think they would believe her when she told them that Chase tried to rape her. This is a perfect example of the fact that the town’s prejudiced ideas about her negatively impact her safety and wellbeing. Rather than using resources that are supposed to be available to anyone who needs them, she shies away from the police and forces herself into isolation, forced once again to rely on herself to ensure her own safety.
Themes
Living in the remote cabin, Kya suddenly understands why Ma left, and she feels sad that she was unable to do anything to help. Determining not to live her life in fear, she returns to her shack, though she still puts off going to Jumpin’s for as long as possible. While sitting on the porch that evening, Kya watches two praying mantises mate. As the insects have sex, the female praying mantis turns around and bites the male’s head off. Despite this, the male continues to mate with her, his lower half still working even as she chews and swallows his head.
Now that Kya has experienced physical abuse from a (former) lover, she finds herself capable of more thoroughly understanding why her mother left home. Rather than letting this experience plunge her into a permanent state of fear and helplessness, though, she decides to focus on the power dynamics that come along with sex appeal—something she has observed in nature while watching the merciless practices of certain female insects. Given that Kya later stands accused of murdering Chase, her interest in the female praying mantis’s method of devouring her mate is rather portentous, suggesting that she might like the idea of using her powers of attraction to destroy Chase.
Themes
