Where the Crawdads Sings Theme Analysis Essay

“Where the Crawdads Sings”, what a name for such a novel that shows us that the way we choose to live can change our lives. The novel “Where The Crawdads Sing”, by Delia Owens, is about a little girl named Kya who lives alone in the North Carolina marsh because everyone in her life keeps leaving her. She fights to survive by finding the necessities to live, though she has a lack of human connection. She does have the help of a married couple, Jumpin and Mabel but has to put up with the prejudice of the townspeople and become more tolerant of others to get to a point where she can accept others. In life, no one is treated equally but being intolerant limits you, and the sooner you accept this the more you will grow as a person.

The marsh people all have to deal with the prejudices of the townspeople. Kya had to deal with a lot of prejudices to the point where she wouldn’t go to school other than the first day. First, the teacher asked her to spell out the word dog, but Kya spelled out G-O-D and the whole class laughed at her making her self-conscious. Kya didn't talk to anyone all-day then finally at the end of the day when getting dropped off, the girls from lunch called out, “Where ya been, marsh hen? Where’s yo’ hat, swamp rat?” (page26). After that Kya never went back to school; she avoided the Truant officer until she stopped coming. This caused Kya to not get an education in tell Tate came along and taught her himself. Though Kya dealt with prejudice she also saw it when Jumpin was getting attacked by some towns, boys. They said “Jest an ol’ nigger walkin’ to town. Watch out, nigger-boy, don’t fall down,” they taunted Jumpin’, who kept his eyes on his toes. One of the boys reached down, picked up a stone, and slung it at Jumpin’s back,” (page 71). This made Kya extremely mad unlike when prejudices happened to her. Kya surprise attacked the boys that had thrown the stones at Jumpin. Then again at Kya's trial, Mrs white was openly prejudiced against Kya in court and in the past when she went to a dinner in town with her pa. “Mrs. White, who had told her daughter that Kya was dirty, now sat on the jury,” (page 170). Not only was Mrs. White biased, but it became clear that most of the Jurors had prejudices against Kya. Jumpin and Maybel were also faced with prejudices when they sat down in the stand meant for “white only”.  In conclusion, the prejudices of the townspeople outcast the marsh people.

Kya showed intolerance of the townspeople for their prejudice. We first get to see this when Kya attacked boys with a sack of jam jars because they were calling  Jumpin slurs and throwing rocks at him. “She twisted the cloth bag with the jam so that it was wrung tight and knotted against the jars. As the boys drew even with the thicket, she swung the heavy bag and whacked the closest one hard across the back of his head,” (Page 71). Kya’s lack of intolerance could have caused her to accidentally kill that boy but luckily she did not. That could have easily ruined the rest of her life. Also, Kya's attorney, Tom, Made it clear that Kya, a woman, has defended herself against a strong man not referred to as anything else. ​​“So, isn’t it possible that when Miss Clark kicked Mr. Andrews she was defending herself—a woman alone in the woods—against a very strong, athletic man? A former quarterback, who had attacked her?” (page 176). Tom was not having any of the jurors’ intolerance toward Kya and he tried his best to make it clear that Kya was a woman defending herself. Not only Tom, but the judge also made it clear that he had no tolerance in the courtroom for prejudices. “The judge told him to announce that anybody of any color or creed could sit anywhere they wanted in his courtroom, and if somebody didn’t like it, they were free to leave. In fact, he’d make sure they did,” (page 191). “Judge Sims leaned toward the witness. ‘Mr. Horn, the defendant’s name is Miss Clark. Do not refer to her by any other name’,” (page 175). Kya becomes more tolerant of the prejudices as she grows as a person, starting to spread her wings more and become more of a successful person. 

As Kya became more accepting of others, her life got better. Kya didn't understand at the time that Jumpin was showing tolerance when some town boys say, “Here comes a nigger walkin’ to Nigger Town.” Kya looked down the path, and there, walking home for the evening, was Jumpin’. Quite close, he had surely heard the boys, but he simply dropped his head, stepped into the woods to give them a berth, and moved on,” (page70). But Jumpin showed more tolerance than most people and was a great example for Kya and helped her see that violence isn't the answer when she looks back on it. Once Jodie came back Kya was very hesitant to let him back into her life. Despite that, she did listen to what he had to say Jodie told her that their mother had died Kya 

Said how her mother was already dead to her. But now being told how she was dead bothered her. After him staying there for three days of talking and telling her stories of their past, they told each other what happened after he left. As he left, he passed her slip of paper with his address and phone number. Then, “She choked on her own throat as he pulled her to him, and finally, after a lifetime, she sagged against him and wept. “I never thought I’d see you again. I thought you were gone forever.” “I’ll always be here, I promise. Whenever I move, I’ll send my new address. If you ever need me, you write or call, you hear?” ( page 157). Finally, she had accepted him back into her life and now has another person to lean on if she needs it. Tate tells Kya how he wanted to restart their relationship but Kya wasn't ready. Then in the next chapter Kya’s brother, Jodie was talking with Kya she mentions how Tate was her first love and that he reasonably told her he still loves her but she said she could never trust Tate again. Jodie tries to persuade her to give him another chance. Kya and Tate begin to start their friendship again when Kya goes to jail waiting for her trial Tate visits Kya whenever he can, giving her books and feeding the gulls for her and going to the trial. Kya got more opportunities once she became more accepting of others and got help when needed, leading to a fuller life.

Lifes no one is treated equally, those who are intolerant to others' lives unfairly won't progress as much as those you have learned to accept and move past them. The marsh people always have dealt with the prejudices from others but when Kya was intolerant to it, all it did was stop her from growing. As she learned to accept this she opened new doors. Everyone's life can be improved if they choose to learn from this theme. There will always be prejudiced people and the more time you spend being intolerant of others the less time you have to grow as a person. I'm not saying that prejudices are fine; I’m just saying that we as a society should choose to focus our attention on improving ourselves.