Where the Crawdads Sing

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 4

READING CHECK

1. Contrasting the marsh and the swamp, which does the Prologue present as a place of death and decay?

Answer: the swamp

Discussion Suggestion: Use the question above to prompt a discussion about how words elicit associations with other words and concepts. How do the associations linked with the word “marsh” differ from those the word “swamp” elicits? Review or introduce the literary device connotation.

2. What age is Kya when her mother leaves wearing gator high heels?

Answer: 6

3. Which of Kya’s siblings is the last to leave the shack for good?

Answer: Jodie

4. What type of small payment does Kya’s father receive weekly?

Answer: a disability payment

5. What does Miss Pansy Price call Kya when she goes into town?

Answer: swamp trash

6. Who does not return to celebrate Kya’s 7th birthday?

Answer: Ma

7. Whose lifeless body is found in Chapter 3?

Answer: Chase Andrews

8. What does the Sheriff notice is missing from the scene around the body?

Answer: footprints

9. Where does Mrs. Culpepper take Kya?

Answer: to school

10. After Kya cuts her foot, what does she fear she will contract?

Answer: lockjaw

QUIZ

1. Which of the following is the basis for the laws that govern marsh life?

A) cooperation

B) survival

C) equity

D) reproduction

2. Why do Kya’s siblings leave home?

A) to search for their mother

B) to go to school

C) to escape from their father

D) to take advantage of job opportunities

3. Which of these descriptions does not apply to Kya?

A) irresponsible

B) curious

C) resilient

D) self-reliant

4. Why does Kya decide against returning to school?

A) She doesn’t like studying.

B) She is academically ahead of her grade level.

C) Her father says girls don’t need an education.

D) She feels unwelcome there.

5. Which theme clearly emerges in Chapter 4?

A) the power of hope

B) the inevitability of change

C) nature as a source of nurture

D) death as a source of life

6. Pa burns some of Ma’s belongings. Which of these belongings reveal Ma’s creative side?

7. Why does the Sheriff agree to investigate the body in the swamp, even though Barkley Cove law enforcement officers rarely extend their jurisdiction beyond the border between town and marsh?

8. Where does Kya run to after her first day of school?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. See Chapter 1, Page 8

2. C. See Chapter 2, Page 12

3. A. Kya is curious about the natural world, and over the course of these chapters, she proves herself to be resilient and self-reliant.

4. D. See Chapter 4, Pages 29-30

5. C. See Chapter 4, Page 34

6. Ma’s paintings reveal her creative side.

7. The body may be that of Chase Andrews, the son of a well-respected Barkley Cove family.

8. Kya runs to the beach to be with the sea birds.

Part 1, Chapters 5-14

READING CHECK

1. What evidence leads the sheriff to suspect Chase Andrews fell from the fire tower?

Answer: an open grate

2. Who helps Kya find her way home when she gets lost boating in Pa’s skiff?

Answer: Tate Walker

3. What does Scupper Walker encourage his son to read?

Answer: poetry

4. What is the one gift Kya’s father gives her?

Answer: his old army knapsack

5. What happens that spells the end of Kya’s fishing trips with Pa and the return of his old drinking habits?

Answer: a letter from Ma arrives

6. Who gives Kya gas and money in exchange for the mussels she collects?

Answer: Jumpin’

7. When Kya spies a group of town kids on the beach, which ones attract her attention?

Answer: the girls

8. Where does Mabel turn to for help outfitting Kya with the supplies she needs?

Answer: her church

9. After Kya sees a boy in the woods, what does she find on a stump?

Answer: a rare feather

10. What color are the suspicious wool fibers found on Chase’s jacket?

Answer: red

QUIZ

1. How is Tate different from the other town kids Kya has encountered?

A) He has just moved to Barclay Cove.

B) He is an orphan.

C) He invites Kya to his house.

D) He addresses Kya by her name.

2. Why does Tate wear a red baseball cap?

A) He loves baseball.

B) His hair embarrasses him.

C) He misses her.

D) He won it from her in a bet.

3. When does Kya’s father soften towards her and share with her some of his past?

A) after he reads the letter from Kya’s mother

B) after they start fishing together

C) after Kya threatens to leave

D) after Kya says she loves him

4. How does the wife of the Methodist preacher react when Kya steps out the door of the Barkley Cover diner?

A) She tries to give Kya some money.

B) She tells Kya God loves her.

C) She accuses Kya of being filthy.

D) She accuses Kya of stealing.

