Poetry (Motif)
After Tate introduces Kya to poetry, she creates poems to understand her emotions and the world around her. Excerpts from poems are peppered throughout the text, giving the reader insight into Kya's complex emotions.
In addition to expressing Kya's inner world, the motif of poetry also strengthens relationships between characters. Tate and Scupper share Kya's love of poetry and believe that poems are important because they make people "feel something." Kya also connects with her mother by reading Ma's book of poetry and pondering how the poems Ma chose reflected her lived experience.
Lastly, poetry is Kya's way of connecting with the world broadly. At the end of the text, Tate finds Kya's collection of poems, which she published under the pen name "Amanda Hamilton." Tate reasons that anonymously publishing poems was Kya's way of expressing herself to others while maintaining her physical solitude. Fittingly, Kya's confession to Chase's murder is a poem entitled "The Firefly."
Fireflies (Symbol)
According to the text, female fireflies communicate to potential mates through flashes, signaling a desire to mate or devour a male firefly. As Kya notes, fireflies evolved this seemingly harsh system to ensure their survival. Thus, fireflies symbolize Kya's romantic relationships with Tate and Chase. Kya signals her desire for Tate with the unique ritual of leaving feathers as gifts, and Kya lures Chase to his death. The firefly symbol is summarized at the end of the text when Tate discovers Kya's poem, "The Firefly," which outlines how Kya murdered Chase to ensure her survival in the marsh.
The Necklace (Symbol)
When Kya accepts Chase's presence in her life, she gives him a necklace made from a shell they admired on their first date. Kya, who was "denied the joy of giving gifts" for most of her life, sees the act of giving the necklace as a symbol for giving another person her trust, a difficult feat after a life of abandonment. Chase, by contrast, wears the necklace to symbolize his feeling of ownership over Kya. When Chase assaults Kya, he wears the shell necklace and proclaims she belongs to him. After Kya murders Chase, she takes the necklace off his corpse, symbolically taking back ownership of herself. Though taking the necklace risked her getting caught, the symbol was powerful enough that Kya kept it anyway.
Southern Cooking (Motif)
The American South has a rich culinary tradition, and Southern cooking is a motif used throughout the text for various symbolic purposes. To Kya, familiar foods represent a sense of domestic security and love. Kya's earliest memories of home life center around her mother's cooking, particularly grits. When Kya begins to take care of herself, she attempts to replicate her mother's cooking as a way to maintain normalcy.
Throughout the text, Kya, used to being underfed, is tempted and wooed by offers of food. First, the truant officer, Mrs. Culpepper, convinces Kya to attend school by assuring her she will receive "chicken pie" for lunch. Chase and Tate both take Kya on picnics and bring her novel foods, like cake and soda pop, to win her affection. Notably, Jumpin' gives Kya a sweet for free, indicating that he is trustworthy and has her best interests at heart.
Kya learns to express her love through food; to thank Mabel and Jumpin' for their support, she brings them a jar of homemade blackberry jam. She ventures into town primarily to procure food, from visiting a restaurant with her father to purchasing ingredients for Chase's birthday dinner.
Conversely, Southern cooking signals exclusionary attitudes throughout the text. For example, residents of Barkley Cove gather in the diner to eat local specialties and share gossip about the "Marsh Girl." The restaurant is also racially segregated, excluding a large portion of the town's population. Male residents of Barkley cove visit the "Dog-Gone Beer Hall" to eat comfort foods, like "roasted hot dogs, red-hot chili, and fried shrimp." In this men-only establishment, the detectives receive the incriminating evidence necessary to get a warrant to search Kya's home.
The Turkey Hen (Allegory)
Alone in the marsh, Kya witnesses a flock of turkeys violently kill a member of their flock. Jodie explains that "if a bird becomes different from the others," the flock will kill it to protect themselves from predators. This disturbing scene haunts Kya and reflects her situation in Barkley Cove. Kya's solitude in the marsh made her incompatible with the residents of Barkley Cove, who harassed her for years and ultimately attempted to sentence her to death.
