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blog post 6

Throughout this novel, Delia Owens’ writing is centered around a love for the natural world and we see the environment be the main factor in the development of the main character. The writing in this novel is a reflection of the author's relationship with nature in her real life. Growing up in Georgia and her work as a wildlife scientist in Africa is the main reason that isolation and wilderness are such vital parts of this book.

The title of this novel, ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, is an important symbol for the essential role nature plays in the lives of people. The origin of this title comes from the authors childhood experiences but can be tied into her life as an adult as well. When Owens was a young girl growing up in South Georgia her mother used to encourage her to venture and explore as far as she could go. Her mother put a great emphasis on experiencing true nature, the nature that has been untouched by man. Her mother used to tell her to “go way out yonder where the crawdads sing”. As a child Owens’ was already trying to find the parts of nature that spoke to her and was attempting to learn lessons from the environment around her. Obviously, this idea is a large part of the novel and we can see these values reflect in her later life.

Delia Owens spent the majority of her life trying to chase these places where the crawdads sing. She became a wildlife scientist to be one with nature because nature was what has taught her the most about life as a child. Due to her upbringing revolving around the environment in her novel the main theme is the relationship between nature and man. The title where the crawdads sing shows up multiple times throughout the book to symbolize the isolation that Kya enjoys in the Marsh. In Chapter 17 the symbol of the crawdads comes up when Tate suggests that they go somewhere “where the crawdads sing” and then explains to Kya that this phrase means”far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.” This definition of the phrase is significant because he says that the animals there still behave like they would in the wild, unbothered by humans. Near the end of the novel on page 358 Kya says she wants to return to “where the crawdads sing.” When saying this Kya is referring to the marsh as the place where they sing. By describing the marsh as that it shows that Kya sees herself as an animal that has not been tamed by society's expectations and from the influence of other people.

This phrase is important not only in the novel, but in real life as well. The author Delia Owens is a good example of this considering she made it one of her life goals to find the places where the crawdads sing and attempt to learn from them. But this concept is one that everyone can follow and attempt to understand on a deeper level. Most people have never been exposed to the kind of the raw nature that is described in this novel. Nature can act as a companion to a human being and is able to teach people the lessons that modern society is unable to. Nature helps show people the origin of where they came from and by escaping from all of the urban areas and stresses it allows people to focus on the simplest parts of life.

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blog post 5

In Chapter 44, ‘Cell Mate’ it focuses on Kyas time spent in the jail cell. After being accused of the murder of Chase Andrews she is stuck in jail which would be a torturous experience for someone like Kya who has lived in the wilderness her whole life. In the beginning of this chapter there is a sentence that I feel is extremely important.

“It seemed that now, Kya being more vulnerable than ever, was reason to trust others even less. Standing in the most fragile place of her life, she turned to the only net she knew—herself.” (285)

This sentence accurately describes some of the main themes in this book such as independence and abandonment. We see Kya struggle with her trust issues throughout the whole book and at this moment it is something that is not helping her out at all. She thinks that being isolated is what has protected her all these years, but it is actually what has led to her downfall. Her being perceived by others as the “Marsh Girl” and a crazy person from the wilderness has made her a prime suspect in this murder. She has nobody to stand up for her or her character which leaves her at a great disadvantage when being accused of something. By not opening up to anyone it has come back to bite her and she is stuck being accused of a crime she possibly did not do. 

Throughout the novel we can remember times that rather than leaning on others in times of hardship, she distances herself even more. Going back to the beginning of the book, we can see that this behavior has begun at a very young age regarding her attending school. Rather than accepting the small bit of kindness that she was offered, she immediately ran away. That path has always been Kyas default even throughout her romantic relationships. 

This pattern of behavior is very similar to the actions of her family. Every single family member ran away from any sort of relationship or friendship the first chance that they got. After Kya saw all of her loved ones distance themselves and refuse to be vulnerable, she followed in their footsteps. After the trial and time in jail is completed I am curious to see if it advances her love for isolation, or if it opens her eyes to the fact that everybody needs to be vulnerable at times in order to survive.

