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Amanda Hamilton
Mrs. Culpepper is a truancy officer in Barkley Cove who makes frequent visits to Kya’s shack in order to take her to school. Shortly after Ma leaves, Kya agrees to get into Mrs. Culpepper’s car when Mrs. Culpepper tells Kya that she can eat chicken pot pie for free if she comes to school. However, Kya never returns to class after that day, instead evading Mrs. Culpepper every time she comes looking for her. One time, she even toys with the woman by creeping up to her car and scratching the door with a branch, looking straight at her as she does so and—she thinks—detecting a slight smile on Mrs. Culpepper’s face. Later, when Kya’s on trial for Chase Andrews’s murder, Mrs. Culpepper is one of the jury members. She is privately relieved when Kya is found not guilty.
Mrs. Culpepper Quotes in Where the Crawdads Sing
The Where the Crawdads Sing quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Culpepper or refer to Mrs. Culpepper. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
When she was led into the school office, they found her name but no date of birth in the county birth records, so they put her in the second grade, even though she’d never been to school a day in her life. Anyhow, they said, the first grade was too crowded, and what difference would it make to marsh people who’d do a few months of school, maybe, then never be seen again.
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Mrs. Culpepper Character Timeline in Where the Crawdads Sing
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Culpepper appears in Where the Crawdads Sing. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4. School: 1952
...pie several times, Kya emerges from the woods, and the truancy officer introduces herself as Mrs. Culpepper before going inside to help her get dressed for school. When Kya’s ready, Mrs. Culpepper...
(full context)
Kya doesn’t go back to school. When Mrs. Culpepper comes to fetch her, Kya slips into the woods, running in circles to confuse the...
(full context)
Chapter 38. Sunday Justice: 1970
...the jury members if any of them have concerns about their ability to be objective. Mrs. Culpepper —the truancy officer—raises her hand. When she does so, Kya remembers a time when Mrs....
(full context)
Chapter 54. Vice Versa: 1970
...return to their jobs or go home. As this happens, a single tear runs down Mrs. Culpepper ’s cheek, followed by a faint smile as she thinks about the fact that Kya—the...
(full context)
