Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Island of the Blue Dolphins, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Natural World
Solitude
Friendship
Gender Roles and Survival
Colonialism, Violence, and Indigenous Culture
Summary
Analysis
Karana barely sleeps the night before she visits the sea elephants. She thinks about the law forbidding women to make weapons and wonders if a bull will turn on her. If she’s injured, will she have to fight off the wild dogs to get home? But Karana puts her fears aside and heads for the sea elephants in the morning.
Keep in mind that Karana has grown up believing that women will be punished for making weapons. This is something she’s learned to take seriously. Now, though, she has to decide whether this is a good enough reason to leave herself vulnerable. By deciding to go, she shows she prioritizes her own safety over her tribe’s legends and customs.
Themes
The bulls sit on the rocky slope, while the cows and the babies—which are still the size of adult men—play in the waves. The bulls are all far apart, since they have terrible tempers and are quick to fight each other. Karana studies the six ugly bulls and decides to target the smallest. He’s young and without his own herd, so he won’t be as angry as the others. Quietly, Karana slips down the cliff and passes behind the other five bulls. She doesn’t want to tip them off. Finally, she crawls behind a big rock and fits an arrow. Karana remembers her father’s warning: because Karana is a woman, her bow will break.
As Karana sizes up the bulls and decides which one to kill, she again shows how knowledgeable she is about the animals on the island. She might not have ever been part of a sea elephant hunting party before, but she still knows enough about the creatures to plan the safest attack possible. But still, her father’s warning sticks in her mind, and shows her how much is at stake here—she could die, for a variety of reasons.
Themes
Karana stands, trying to decide where to aim her first arrow. Bull sea elephants have small heads, so that’s a bad target. As Karana deliberates, the young bull starts to approach an old bull’s females near the water. Karana shoots, and her bow doesn’t break—but the bull turns, and the arrow misses him. At the same time, the old bull rushes the young one and slams into him, rolling him into the water. The other sea elephants watch the battle between the old bull and the young bull. The bulls bite at each other’s necks and roll in the waves.
When Karana’s arrow misses its mark, it seems a bit like a warning from above. But even if some supernatural power is trying to tell Karana that shooting the bull is a bad idea, it’s possible to read this another way. The bulls’ fight seems bloody—and as though it might result in one of the bulls’ deaths. Karana might not have to actually shoot a bull to accomplish her task of securing sea elephant teeth.
Themes
When the bulls pause, Karana knows it’d be a good time to shoot the young bull. But she finds that she hopes the young bull will win, so she stays still and watches. When the old bull finally breaks free of the young bull’s grasp, he hurries up the beach—right toward Karana. Karana steps back, trips, and feels a sharp pain in her leg. The bulls are locked in battle again by the time she’s up, and the water is turning red. The sun is down and Karana’s leg hurts, so she begins the journey home.
Karana can’t help but get caught up in the drama and majesty of the bull elephants’ fight. It’s far too compelling, and it’s impossible for her to not root for the underdog. Her interest, though, results in her seriously injuring her leg. Again, it’s possible to see her injury as something of a warning against making the weapons, though this is impossible to verify.
Themes
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