ipl-logo

Abandonment In Delia Owen's Where The Crawdads Sing

1301 Words6 Pages

“The marsh knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as a tragedy,” (Where the Crawdads Sing). Chase Andrews, the Barkley Cove town favorite, was murdered in the marshes of North Carolina. The town defined this as a tragedy, and immediately blamed Kya Clark, the rumored “Marsh Girl.” However, her perception agrees with the marsh and does not define it as a tragedy. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” a book and film written by Delia Owens, focuses on Kya Clark, a young girl raised in an abusive household. Early childhood abuse led to her mother leaving at a young age, then subsequently her siblings. After her abusive dad finally left a few years later, Kya was left alone to survive by herself, with nothing but mistrust and isolation from …show more content…

According to PubMed Central, “Research on parent-child attachment supports the prediction that fear of abandonment affects the development of a broad array of social relationships.” This idea, as further researched by PubMed Central, focuses on the idea that abandonment can cause deep-rooted relationship issues. This can be seen in the film as Kya is abandoned by her entire family, and then the first love interest she meets ends up leaving her too. After those two extreme cases of abandonment, Kya has issues with her next, she ends up finding a love interest that is similar to her father, which is the opposite of what Kya wanted in a man. This trauma continues to build up until it causes her to act out and murder Chase Andrews. While this claim has its truths, Kya Clark’s trauma isn’t what completely shaped her. Looking more positively, her trauma with abandonment was an extremely important part of the development of her character, but because of this trauma was how she became a part of the marsh. Therefore, this claim is a factor in Kya Clark's conflicts, but ultimately, the marsh is the source of the conflict and peace in her

Show More
Related
1403 Words | 6 Pages

These tarnished relationships make her incapable of having external resources to cope with the excessive amounts of trauma she endures

Read More
613 Words | 3 Pages

The novel, Salvage the Bones, was narrated by a girl named, Esch Batiste, who lived in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, in a small, fallen apart house. She spends most of her time with her three brothers; Randall, Skeetah, and Junior. Their mother had died giving birth to Junior. Due to this, their father is a drunken mess who only worries about the hurricane Katrina. Later in the story, Esch found out she was pregnant with Skeetah’s best friend's’ baby at the age of fourteen.

Read More
1388 Words | 6 Pages

The novel goes through many recurring themes such as child abuse, social and economic differences, and legitimacy. These themes not only impact the main character but all the characters as a whole. It is the harrowing story of how Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright, a child must learn to cope and deal with the many terrible atrocities that are inflicted upon her by her stepfather, “Daddy Glen.” Before Bone could even coherently make a judgment upon herself she was labeled as an outcast. She was a sin and mistake that should be labeled as such for the world to know about it.

Read More
187 Words | 1 Pages

In Delia Owens' novel "Where The Crawdads Sing," the setting of a marsh in North Carolina is vividly presented, evoking both beauty and isolation. Owens' use of sensory details, such as the "thick odor of mud and decay" and the "stink of low tide," creates a vivid picture of the marsh (Owens 5). These descriptions create a sense of isolation for the protagonist, Kya, who lives alone in the marsh for much of her life. The setting also plays a significant role in the novel's themes of connection to nature and the struggle for survival. Kya's deep understanding and love for the marsh, as well as her ability to survive in its harsh conditions, represent her resilience and connection to the natural world (Owens 65).

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

However, when Tate goes to college, he leaves Kya waiting on the Fourth of July. Kya’s misery is shown through Owen’s use of descriptive language when she says, "No boat; no Tate. At dusk, she stood straight and still and silent as a stork…" (129) Tate abandoning Kya is a vital point in the novel because it essentially counteracts all the good he has done before that moment since the betrayal that Kya feels causes her to go back on the good emotions and feelings. Kya eventually tries to ease her loneliness with Chase, who, despite his good looks and charming manner, treats her horribly. This switch depicts a plot change in the novel, showing how Kya herself has changed, from once being disgusted by Chase Andrews and the boys he was hanging around with to being involved with them.

