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Kya, I need to know that the running and hiding are over. That you can love without being afraid.
While Kya is understandably jaded by her abandonment at the hands of her family and lovers, Tate knows that her current mindset surrounding love and relationships will not allow for a healthy partnership. Kya believes a self-sabotaging narrative about herself: that everyone she loves will leave her. If she continues to believe that narrative, she will only live in fear of Tate or other friends and family abandoning her, making it impossible to have an open, trusting relationship.
I like being out here in the quiet and I like the way you’re so interested in the marsh, Kya. Most people don’t pay it any attention except to fish. They think it’s wasteland that should be drained and developed.
Tate is one of the only people who loves and understands the marsh as much as Kya does, which symbolizes not only their shared life values but also their compatibility as romantic partners. Unlike Chase, who cannot fathom the time and care that Kya gives to understanding the marsh, Tate devotes his academic and professional life to the sciences and studies the ecology of marshes. Tate criticizes those who only care about fishing the marsh, and indeed, Chase mentions to Kya that the only thing he needs to know about the marsh is where the fish are. The men’s juxtaposing beliefs about the marsh foreshadow their true natures as well as the ultimate outcomes of their relationships with Kya.
And yes, I’ve been going out to see Kya some. You know why? I’m teaching her how to read because people in this town are so mean to her she couldn’t even go to school.
Although Tate’s motives for helping Kya are partly due to his attraction toward her, it’s clear that Tate is a genuinely good person. In his childhood, he saw beyond the Clarks’ poverty and extended his friendship to the family, and Tate was mature enough to protect Kya from her father’s abusive rage, even though he could have been hurt in the process. Tate has always been good-natured at his core, and in his young adulthood, he supports Kya even when the vast majority of his society wishes to tear her down or ignore her suffering. He is offended by his town’s unjust treatment of Kya and doesn’t care if he’s judged for helping and befriending her.
