Style & Language/motifs: The Companionship of Nature - The Marsh

Question 1

Quote the first description of the marsh

Answer 1

“Marsh is not a swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky”

Question 2

“Marsh is not a _____. Marsh is a _____ of light, where _____ grows in water, and ______ flows into the sky”

Answer 2

“Marsh is not a swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky”

Question 3

What does the marsh act as throughout the book? (technique wise)

Answer 3

the marsh is a hugely significant symbol

Question 4

How is the marsh personified simply?

Answer 4

The vivid descriptive details almost create a character, e.g.
o True swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat.

Question 5

o True swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat.
What does this do to the swamp with techniques?

Answer 5

The words ‘crawls, hidden, swallowed the light in its muddy throat’ all personify the marsh

Question 6

How does the marsh become something of a metaphor for Kya herself?

Answer 6

Both grow/exist in a secluded area, left to grow wild, left to their own devices, underestimated and undervalued but with great potential and beauty.

Question 7

What does the marsh represent as a whole? How does it do this?

Answer 7

The marsh represents life itself. It is home to many creatures. The marsh cares for all of them.

Question 8

Why is the marsh so significant in Kya’s early survival?

Answer 8

It nourished her.
If it was not for the rich bounties/produce of the marsh, Kya would have starved to death

Question 9

What has the marsh provided to Kya throughout her life there?

Answer 9

It offered Kya protection (from people), entertainment, knowledge and later, a source of income while also supporting her through rough patches and abandonment.

Question 10

How did Kya see the marsh? What was it her place of?

Answer 10

It was her place of solace. solace = comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

Question 11

How does Kya repay the Marsh for its provision of comfort, protection, support and solace? (2)

Answer 11

The Marsh cared for Kya as she grew up and Kya returned the favour (GVV) by turning it into a place of conservation so that it would remain wild and free (mirrors Kya).

Kya eventually builds her life’s work out of her loving watercolours and precise observations of the marsh and for all to appreciate its hidden beauty.

Question 12

What does the author’s use of zoomorphism emphasize?

Answer 12

It emphasizes Kya’s deep connection with land, water and wildlife. (e.g. ‘startled fawn’)

Question 13

The feathers/feather game plays an important part in symbolism. What do the feathers represent?

Answer 13

They represent friendship

Question 14

How are the seagulls significant to this story?

Answer 14

They become Kya’s family.

Question 15

Define zoomorphism

Answer 15

the use of animal forms in art or symbolism.

Or
zoomorphism is the tendency of viewing human behavior in terms of the behavior of animals. It is also used in literature to portray the act of humans or objects with animalistic behavior or features.

Question 16

How does the Marsh define Kya’s life?

Answer 16

The marsh defines Kya’s life, providing solace, sustenance, and inspiration.
After Kya’s family leaves her, Owens writes that “the marsh became her mother”, articulating the depth of Kya’s reliance on, and love for, the land and water surrounding her shack.

Question 17

How does the following quote affect our understanding of the relationship between Kya and the marsh?
“the marsh became her mother”

Answer 17

it articulates the depth of Kya’s reliance on, and love for, the land and water surrounding her shack.

Question 18

What actions throughout Kya’s early childhood survival highlights how she loved the marsh like family? (2) and how the marsh nurtured and protected her? (3)

Answer 18

She learns to love the marsh like family:
1. celebrating her birthday with the gulls that live near her.
2. letting the sounds of the land and water lull her to sleep at night.
3. She also learns to use the marsh for survival:
(a) digging mussels from its banks to make money,
(b)hiding in its undergrowth to evade danger,
(c)fishing from its waters to feed herself.

Question 19

Kya is at one with the marsh, a creature of it, and it defines her world almost entirely. But what happens (what is her reaction) when she leaves the marsh?

Answer 19

When she ventures away from it, she finds the world outside the marsh bewildering, unnatural, and frightening.

Question 20

define epithet

Answer 20

an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.

Question 21

Kya is known as ‘The Marsh Girl’ by the townsfolk. What is this name supposed to highlight about her in the villagers’ eyes?

Answer 21

It is meant to highlight the ways in which she is dirty and different.

Question 22

How does the meaning of Kya’s epithet/nickname change from the beginning to the end of the novel?

Answer 22

Kya is known as “The Marsh Girl,” which is initially an epithet, meant to highlight the ways in which she is dirty and different. But, by the end of her life, it becomes an honorific, one that Tate inscribes on her tombstone, acknowledging that her identity is intertwined with the land she loved.

Question 23

What is inscribed onto Kya’s tombstone?

Answer 23

‘The Marsh Girl’ by Tate

Question 24

What does Kya find companionship in when her family abandons her? Explain how she sees herself in this companionship.

Answer 24

Kya lives most of her life without a human family, but she finds companionship in nature and sees herself as part of a family of wild creatures.

Question 25

When does Kya turn to the marsh (main event at beginning)?

Answer 25

Kya turns to the marsh after her biological family leaves her,

Question 26

How does Kya celebrate her 7th birthday?

Answer 26

she celebrates with the gulls who will be her companions for her entire life

Question 27

What act as symbols of companionship in the novel?

Answer 27

the gulls

Question 28

How does Kya learn about the world? Give a parallel to this using children in the town.

Answer 28

In the same way that children learn about being human from observing people in their families, Kya spends her life observing nature to understand the world around her.

Question 29

How does Kya try to decipher her mother’s leaving? What does she come to understand?

Answer 29

For example, when her mother leaves, one of the first things she thinks of is the fox, who also leaves her kits, and she comes to understand that her mother was too deeply injured to stay with her family, much like the fox.

Question 30

What does Kya understand from learning about the intricate habits of alpha and beta males in nature?

Answer 30

Learning about the intricate habits of alpha and beta males in nature, she understands the behaviour of men around her, especially Chase.

Question 31

What is her only solace/comfort when Kya is in jail? (2)

Answer 31

When she is in jail her only solace is nature, in the form of the truncated view of the sea through her window and the companionship of Sunday Justice.

Question 32

What is the thought of being separated from the marsh to Kya?

Answer 32

For Kya, the thought of being separated from the marsh, that is, from the land that is her family, is a fate worse than death.

Question 33

o Marsh is not ______. Marsh is a _____ of light, where grass _____ in water, and water _____ into the sky.

Answer 33

o Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky.

Question 34

o The marsh did not ______ them but _______ them and, like any ______ ground, kept their _______ deep.

Answer 34

o The marsh did not confine them but defined them and, like any sacred ground, kept their secrets deep.

Question 35

the sea opening its _____ wide, the wind _____ loose her braided hair as she stopped at the _____ line.

Answer 35

the sea opening its arms wide, the wind tearing loose her braided hair as she stopped at the tide line.

Question 36

o The ___ was cool here, and _____ cries gave her ________. (nail incident)

Answer 36

o The air was cool here, and eagle cries gave her bearing.