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blog post 4

A well-known quote by Anthony Douglas Williams described mother nature as having the power to, “please, to comfort, to calm, and to nurture one’s soul.” This quote excellently describes the role of nature in this book. Throughout the novel, where the crawdads sing, we see nature and the “marsh” greatly develop the main character and mature her. Due to the abandonment from her family we can see Kya rely on nature to act as her family and protect her. This attachment leads her to struggle to let go of her savage lifestyle as she ages, because the marsh has been the only consistent thing in her life and she is frightened to let go. 

At the beginning of this portion of the book, we see Kya move on from the extreme neglect she faced from her parents. After years alone, fending for herself on the marsh, we can finally see the moment where she transitions from a child waiting for her parents to come back, into an adult learning to rely on herself and her surroundings. We see this in the quote where she is lying on the sand in the marsh, “Until at last, at some unclaimed moment, the head-pain seeped away like water into sand. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.” (130) By describing the land as her “mother” the author makes it extremely evident how vital nature has been to her development and how deep her connection truly is with this area. For such a large portion of her life the land has been the only thing that never faltered.

As Kya grows older and begins having experiences with boys and finally beginning to form a bond with each other, each time those relationships fail we can see her come back to nature to provide for her what others couldn't. After Tate left her for college and didn’t return as he promised. We see Kya return to her old ways and turn to the ocean to give her the feelings that Tate once did, “She rolls faster into the deepening wave, against streaming shells and ocean bits, the water embracing her. Pushing against the sea's strong body, she is grasped, held. Not alone.”(152). The personification of the sea shows the extent of her loneliness and how she relies on nature in many aspects of her life to replace the bonds that most people have with other humans. Not only does she draw on nature to help her deal with the loss of her family but she also does to help comfort her through the loss of a romantic partner.

The connection between Kya and her environment is very different than how society views it. She sees nature as more than land that we can use for our own benefit. By displaying the impactful effects that nature can have on a person, this book helps to inspire readers to embrace all of the land that is out there. Although this book depicts an extreme example of a humans relationship with nature, it can help ordinary people recognize how powerful nature can be.

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Blog Post 3

In the second quarter of this book, we see the relationship between Kya and her father develop as they both go through the loss of Ma. They begin to form a genuine bond through a shared interest in fishing, but this relationship completely breaks apart after Pa receives the news that Ma is never coming back. Pa has been initially displayed as a horrible father who is an alcoholic and does not care about Kya’s physical or emotional well-being. When the rest of Kya’s family abandoned her, she went years without the help or bond of another person. She begins to build a relationship with her father when she asks him to fish. We see the beginning of this growing relationship the first time he asks her to go, “‘Git in’ was all he said as an invitation. She started to express glee or gratitude, but his blank expression kept her quiet” (85). We can see through this quote that this small amount of acknowledgment overjoys kya. She has gone for so long without any sort of care being shown for her by her father resulting in this small act having a significant impact on her. We can see this impact on her in this quote, “But what it cost her and what it cost that fish was worth it to have this little shred of family” (86). Kya was willing to do anything to have a family member again, even fishing, which she really didn’t like. 

We see this relationship between them progress through fishing when Pa calls Kya ‘hon’ for the first time in her life. This endearing nickname is something that her father had never called her before. Though a small act of kindness, it was obvious that receiving something like this was way out of the ordinary for her when she thinks about it later in bed, “She closed her eyes, and then opened them wide. He had called her ‘hon.’” (89). We can see their relationship peak a little later on page 97 when they play gin rummy together. This small game can display a lot about the progress that they have made in their relationship. This game is something that a regular family would do together. This game is the first sight of a family that the readers have seen in years. Unfortunately, soon after this large jump in the strength of their relationship, it all goes fast downhill when they receive a letter from the mother. 

We never are told exactly what was written in this letter but, by Pa’s actions and vague dialogue following the arrival of this letter, it can be seen that this letter consisted of ma announcing that she was never planning on coming back. This news completely destroys their relationship and gets rid of new-and-improved Pa. This is illustrated by a quote on page 101 which says that “Pa didn't come home that day or the next day, and when he finally did, it was the old drunk who staggered through the door.” Pa is devastated by this news and reverts back to his drunken self. He returned to the man that couldn’t be bothered by Kya or taking her fishing. An important quote displaying the growth and fall of their relationship is, “Pa never took her fishing again. Those warm days were just a thrown-in season. Low clouds parting, the sun splashing her world briefly, then closing up dark and tight-fisted again.” (102). Describing this time with Pa as “warm” and the “sun” shows the reader what a bright spot in Kya’s trauma-filled life this experience with him was. 