Discussion Suggestion: Discuss irony. Why is it ironic that the wife of a Methodist preacher treats Kya with contempt? Compare this to the way the African American church treats Kya and consider how the Methodist preacher and his flock likely view the Black community.

5. When Kya puts on her mother’s dress, what does she notice?

A) a dark stain

B) a letter in the pocket

C) She resembles her mother.

D) She has grown too tall to wear it.

6. Kya remembers her mother’s opinion about what women need most. What is it?

7. What scene from nature does Kya recall when the town boys tag her door one night?

8. To record the natural specimens she collects, what skill does Kya develop?       

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. D. See Chapter 6, Page 45

2. C. Tate misses his sister Carianne, who loved the Atlanta Crackers cap. Later chapters reveal his mother and sister died in a car accident, for which Tate blames himself.

3. B. See Chapter 7, Page 57

4. C. See Chapter 9, Page 66

5. A. See Chapter 12, Page 79

6. Women need friendships with other women.

7. She remembers observing the turkey hens attacking one of their own.

8. She develops her natural talent for sketching.

Part 1, Chapters 15-21

READING CHECK

1. What does Tate offer to teach Kya after they meet by the stump?

Answer: to read

2. At which character do the town boys throw rocks?

Answer: Jumpin’

3. What does Kya discover in her family Bible?

Answer: the names and birthdates of her family members

4. When did Kya’s father’s family lose their cotton-based wealth?

Answer: during the depression of the 1930s

5. True or False: Kya’s father never earned a high school diploma.

Answer: True

6. Where Kya’s mother’s family live?

Answer: New Orleans

7. Who gives Kya sanitary napkins and helps her understand her first menstrual period?

Answer: Mabel

8. What is the tragedy that Tate blames himself for?

Answer: the deaths of his mother and sister in a car crash

9. Before Tate goes away to college, what does he promise Kya?

Answer: He will return to her on July 4th.

10. Kya stays in bed for 3 days after Tate breaks his promise to her. What finally gets her up?

Answer: a cooper’s hawk

QUIZ

1. What is Kya’s response when Tate first speaks to her at the stump?

A) She runs.

B) She silently hands him a feather.

C) She silently hands him a note.

D) She asks about his feather collection.

2. After Kya’s father was declared a war hero, how did he feel?

A) ashamed

B) proud

C) ambitious

D) content

Discussion Suggestion: Use the question above to discuss characterization in fiction, including the concepts of static and dynamic characters. Is Kya’s father a static or dynamic character?

3. Where does Tate suggest they hide when Kya reveals that the social service agency is trying to locate her?

A) at his house

B) in a cave

C) where the marsh turns to swamp

D) where the crawdads sing

4. Which of the following does Kya not take away from reading A Sand County Almanac?

A) knowledge about wetlands

B) real-life knowledge

C) knowledge everyone learns in school

D) truths everyone should know

5. As she grows into a young woman, how do Kya’s thoughts and actions increasingly identify her?

A) as a leader

B) as an outsider

C) as a peace-maker

D) as an optimist

6. What does Kya say when Tate suggests she might be too young to be his girlfriend?

7. What fear connected with her childhood relationships resurfaces in Kya when Tate departs for college?

8. Why does Sheriff Jackson dismiss Deputy Perdue’s suggestion that Chase Andrews had become tangled up with drugs or a “marsh girl”?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. See Chapter 15, Page 98

2. A. Kya’s father is ashamed, because he knows his actions were cowardly but he’s been mistakenly labeled a hero.

3. D. See Chapter 17, Page 111

4. C. See Chapter 17, Page 113

5. B. Kya feels most comfortable and most herself when she is in nature, far from the judgmental people of Barkley Cove.

6. Kya says she knows more about feathers than the other girls.

7. Kya has been repeatedly abandoned, so when Tate leaves, she fears she is being abandoned again.

8. Sheriff Jackson is skeptical that Chase would get involved with drugs or marsh “trash” because he was a talented athlete and, socially, was only interested in the Barkley Cove elite.

Part 2, Chapters 22-30

READING CHECK

1. What age is Kya at the beginning of Part 2?

Answer: 19

Discussion Suggestion: Use this question to discuss the concept of the Bildungsroman, or the coming-of-age novel. What rites of passage does a typical female coming-of-age novel feature? What rites of passage does Kya experience?

2. After witnessing Kya’s alarm when an old fisherman happens to motor by in his skiff, what does Tate decide?

Answer: Kya will never fit comfortably in his world.

