American Honey ending explained: The significance of the turtle in Star’s life, explored

Andrea Arnold's American Honey is one of those films that you'll crave to watch all over again as soon as the credits start rolling, to understand what the ending means and how it relates to her entire journey. Somehow, that doesn't feel like a chore since the film passes by like a breeze despite its longer duration and is charming, dizzying, and hypnotic.

Arnold wrote and directed this feature film, following a group of social misfits traveling through the American Midwest to make a living by any means necessary. The DOP Robbie Ryan positions his camera up close, making us feel like we are part of their journey while observing their scattershot lives. That approach helps in tracking these working-class people with warmth and grace rather than scrutiny or judgment.

American Honey doesn't tell us to idolize or villainize any of them despite their evident flaws. It doesn't criticize them for their struggles and understands that their miseries are often rooted in things beyond their control. It values their dreamy optimism while yearning to escape their dreadful lives. So, the ending where Star emerges from the water can be interpreted as her starting a new life, which feels as comforting as home as the water to the turtle. Let's unpack how it all relates to Star.

Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers.

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American Honey is about an eternal cycle of revival and rebirth, and the ending echoes this sentiment.

Star (Sasha Lane), the film's protagonist, is a teenager from a troubled family. Her mother lost her life to drugs, and her father has been abusive. She is left in charge of two kids who are not even hers. Maybe that's her way to make a living, but it's clear that she seeks a way out.

That's when she crosses paths with Jake (Shia LaBeouf), a charismatic traveling salesman who blasts music in the middle of a convenience store and dances to his rhythm. They lock eyes. It's love at first sight, at least for her. He offers her a ticket out of her dreadful life.

She picks up her bag and enters his van to sell a scam under the garb of magazines. She joins a bunch of rolling stones, who don't know what they want from their lives. They live in the moment and seek joy in being in each other's presence.Yet, they all seem to have bigger dreams.

Jake aspires to start a new life somewhere out on the farm with a home he can call his own. Star doesn't want to go back to where she came from. However, she can't quite run away from her past. She gets abused and feels abandoned.

As a teenager, she is careless but not quite carefree. It all guides us to realize what we can make of its ambiguous ending.

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The ending doesn't confirm what happens to Star or Jake, even if it implies a rebirth.

Throughout American Honey, Jade gives mixed signals to Star. Does he love her or not? She tries to figure that out, and so do we. When they are together, they have the spark. It feels like they're inseparable. Yet, when he is with Krystal (Riley Keough), he behaves like he doesn't even know Star.

Maybe he's only trying to save his job. So, he doesn't disturb the hierarchy in their business model and stays loyal to Krystal, who pays him whenever he brings a girl like Star into her scam. Still, he is possessive. He acts distant but gets mad anytime Star does something against his will.

He shows up like a knight in shining armor, rescuing her from tricky situations, while being aloof otherwise. Toward the end of American Honey, he leaves the gang after seeing her pleasuring another man for money.

Is he upset for her or himself? Is he truly in love with her or just the idea of being in love with her? The answer/s leaves us to the interpretation of its final scene where he hands her a turtle while dancing around a bonfire.

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What does rebirth mean to Star?

At the end of American Honey, Star leaves the turtle in the lake and enters the water to emerge in a bit. It looks as if she is getting baptized in this water and entering her new life. Still, it doesn't quite answer what "rebirth" means to her.

Before the dive, she brings the turtle back to its home. Even before, she finds herself next to other animals, whether a squirrel, a bear, or the cattle locked at the back of a truck, she gets instantly attached to them. It's almost as if she desperately wants to rescue them, because she sees a part of herself there.

These moments likely foreshadow her desire to rescue herself, hinted at through the ending. Maybe it implies that she would leave the gang of misfits. Yet, she had already found a new life with them by rescuing her familial past. So, whether she is with Jake or not, she will find a way.

So, the ending hints at a magical point in her coming-of-age arc, where she realizes the cyclical nature of life — after all the lessons she learned through her extensive road trip. The dive is not the end of her journey; it's only one of her new beginnings.