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
Once the winter storms pass, the wind stops. It’s hard to breathe, extremely hot, and the sea is too bright to look at. On what turns out to be the last day of this weather, Karana takes her canoe to the sandspit without Rontu-Aru, since he doesn’t like the heat. The sea is so shimmery that Karana has to wear wood shields over her eyes, with small slits to look through. When she gets to the sandspit, she pulls the canoe onto the steaming sand. As she does every spring, Karana reapplies pitch to the parts of the canoe that are brittle. When the sun is at its hottest, Karana takes a nap under the canoe.
Even now, when the natural landscape seems to make it difficult for Karana to live in it and complete her tasks, Karana’s tone is still reverent—even in this heat, she still loves her home. And describing how she fixes up her canoe in this way every year conveys that Karana has developed these yearly cycles out of necessity, after being here for so long and discovering what needs to be done and when. Karana still trusts the natural world, as shown by her willingness to nap on the beach.
Themes
Karana hasn’t been asleep long when she hears a sound like thunder. But the sky is cloudless, and though the sound seems to be far away, it also seems to be getting louder. Karana leaps up and notices that the tide is lower than she’s ever seen it. She’s never seen some of these reefs before. Then, the air suddenly feels tight, and Karana hears a sucking sound. Something starts to rumble. More than a league away, Karana sees a massive white wave coming toward the island.
Karana is seeing a tidal wave moving in toward the island—something that makes it very clear that the natural world isn’t something she can always trust to be benevolent and giving. Tidal waves can be extremely dangerous. But the tidal wave also gives Karana a brief opportunity to see more of her home than she ever has as she notices the exposed reefs.
Themes
Terrified, Karana races along the sandspit. The ground shakes as the first wave hits. Though Karana would like to get to the mesa, there’s no time—the water is already at her knees. Instead, she climbs the cliff and watches the crest of the wave pass below her. After the wave hits, the water starts rushing back out to sea, but another wave, bigger than the first, is coming. Karana can’t climb any higher, so she faces the rock and shoves an arm into a crack. She watches the second wave approach, fighting the first wave just beyond the sandspit. The waves crash into each other, and it sounds like spears breaking in battle. The sun is red, and it makes the spray look like blood.
In this passage, the natural world—the sea specifically—becomes even more like a human. Karana uses human descriptors to explain what’s going on, such as the sound being like battling spears. And describing how the sun makes the spray look like blood makes it impossible to ignore how dangerous this natural disaster is. Karana might know how to survive on the island, but surviving this wave will be a matter of luck as much as anything else.
Themes
The second wave wins the battle and moves quickly toward the island. When it hits the cliff, Karana can’t hear or see. The water pulls at her, but then, everything is silent. Night comes, and Karana knows she can’t stay on the cliff all night—she’ll fall. She climbs down the cliff and sleeps at its foot. At dawn, the sandspit is covered in crabs, lobsters, kelp, and fish. There are two small whales stranded in the cove, and there are sea creatures even up on the mesa.
Karana seems to find the tidal wave’s damage and debris horrifying. But it’s worth noting that the tidal wave has also provided her with more whalebone, assuming the whales die or are already dead. So even as the natural world becomes destructive and dangerous, it’s still possible to see this as a net positive—especially since Karana wasn’t hurt.
Themes
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Karana finds Rontu-Aru waiting for her at the fence when she gets home. She’s glad to be home, even though she’s only been gone a day. Karana sleeps most of the day—and when she wakes up, everything feels strange. There’s no noise, and it almost seems like the earth is waiting for something bad.
Karana sees her house as a safe haven on the island, especially now that she’s experienced such a traumatizing natural disaster. But when she wakes up and senses that something else bad is going to happen, it suggests that the natural disasters aren’t over.
Themes
At dusk, Karana and Rontu-Aru are walking along the cliff with water from the spring. The sea is smooth, and the gulls are silent. Then, slowly, the ground starts to move. Karana’s water spills, and she thinks it’s another wave. Karana runs—but this is a “wave of earth,” and it makes it impossible to run. The waves continue, and as Karana looks back, she can see them coming from the south. She and Rontu-Aru struggle to their feet and run for the house, but the house keeps moving further away. They finally reach it and climb under the fence. The earth continues to move all night, and Karana can hear rocks falling into the sea. But the big rock on the headland doesn’t fall—which tells her that those who made the world shake aren’t too angry with humans. Everything is quiet in the morning.
Even though the earthquake is terrifying for Karana and Rontu-Aru, it’s somewhat gratifying when it doesn’t seem to do much damage. Recall that as Karana was deciding whether or not to make weapons, she noted that one of the possible punishments for making weapons as a woman was natural disasters like this. The note that the gods aren’t too upset with humans can be taken to mean that the gods aren’t too upset with Karana for going against her tribe’s laws and deciding to make weapons. Even the gods, it seems, understand that the weapons are necessary for Karana to survive on her own.
Themes