3. Before Chase and Kya begin eating their picnic lunch, what does he play?

Answer: a harmonica

4. What does Kya give Chase as they stand together on the fire tower?

Answer: a shell necklace

5. While talking with the sheriff, what does Chase’s mother report as missing?

Answer: his shell necklace

6. After a morning spent exploring the marsh with Chase, whom does Kya unexpectedly spy in a nearby lagoon?

Answer: Tate

7. Where does Kya go when she visits Sea Oaks, a town 10 miles away?

Answer: to the library

8. What do Chase’s parents say to Kya when she sees them in town and smiles?

Answer: nothing

9. After Tate makes a surprise appearance at Kya’s shack, why does he depart with some of her drawings?

Answer: to show them to a publisher

10. What does Kya see in the newspaper she buys at the grocery story?

Answer: an engagement announcement for Chase and Pearl Stone

QUIZ

1. At the beginning of their relationship, what surprises Chase about Kya?

A) her aggressive sexual interest in him

B) how fast she can run

C) her beautiful singing voice

D) her knowledge of Latin terms

2. What about Kya intrigues Chase?

A) her mysterious past

B) her self-reliance

C) her extensive collection of natural specimens

D) her optimistic spirit

3. How does Kya feel when Chase asks if he can return the next day after his first visit to her shack?

A) apprehensive

B) curious

C) hopeful

D) suspicious

4. Why does Tate have a change of heart and begin to imagine a future with Kya?

A) He plans to work at a research lab near the marsh.

B) He plans to leave academic life and become a fisherman.

C) He plans to help her enroll at a university.

D) He plans to move far away with her.

5. What does Kya realize about nature as she reads the library books?

A) nature is reliable, unlike people

B) nature operates according to survival, not right and wrong

C) nature provides limitless nurture

D) nature is more powerful than people

6. When Chase talks of marriage and sharing a home with Kya, what is her first thought?

7. What does Hal, a shrimp fisherman, report seeing in the bay the night Chase Andrews died?

8. How does nature seemingly turn against Kya following her discovery of Chase’s betrayal?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. D. See Chapter 23, Page 160

2. B. See Chapter 24, Page 169

3. C. See Chapter 24, Page 169

4. A. See Chapter 26, Page 180

5. B. Kya reads about various animal behaviors that violate the moral code of human society, but human morality has no jurisdiction in nature, where survival is the only arbiter of right and wrong.

6. When Kya believes Chase intends to marry her, she thinks she will finally belong to someone and be part of a family.

7. The fisherman tells the sheriff he spotted Kya in her boat.

8. For Kya, nature is often a sanctuary, but when she takes her boat to the riptides to unleash her anger, the currents furiously thrash her about.

Part 2, Chapters 31-37

READING CHECK

1. What sign of personal success does Kya receive in her mailbox at the beginning of Chapter 31?

Answer: an advance copy of her book

2. What does Kya do to save her land after she learns developers plan to drain the swamp?

Answer: she pays the back taxes and purchases the land

3. True or False: Jumpin’ hugs Kya when she gives him a signed copy of her book.

Answer: False

4. What is Kya’s alibi for the night Chase died?

Answer: She went to Greenville that night to meet with her publisher.

5. Where did Ma go after she left her family, never to return?

Answer: to her sister’s house

6. When Jodie reappears, what does he bring with him?

Answer: some of Ma’s paintings

7. What disease claimed Ma’s life?

Answer: leukemia

8. What do the sheriff and the deputy find hanging out in the open when they search Kya’s home?

Answer: a red cap

Discussion Suggestion: Use the question above to discuss symbolism generally, and color symbolism in particular. What does the cap symbolize? What message is the author sending?

9. Kya finds a gift from Tate on the stump. What is it?

Answer: his grandfather’s compass

10. Where do the authorities finally capture Kya

Answer: at Jumpin’s wharf

QUIZ

1. After Tate leaves Kya’s place with the signed book she has just given him, what does Kya think?

A) She could be his wife one day.

B) He has changed a great deal.

C) She could be his colleague.

D) She never wants to see him again.

2. Where does the sheriff glean information that weakens Kya’s alibi?

A) from the train schedule

B) from motel telephone records

C) from Kya’s published book

D) from the bus schedule

3. The characters of Jodie and Tate share many similarities. In what way are they not similar?

A) They both abandoned Kya at some point in her life.

B) They both risked their own safety to thwart Pa’s violence.

