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
Two springs later, on a calm morning, the ship returns. By midday, it’s in Coral Cove. Karana watches the men make a camp on the beach all day and then spends all night thinking about the man who called to her two years ago. She’s spent the last two years checking for the ship twice daily.
Because the novel doesn’t describe what Karana has spent the last two years doing (aside from checking for this ship), it gives the impression that Karana no longer takes much joy in her daily and yearly activities. Now, her focus is on getting off the island.
Themes
Karana can smell the men’s fire in the morning. She bathes in the spring and dresses in her otter cape, cormorant skirt, and her necklace and earrings. Then, with clay, she draws her tribe’s mark across her nose. Smiling, she then copies what Ulape did years ago and draws the sign that means she’s unmarried. As Karana makes breakfast for herself and Rontu-Aru, she tells the dog that they’re leaving the island. He cocks his head at her, eats both of their portions, and then goes to sleep in the sun.
Dressing up and drawing the mark that signifies her single status shows just how ready Karana is to be part of a group. Marking herself as single is, in many ways, a way to broadcast that she doesn’t want to be single. Copying Ulape is also a way for Karana to connect with her sister. Additionally, it signifies that Karana has come of age over the last 18 years on the island.
Themes
Karana can’t picture what she’s going to do across the sea. She can’t picture what the white men do, or what her people have been doing. Karana realizes that after so many seasons on the island, she can’t remember her neighbors as individual people—but she can feel them in her chest.
People have become something of an abstract concept for Karana after so many years alone. But even if she can’t fathom what people do across the sea, her desire to be with them is still strong. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t know what’s to come.
Themes
It’s a sunny morning. Karana watches three men notice the house on the headland. Two are tall, and one is short with a long robe. Karana crawls under the fence to greet them. The short man, who wears a necklace with a polished wood ornament at the end, makes a motion in the same shape as the ornament. One of the other men speaks to Karana, but his words are the strangest Karana has ever heard—she has to stop herself from laughing. She has no idea what he’s saying, but it’s so good to hear another human voice.
O’Dell based the novel on historical events, so these men are Catholic missionaries (the wood ornament is presumably a cross) and they’re speaking Spanish. But as odd as they look to Karana and as silly as their language sounds, Karana doesn’t really care. Her desire to be around people is strong enough that she’s willing to look past their seemingly odd qualities.
Themes
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The man points toward the cove and draws a picture in the air of a ship. Karana nods, points to her three baskets, and gestures that she’d like to bring them and a cage containing two birds. Karana and the men exchange more gestures. They like her clothes and jewelry—but they still make Karana a different dress to wear. It’s blue and made of two pairs of trousers, and it takes one man all day to sew. Karana pretends to like it, but she doesn’t—her cormorant skirt and otter cape are way more beautiful. But Karana puts on the scratchy, long dress. She stores her cormorant skirt and decides to wear it once she’s across the sea.
Historically, missionaries were sometimes violent to native populations, forcing them to give up their native languages and cultures. Even though Karana is happy to be around people, forcing her to change out of her beloved cormorant skirt and into this scratchy dress points to the possibility that her happiness might be short-lived. She’s getting what she wants in one respect, but the change of clothes suggests she’s also going to have to give up many things she holds dear to leave the island.
Themes
The ship stays for nine days in Coral Cove. The men are here for otter, but all the otter are gone—some must still remember the Aleuts. Karana knows where they are, but when the men ask her, she pretends not to understand. Though Karana asks about the ship that took her people away years ago, no one understands. Later, at Mission Santa Barbara, Father Gonzalez explains that the ship sunk not long after it reached his country; there was no other ship to return for Karana. This is why no one returned for her.
The language barrier proves to be a blessing, as it allows Karana to protect her otter friends one final time. And this glimpse into the future offers some hope that Karana will reunite with her tribe: they clearly reached the shore, if the ship sank after everyone got there. But still, the fact that Karana also doesn’t mention reuniting with her friends and family leaves readers on a bittersweet note.
Themes
Finally, on the 10th day, Karana leaves the island. It’s a beautiful day. Karana stares back at the Island of the Blue Dolphins; the headland is the last thing she can see. She thinks of Rontu in his grave, Won-a-nee, the red fox, her canoe, and her many happy days on the island. Dolphins appear and swim ahead of the ship for most of the morning. Karana’s birds chirp, and Rontu-Aru sits next to her.
Readers might suspect that Karana doesn’t have happy things coming to her, but it’s impossible to ignore Karana’s happiness in this passage. Now that she’s leaving the island, she can look back on her years with happiness and nostalgia. Her animal friends made those years bearable—and hopefully, human friends will make her life happy going forward.
Themes