This relationship between Pa and Kya is something that many people experience in their own lives. Although the bond portrayed in this novel is way out of the ordinary, all parent-child relationships are complicated and have their highs and lows. Even though sadly, this relationship had a very negative effect on Kya. The description of their time together shows the impact that having a healthy relationship with a parent can have on one’s mental health and happiness.

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Blog Post 2

At the beginning of this novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, the first conflict introduced is the main character is abandoned by her family and left with her abusive father. She struggles to do things on her own, and when given the option for help, she denies and chooses to continue to be on her own. In this novel, her mother and all of her siblings leave her to escape their abusive father/husband. Kya goes a couple of months doing things on her own and fending for herself. When her mother leaves her, it has an extreme effect on her, and she struggles to move past that hurt. This conflict is something that real people face. In 2020, 30% of children didn’t live with both parents and did not have the parental influence of either their mother or father. The lack of a mother or father role is something that many people struggle with. Although the main character’s experience is much harsher than the people in that statistic go through, it is still an eye-opening fact that shows how many people may relate to the struggles that Kya goes through. 

For months after her mother left, Kya waited for her mother to come back, “Kya returned to the porch steps later and waited for a long time, but, as she looked to the end of the lane, she never cried. Her face was still, her lips a simple thin line under searching eyes. But Ma didn’ come back that day either.” (11). She struggled to overcome the hurt that her mother left her with because she had nobody to lean on, no siblings, no father, no friends. Because she was forced to deal with this loss on her own and raise herself, it resulted in her developing an overwhelming sense of independence and learning to do everything on her own. As she knew how to do more and more things, she began to get over this tragedy. The author expresses that it took her over a year to move past this, “Until at last, at some unclaimed moment, the heart-pain seeped away like water into sand. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother” (34). She successfully moved on from this, but it resulted in a significant lack of trust issues, and we can see throughout the beginning of the novel that she does whatever she can to avoid help from others and do things on her own.

When she turns seven, about a year after she was abandoned, people come to her and offer her help. The school system asks her to go to school to provide her with an education, food, and an escape from the marshland. When they first arrive to get her, the reader can see the true isolation she has experienced while living there, “Mrs. Culpepper held out her hand. Kya stared at it. She hadn’t touched another person in weeks, hadn’t touched a stranger her whole life. But she put her small hand in Mrs. Culpeppers and was led down the path...” (27). Although she takes a chance at receiving help from others at first, she quickly turns it down and returns to her state of independence. She does everything in her power to hide from these people that helped her and refuses to recognize that receiving help from others is a good thing. Due to the trust issues, she purposefully isolates herself, “They came every two or three days for a few more weeks, the man in the fedora doing the search and chase, but he never even got close. Then one week no one came. There was only the cawing of crows. She dropped her hands to her sides, staring at the empty lane. Kya never went back to school a day in her life” (31). Kya had an opportunity to make her life better and easier, but she refused. I think that she should have jumped at this opportunity and used it to her advantage. Going to school gave her an escape from her abusive father and solved her hunger problems.

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Blog Post #1

Before I begin Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, I read an article about the well-known ‘dark history’ behind this story. In this article by Laura Miller, she discusses the tragedies and hardships that the author has gone through in her life prior to writing her record-breaking novel. Where the Crawdads Sing has sold more than 4.5 million copies and surprised the book world with its popularity. 

When focusing on the personal experiences that the author has gone through, one can spot many similarities between this book and her own life. Owens and her husband spent over 20 years in Africa attempting to prevent poaching. As they continued on their path of preservation Delias husband became extremely passionate about his efforts and began to become aggressive about it. When they were in Zambia, an unidentified poacher was murdered by a scout. Many people have implicated Chris Owens, Delias stepson, as the killer.

Similarities between her time in Africa and Where the Crawdads Sing can be seen due to the isolation, violence, and passion that has had a large impact on Owens life. This novel is a story about a southern loner and a noble naturalist that gets away with murder. This murder is described as righteous and rightfully motivated in a remote and isolated world. This scenario is somewhat similar to the murder that occurred in Zambia that her stepson has been accused of committing.