C) They both helped Kya succeed at being self-reliant.

D) They both read poetry.

4. Where does Kya lay the “blame” for her mother’s decision to leave her children?

A) on her mother’s childhood experiences

B) on primitive survival instincts

C) on her mother’s sister

D) on her mother’s ambitions to be a painter

6. Regarding the symbolic meaning of the compass Kya receives, which of the following is most likely?

A) It symbolizes her connection to her family.

B) It symbolizes her fear of becoming lost.

C) It symbolizes the limitations of relying only on oneself.

D) It symbolizes the forces that have given her life direction.

6. When Kya admits she has lost her faith in love, what does Jodie say about the value of human relationships, even when they don’t work out?

7. Why does the Sheriff balk when the deputy suggests they track down Kya with hounds?

8. When a small fleet of law enforcement boats close in on Kya, what does she think they look like?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. C. See Chapter 31, Page 222

2. D. See Chapter 32, Page 227

3. D. While Tate’s father encouraged him to read poetry, and Jodie’s mother appreciated poetry, there is no mention in the narrative that Jodie reads poetry.

4. B. See Chapter 33, Page 238

5. C. Kya thinks the compass could be useful on cloudy days when she can’t see the position of the sun, thus acknowledging that one needs help sometimes, if only from a compass.

6. Jodie tells Kya that even when relationships fail, they connect you with others, and it’s these connections that are important.

7. The sheriff finds the idea of setting hounds on a woman distasteful. Moreover, he thinks hounds should only be used to hunt down convicted criminals.

8. As the police boats close in on Kya, she sees them as gray sharks circling her.

Part 2, Chapters 38-46

READING CHECK

1. What does Kya’s lawyer take from a brown paper bag and give to her?

Answer: a copy of her new book

2. When Chase finds Kya alone in Cypress Cove, and she refuses his advances, what is his reaction?

Answer: He tries to rape her.

3. As a witness for the prosecution, the fisherman Rodney Horn testifies that he saw Kya and Chase quarreling in Cypress Cove and that he heard her threaten what?

Answer: to kill Chase

4. How does Kya feel about herself after Chase attacks her?

Answer: unfit and disgusting

5. Having become the unwitting victim of a man who once claimed to care for her, Kya now has greater sympathy and understanding for whose behavior?

Answer: her mother’s

6. What does Tate give Kya after he notices bruises on her face and suspects someone has hit her?

Answer: his red baseball cap

7. How does Kya respond when her lawyer suggests she plead guilty to manslaughter, which would allow them to negotiate a lighter sentence?

Answer: Kya refuses to offer any plea that would result in jail time.

8. Who sends Kya a package of shells, paints, and paper while she is in jail?

Answer: Jumpin’ and Mabel

9. Who provides Kya with some comfort and companionship while she is in her cell?

Answer: the jailhouse cat, Sunday Justice

10. When Jumpin’ and Mabel arrive in the segregated courtroom, where do they sit?

Answer: in the white section

Discussion Suggestion: Use the question above to launch a discussion of the novel’s historical context with respect to race relations and Jim Crow laws.

11. Kya tells Jumpin’ her chances of receiving justice in a court of law are no better than those of who?

Answer: one of the girls from “Colored Town”

QUIZ

1. Why does Kya’s lawyer believe she won’t receive a fair hearing if the trial takes place in Barkley Cove?

A) She won’t cooperate with him.

B) The community is prejudiced against her.

C) The community resents her opposition to land development.

D) The circumstantial evidence is too convincing.

2. Kya’s observation of a female praying mantis killing her mate illustrates which theme that is central to the novel?

A) relationships always involve a power struggle

B) females are the stronger sex

C) nature is cruel

D) nature operates outside the realm of human morality

3. What are Kya’s thoughts as she ponders the prospect of receiving the death penalty?

A) She is terrified to die.

B) She would prefer serving a life sentence in prison.

C) She regrets not having more time with Tate.

D) She abhors the idea of being killed by another person.

4. Why does Kya feel certain Chase will continue to hunt her until he catches her?

A) He prides himself on his perseverance.

B) True to his name, he loves “the chase.”

C) She knows from her father that brutal men need the final punch.

D) Jumpin’ warns her Chase will never give up.

5. When Tate visits Kya in jail and urges her to think of the future and spending time together again, what does Kya say?

A) He must forget her.

B) She loves him.

C) She asks him to visit her often.

D) She dreams of exploring the lagoons with him again.

