Where the Crawdads Sing Lesson Plan

How does Owens's descriptive language create a strong sense of place?

The text uses poetic and rural language, detailed imagery, and similies relevant to the cultural setting to convey a strong sense of place. For example, when Kya's mother leaves, "a heaviness, thick as black-cotton mud," settles in Kya's chest. By comparing Kya's emotional state to her natural environment, the text emphasizes that Kya's identity is intimately connected to the marsh and how she navigates her world using her observations of wildlife.

The text often describes Kya's appearance and behavior in comparison to wildlife. For example, as Kya runs, "her fingers became long feathers, splayed...