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
When Kimki has been gone a month, people start keeping watch for him on the cliffs. But he doesn’t return, even when summer arrives. The winter wasn’t very stormy, which means that the villagers will have to carefully ration water. While this has happened before and hasn’t caused problems, now people are terrified. Matasaip, the man who takes Kimki’s place, urges the villagers to stay calm and worry about more important things—like whether the Aleuts will return. The tribe no longer has enough men to fight off an attack, so they plan to leave at the first sighting of the Aleut ship. They hide food, water, and canoes at the south end of the island. If the Aleuts return, the villagers will leave for Santa Catalina.
With all the upheaval and grief, people in Karana’s tribe now see anything that doesn’t go their way as a potential catastrophe. Matasaip proposes that while this is understandable, it’s not useful—the tribe has bigger issues to worry about. These days, the tribe believes that their very existence is in danger, so it’s necessary to prepare to leave their home at a moment’s notice. Again, the specter of colonialism looms large here; it’s the colonizing forces—like the Aleuts and Russians—that are forcing the natives to consider leaving.
Themes
People keep watch day and night and finally, one night, a man returns to Ghalas-at with the news that the Aleuts are here. Matasaip encourages everyone to stay calm and pack only necessities. Karana, however, packs her yucca skirt and her otter cape. She follows the villagers to the canoes—but halfway there, the man who first sighted the ship runs up to Matasaip and says this ship isn’t the Aleut ship. This one is white and small. Matasaip sends the rest of the villagers to wait at the canoes while he goes back.
Things become a bit more confusing when the ship turns out not to belong to the Aleuts. But this, of course, raises the question of who the ship does belong to—and whether they’re here to do further harm to the natives or to help them. In any case, Matasaip knows that they can’t simply trust that everything is going to be okay. If they intend to survive, the tribe needs to be ready to leave at the first sign of trouble.
Themes
Karana and the villagers wait, afraid to start a fire to cook breakfast. Finally, while Ramo is down checking on the canoes, a young man named Nanko returns with a message—which is clearly good news. He says the ship belongs to white men, whom Kimki sent. The ship is going to take everyone away from Ghalas-at. Nanko doesn’t know where they’re going, but Kimki does. Everyone follows Nanko, afraid and happy.
Kimki seems to have kept his word to move the tribe across the sea, where they’ll be safe from the Aleuts. But the fact remains that the Aleuts are still essentially forcing the tribe off its land, simply by making them too afraid to stay put and risk encountering the Aleuts again.
Themes