6. During Tom Milton’s cross-examination, what does the prosecuting lawyer admit regarding the red fibers found on Chase’s jacket?

7. Who is the one person Kya considers calling when she is in jail?

8. Why does Jumpin’ refer to Chase as “King of the World”?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. See Chapter 38, Page 259

2. D. Throughout the novel, Kya observes how nature operates according to the law of survival, not moral laws. This understanding of nature informs her actions when her own survival is threatened.

3. D. See Chapter 42, Page 277

4. C. See Chapter 43, Page 282

5. A. See Chapter 44, Page 291

6. The prosecuting lawyer admits the red fibers may have become attached to Chase’s jacket years before he died.

7. While in jail, Kya considers calling Jodie several times, but shame prevents her from doing so.

8. Jumpin’ calls Chase “King of the World” because of his entitled, self-centered behavior.

Part 2, Chapters 47-57

READING CHECK

1. What evidence does Tom Milton present at the trial to prove Sheriff Jackson foresaw an accidental death occurring at the fire tower?

Answer: the sheriff’s letter to the forest service

2. Who is the first to tell Kya about Chase’s death?

Answer: Jumpin’

3. What is inside the journal Kya gave Chase that connects her with the shell necklace he always wore?

Answer: a painting of Kya giving Chase the necklace

4. What natural phenomenon does Tom Milton draw upon to discredit the testimony of the fishermen who were in the bay the night of Chase’s death?

Answer: the waning of the moon

5. True or False: Scupper realizes he has been unjustly prejudiced against Kya.

Answer: True

6. How does Kya’s lawyer defend her choice to stay in a cheap motel while in Greenville?

Answer: She would not feel comfortable in a big, fancy hotel.

7. Who drives Kya home following her acquittal?

Answer: Jodie

8. When Kya witnesses the sheriff taking Tate from his boat, what does she fear?

Answer: The sheriff has charged Tate with Chase’s murder.

9. What is the sheriff’s fate, following Kya’s trial?

Answer: he does not win re-election

10. What two pieces of evidence does Tate ultimately find that prove Kya killed Chase?

Answer: a poem Kya wrote and Chase’s necklace

QUIZ

1. After Kya returns from Greenville and hears of Chase’s death, she whispers a verse about how the heart overrules the head. What plot twist does this foreshadow?

A) Kya decides to forgive Tate, despite how he wronged her.

B) Kya is guilty of killing Chase.

C) Kya decides not to tarnish Chase’s reputation by revealing he attacked her.

D) Kya resolves to never trust people again because they behave irrationally.

2. What feeling does Kya associate with her memory of giving Chase the journal?

A) joy

B) shame

C) guilt

D) pride

3. As she observes the posturing of the men conducting her trial, what does Kya think?

A) Men have destroyed her life.

B) Everyone seeks power over others.

C) The courtroom is like a theater.

D) The men behave according to rank, just like male animals.

4. Kya recalls the elegance of the restaurant dinner she had with her publisher, but which occasion outshines it in her memory?

A) a picnic she had with Tate

B) a breakfast Jodie once prepared for her

C) her dinner with Pa in the Barkley Cove diner

D) her first taste of soda

5. When Jodie concedes that Kya has every reason to hate other people, how does she respond?

A) She doesn’t hate people, but she prefers her own company.

B) She doesn’t hate people; rather, they hate her.

C) She hates everyone except her family.

D) She doesn’t give much thought to other people.

6. During his closing remarks to the jury, Tom Milton accuses the people of Barkley Cove of what wrongdoing?

7. After Jumpin’ dies, Kya remembers the day her mother left her, but she imagines it differently. What is different about the way she now sees her mother’s departure?

8. In the end, Tate finds a poem written by Kya in which she figuratively reflects on killing Chase. Why is the poem titled “The Firefly”?

Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to introduce or review the literary devices of analogy and metaphor.

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B. The poem, written by Kya herself under a pen-name, refers to inconceivable “deeds” inspired by the heart. Kya’s heart drives her to murder Chase and so commit a deed her “mind cannot conceive.”

2. A. See Chapter 50, Page 318

3. D. See Chapter 51, Page 320

4. A. See Chapter 52, Page 330

5. B. See Chapter 55, Page 350

6. Tom Milton accuses the townspeople of excluding Kya and thereby making her “different.”

7. In her reimagining of her mother’s departure, Kya sees her turn and wave before she disappears forever.

8. The title “Firefly” refers to Kya’s observation of female fireflies luring male fireflies to their deaths.