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Crawdads Theme or Issue

The document discusses several key themes in the novel "Where the Crawdads Sing" including isolation, loneliness, freedom, survival, and connection. It notes that the story depicts how loneliness can pull someone in unhealthy directions and explores Kya's journey towards self-sufficiency and freedom through surviving alone in the marsh. Education and the need for human connection are also examined as important themes.

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Sarah Gilchrist
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101 views

Crawdads Theme or Issue

The document discusses several key themes in the novel "Where the Crawdads Sing" including isolation, loneliness, freedom, survival, and connection. It notes that the story depicts how loneliness can pull someone in unhealthy directions and explores Kya's journey towards self-sufficiency and freedom through surviving alone in the marsh. Education and the need for human connection are also examined as important themes.

Uploaded by

Sarah Gilchrist
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Themes in ‘Where The Crawdads

Sing’
• This story is about many things, isolation, mistrust,
strength, a woman’s perceived role in society (Issue), racism,
sexism, classism. The part that I have found most
potent is the way loneliness is depicted, it’s effects
and the ways how and how-not-to manage it. The
heartbreaking sincerity and the clarity with which the
writer depicts the emotions of this character are at
times very poignant.
• There are several key lines that I highlighted to revisit that
speak to how well loneliness and longing are captured
in the book. At one point, while the main character, who
has spent years alone, asked herself, “How much do you trade
to defeat loneliness?” This line highlight how desperate we
can become when we feel like we have few people in our lives
we are intimate with or can trust and are desperately looking
for any connection. The implication is that sometimes we will
do what we can just to feel any kind of human connection.
Arguably, the key to this line, is the tenor of judgement she
has for herself. It is only so human to want connection
and be willing to give up much to get it, while we should
mitigate and balance these needs the character allows herself
little sympathy when she feels this pull. Unfortunately, in the
case of our protagonist, she lets loneliness pull herself in
some pretty unhealthy directions.
Theme or Issue
• Freedom- What is freedom? How important is freedom
to the human condition?
• What is freedom for Kya?
• What threatens Kya’s freedom?
Nature and Natural Living is Freedom
• Kya's wildness and connection with nature attract the interest
of Barkley Cove residents, notably Chase and Tate. Tate
admires Kya's knowledge of the marsh, while Chase regards
her as a sexual novelty, "wild as a she-fox in a snare."
• Kya feels at home and free in wild, remote places and by
contrast, feels suffocated and anxious in urban and populated
environments. In prison, Kya grows depressed and lonely,
unable to bear being separated from the marsh. Despite Tom
Milton's pleas to look engaged, Kya's mind wanders to "fields-
of-snow-geese distractions," and she searches for patches of
nature visible through the window.
The Theme of Freedom in The Shawshank
Redemption
• Andy takes risks ,so he can feel free.
● When the warden offers Andy a type of freedom within the prison walls when he offers Andy a
job looking after his tax affairs . So Andy is moved from the laundry which gets him away from the
violence and intimidation he was experiencing .Andy quickly moves from doing this work from the
warden , to the other prison officers and then onto guards from other prisons.
● The theme of freedom is dealt with in a poignant and ultimately tragic way when Books, an elderly
convict who works with Andy in the library ,is released from prison.Ultimately he is unable to cope
with life outside prison.In a dramatic and unsettling moment ,Brooks inscribes his name on the beam
in the in his bedroom and then takes his own life.
● The theme of freedom is explored in a life affirming way when Andy challenges the warden’s
authority .He locks himself in the wardens office and plays a record of Mozart over the PA system.
The entire prison stops to listen .Red explains “ it was like some beautiful bird
flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve
away, and for the briefest of moments every last man at
Shawshank felt free.
Individual versus Society
Survival

• At its core, Where the Crawdads Sing is a story of survival. Kya's journey is


towards self-sufficiency and, ultimately, freedom. Beginning in her early
childhood, Kya learns to fend for herself in the marsh's hostile environment. In
addition to its environmental dangers, the marsh contains a "mishmash of mutinous
sailors, castaways, debtors, and fugitives dodging wars, taxes, or laws that they
didn't take to." Alone, Kya survives by cooking, hiding from predators, making
money selling mussels, and navigating the marsh's ever-changing environment.
• Inspired by her observations of animal behavior, Kya slowly learns how humans
develop "inventive ways to endure against all odds." For example, Kya's mother
left her children in the hands of their abusive father because escaping was the
only way for her to survive. Kya does not understand her mother's motives for
years until she suffers similar abuse. Ma's escape parallels Chase's murder. Like
her mother, Kya takes extreme measures that ultimately ensure her survival. By
killing Chase, Kya protected herself from his retaliation.
Hopes and Dreams
Power

• Sexuality/

• Words

• Education
The Concept of Otherness
• The creation of otherness (also called othering) consists of applying a
principle that allows individuals to be classified into two hierarchical
groups: them and us. The out-group is only coherent as a group as a
result of its opposition to the in-group and its lack of identity

• George Herbert Mead’s classic text, Mind Self and Society, established that
social identities are created through our ongoing social interaction with
other people and our subsequent self-reflection about who we think we are
according to these social exchanges. Mead’s work shows that identities are
produced through agreement, disagreement, and negotiation with other
people. We adjust our behaviour and our self-image based upon our
interactions and our self-reflection about these interactions (this is also
known as the looking glass self).
The Need for Connection and Belonging
The Importance of Words,
Communication, The Arts…
Education
• Is Where The Crawdads Sing critiquing the education
system?
Adapting to one’s environment
• Jungian analytical psychology is used to determine the individuation
process that occurs in the novel. According to Jung, Individuation is a
process by which a person recognizes his uniqueness. It happens
because someone has united his conscious and unconscious so that it
becomes an inseparable unity as the main character in the novel
undergoes the process of self-individuation.
• Individuation process: In Carl Jung's psychology, the individuation
process transitions towards wholeness and increased awareness. In
order to fulfill the individuation process, one has to go through
several strategies: diminish persona, acknowledge anima/animus,
recognize shadow and unveils the unconscious

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