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
Even though the Aleuts never come to the Island of the Blue Dolphins again, Karana keeps watch for them every summer. Every year, in early spring, she gathers and dries shellfish just in case. Two winters after the Aleuts leave, Karana makes more weapons and stores them in the cave below the headland. Then she’s ready in case she needs to live in her canoe. For many years after the Aleuts’ last visit, the otters leave Coral Cove every summer. They live around Tall Rock until winter. Karana and Rontu often go to Tall Rock for several days during the summer to catch fish for Won-a-nee and the other otter.
It's a mark of just how damaging the Aleuts’ visits were that Karana continues to watch out for them, even when they don’t return for years. Even when they show no signs of appearing, they still dictate how Karana organizes her spring and summer activities. The fact that the otters also leave Coral Cove to avoid the Aleuts shows that these colonial forces aren’t just harming people. They also force animals to change their habits.
Themes
Finally, one summer, the otters don’t leave Coral Cove. When this happens, Karana knows that there aren’t any otters left who remember the hunters. Karana doesn’t think of the hunters much either, or the white men who were supposed to return for her. Karana has been keeping track of every month since she and Ramo were left on the island. Now she has marks on a pole from roof to ceiling. This summer, though, she stops making marks. For a while, Karana makes marks to signify the seasons, but she eventually stops making those, too.
Time seems to blur together between the last passage and this one; it seems that years have passed, if otter no longer remember the Aleuts’ last visit. This definitely seems true for Karana as well. As she stops keeping track of how long she’s been on the island, she settles more into her solitary existence. If there’s nothing to look forward to, keeping track of the time no longer seems important.
Themes
Rontu dies late in the summer. During the early summer, Rontu doesn’t accompany Karana to the reef unless she convinces him. He prefers to lie in the sun. Then, one night, Rontu barks to be let out of the fence. He usually only does this during full moons, but it’s not a full moon. He also doesn’t come back in the morning. Karana waits for him all day and finally, at dusk, she goes to look for him. She tracks him to the wild dogs’ lair but finds him in the back of the cave, alone. He isn’t hurt, but he only licks Karana once and then hardly breathes.
Rontu’s behavior in the months before his death reads as pretty normal behavior for a very old dog. When Karana lets Rontu out when he asks, it shows how much she respects her long-time companion. And going out to find him and make sure he’s comfortable during his final days is another way that Karana can show him compassion. She’s not going to let him die alone.
Themes
Karana sits with Rontu the whole night in the cave. When the sun comes up, Karana carries him out of the cave—his body is very light. She carries him along the cliff and puts him down when he looks at the gulls with interest, but he doesn’t bark at them like he usually does. Karana encourages him to bark, but instead, he walks to Karana and falls at her feet. Karana feels his heart beat twice and then stop. She buries him on the headland with flowers and his favorite stick, and then she covers his grave with colored pebbles.
With Rontu’s death, Karana loses her best friend and closest companion. Especially after losing Tutok and Ulape, Karana will now be even more alone. Burying him under the colored pebbles and with his favorite stick, though, allows Karana to honor him. His grave also gives her a place to go to mourn and think of him going forward. And burying him on the headland also means his final resting place is close to her house, which is also on the headland. All these factors underline Rontu’s significance in Karana’s life.
Themes
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