Trauma has an affect on any person, at any age. The effects are more and more detrimental, especially during childhood. One of the many events that can cause trauma to young children throughout their childhood is abandonment by birth parents or any form of caregiver. If the child is abandoned or traumatized in any other form, it could have a major impact on the course of the rest of their life. In Delia Owen’s novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, the main character Kya, goes through a lot of hardships being abandoned by her family and other people she loves. Throughout the novel she experiences many hardships and mental health issues, even later in her life, due to this. In most of the United States, abandonment is considered different from neglect.…show more content… In Owen’s novel, Kya is both abandoned and neglected by her family as well as others. Abandonment is the action or fact of ceasing to support or look after someone or deserting them. One of Kya’s earliest memories was her mother and siblings leaving her when she was only 5 years old (Owens ). However, neglect is defined as failure of a parent of another person with responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree the child’s health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm (Child Welfare Information Gateway) which also happens to Kya at a young age. Her father was oftentimes not present and when he was, he failed to care for her (Owens ). Another symptom of neglect is when the parent abuses alcohol, is indifferent to the child, or acts irrational (Psychology Today). Kya’s father has many issues with alcohol, too. She states that a lot of the time he would come home drunk. When she was 7 years old, he also ended up leaving her (Owens ). There are many signs that a person has endured the trauma of abandonment, those of which can last for the rest of their