Read More
2236 Words | 9 Pages

It was almost as if she hated me.” (Grande 92) This is important because the return of their mother was for a reason nobody would have expected, Mami was full of angry emotions and vaguely showed it when treating the children she abandoned. The reader of my essay might relate to seeing the change in someone after being absent for so long. Though a mother chose to be absent through her children’s adolescence, they still chose to hold so much love for her when she returned though she came back full of anger and

Read More
1559 Words | 7 Pages

This emotional detachment manifests in her interactions with others, making it challenging for her to establish deep emotional connections. The sudden disappearance of her parents at a young age left Brennan with a fear of abandonment. This fear is evident in her reluctance to form close relationships, as she subconsciously fears being left behind or betrayed. As a result, she often maintains a certain level of distance from others to protect herself from potential pain and

Read More
1365 Words | 6 Pages

Kay had to not only adapt to those values but figure out who she was through the layers of judgment she had learned. Kay’s identity could not fully develop due to the restrictions put up on her and her life since then was spent restraining her true identity, until she ultimately reunites with her cousins for the tour in Vietnam. “Don't go telling me what I am and what I'm not. I didn't get a say in how things worked out for me” (Kay). The loss of the land and culture to the people who were snatched from their homes proved to be problematic later in life when they were in dire need of figuring out who they were and what they wanted from

Read More
1047 Words | 5 Pages

Most, if not all of these were present within Kym’s family, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was clear that when these conditions were present Kym was negatively affected by them. This was especially apparent when criticism, judgement, or interpretations of Kym’s behaviors as methods to attract attention were present. It is possible that Kym has developed conditions of worth as she would receive more attention and empathy when she was in a crisis, as pointed out by both Rachel and Kym. The conditional positive regard she would receive likely contributed to the development of these conditions of worth and the incongruence between her actual and ideal self. This is further supported by statements by Rachel like that she only wanted Kym to “get better or die”, and Kym telling her family that they cannot dictate her life forever but soon afterwards asking them “who do I have to be now?”.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

The story of The Witch of Blackbird Pond follows a young woman, Kit Tyler, who grew up in a loose, tropical environment, on her journey to adjust to her new life on the bleak shores of the Connecticut Colony. She faces many challenges when she moves in with her stern, Puritan relatives, and their community. She has a hard time adjusting to this new lifestyle, which was very

Read More
1050 Words | 5 Pages

Kya experiences isolation in the marsh, she craves human connection and so she pursues a romantic relatiobnship with the characters Chase and Tate as a way to fill this void. Tate is a catalyst for Kyas's character development, “Tate was more than her first love: he shared her devotion to the marsh, had taught her to read, and was the only connection, however small, to her vanished family. “. Owens employs cumulation and listing to emphasis the impact that Tate had on Kya, as he helped rebuild her sense of identity by teaching her to read and helping her connect with her roots. Allowing her to pursue her interests and later publish a bool, Tate was vital in exposing to Kya her own potential and allowing her to flourish as an individual. Furthermore, Kya experience with romantic relationships, especially with Chase, allow her to learn from her expeireneces, she begins to understand that, “lot of times love doesn’t work out.

Read More
1934 Words | 8 Pages

Being a Child Advocacy minor I have learned children will always love their parents and do want to lose them because that’s all they know. In most cases, children do not think their parents did anything wrong and have a hard time understanding why it happening to them. In Ashely case, she was too young to understand why she couldn’t stay with the mother she adored. Also, she did not know that she was going to spend the next nine years bouncing from one foster family to the next. Ashely did not grow up with her biological father but her stepfather was a part of her life and the two of them did not form a bond.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

She learns to live off the land and becomes intimately familiar with the marshes and the creatures that inhabit it. However, her isolation also causes her to feel deeply lonely and she longs for human connection. Throughout the novel, Kya's isolation is a constant presence. The author describes Kya's feelings of loneliness in vivid detail, such as in the following quote: "Loneliness is different than being alone. Being alone means you're just by yourself, but loneliness is a hollow feeling that you get even when you're surrounded by other people" (Chapter 1).

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

The informal language, creative word choice, and diction used by all of the characters in this story are true to the Southern Gothic genre short story style (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Southern imagery extends beyond the characters to the setting and language. As we read about dirt roads, southern plantations, “red clay banks”, and crops in the field, we are

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

The narrator puts the reader in the environment and the society of Kreb to enforce the theme of the story. This allows the reader to interpret the struggle that Kreb is going through after returning from

Read More

More about Abandonment In Delia Owen's Where The Crawdads Sing

Related Topics

Open Document