What are the motifs in The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy?

Survival is a reoccurring idea in the story. Survival is a way of life for the people on Yamacraw, and Pat is also faced with it for the first time in his life during his two years of teaching on the island. Because Yamacraw is an isolated place, the people who live there must be very resourceful and most make their living by working small farms or raising animals.