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Symbols
The seagulls that Kya feeds and interacts with on the beach near her shack provide her with the only kind of connection she can count on no matter what happens. Because of this, they become a symbol of her intense and undying connection to the natural world, which is the only thing in her life that remains constant. While people come and go, entering Kya’s life only to disappoint her by disappearing once again, the seagulls are always there when she wants to spend time with them. However, while they make her happy to a certain extent, there’s no denying that they don’t banish her loneliness, since they don’t satisfy her need for human connection. And yet, the gulls do remind Kya that she’s not completely on her own in the world, even if she can’t always turn to humans for support. In this way, then, the birds reflect not only Kya’s desire for seemingly any kind of connection, but her ability to turn to nature for companionship.
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Seagulls Symbol Timeline in Where the Crawdads Sing
The timeline below shows where the symbol Seagulls appears in Where the Crawdads Sing. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2. Jodie: 1952
...seven now. She takes some grits to the beach and spreads them out for the seagulls, calling to them as she tosses the food into the sand. One gull in particular...
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Chapter 4. School: 1952
...When Kya finally gets home, she goes to the beach and calls out to the gulls, who circle around her. Though she’s close to tears, she starts laughing when they gently...
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Chapter 7. The Fishing Season: 1952
...world, except when she goes into town to buy necessities. Still, she talks to the seagulls more than any actual person, so she fantasizes about borrowing Pa’s boat to see Tate...
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Chapter 11. Croker Sacks Full: 1956
...a moment of considering this, though, Kya decides she can’t leave the heron and the gulls that visit her on the beach near her shack. The marsh, she thinks, is her...
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Chapter 13. Feathers: 1960
Kya is 14 and spending an afternoon on the beach feeding the gulls. She’s wearing one of Ma’s old dresses that didn’t used to fit her but now...
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Chapter 21. Coop: 1961
...this, she finally gets out of bed and walks down to the beach, where the gulls fly around her in swarms.
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Chapter 24. The Fire Tower: 1965
...suggests that they go to the beach, so Kya takes some bread and feeds the gulls while he watches.
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Chapter 29. Seaweed: 1967
...gives up looking for her. Alone again, Kya walks to the beach and feeds the gulls, cursing in a rage.
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Chapter 30. The Rips: 1967
After feeding the gulls, Kya jumps in her boat and goes as fast as she can toward the ocean,...
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Chapter 42. A Cell: 1970
...toward the marsh. As she does this, she remembers an Amanda Hamilton poem about a gull with a broken wing, which ends with the couplet, “A broken heart cannot fly, /...
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Chapter 44. Cell Mate: 1970
...close with anyone. He then changes the subject by telling her he’s been feeding the gulls near her shack, and that a Cooper’s hawk landed right in front of her porch...
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Chapter 55. Grass Flowers: 1970
...nature out the window. When Kya goes to the beach for the first time, the gulls encircle her, and she wonders if now people will finally leave her alone to live...
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