Previous
Hardship, Survival, and Adventure
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Kensuke’s Kingdom, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
When Michael gets lost on the island, he is separated from his parents and must learn to protect and provide for himself. He struggles with this, and he misses his parents intensely until Kensuke takes him under his wing, teaching him how to survive on the island. As Kensuke cares for Michael and teaches him how to care for himself, Michael stops missing his parents and becomes comfortable with life on the island. Kensuke also teaches Michael to paint, nurturing Michael’s interest in art and helping it develop into a passion. Under Kensuke’s tutelage, Michael comes into his own as an artist. In turn, Michael teaches Kensuke to speak English. Kensuke teaching Michael how to thrive on the island and express himself creatively gives Michael the confidence to teach Kensuke English, which allows Michael to safely try out the kind of adult responsibility that comes with teaching. Ultimately, the novel implies that maturing often involves fostering agency, self-sufficiency, and responsibility—all things Michael develops during his time on the island with Kensuke.
The novel’s perspective on a coming-of-age narrative is also reflected in Kensuke’s treatment of the baby turtles that hatch on the island. He helps the turtles make their way safely to the sea, and when they reach the water they swim away, “no swimming lessons needed.” Kensuke’s protection and guidance allows them to flourish, just like it does for Michael. Michael is ready to come of age as an independent young man, but to do so requires guidance and care from an adult like Kensuke, just like the turtles need Kensuke’s protection but are ready to swim once they get to the water. Growing up into a healthy and capable adult is not only the responsibility of the child, then—it also requires a safe environment in which to grow up in, and creating that environment is the duty of an adult.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…
Coming of Age ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Coming of Age appears in each chapter of Kensuke’s Kingdom. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Get the entire Kensuke’s Kingdom LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Coming of Age Quotes in Kensuke’s Kingdom
Below you will find the important quotes in Kensuke’s Kingdom related to the theme of Coming of Age.
Chapter 4 Quotes
The sun was blazing down. I had not really felt the burning heat of it until then. I scanned the horizon. If there was a sail somewhere out there in the haze, I could not see it. And then it came to me that even if I were to see a sail, what could I do? I couldn’t light a fire. I had no matches. I knew about cavemen rubbing sticks together, but I had never tried it. I looked all round me now. Sea. Sea. Sea.
Nothing but sea on all sides. I was on an island. I was alone.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Michael quickly stops enjoying the vastness of the open ocean when it stands between him and his family. No longer a symbol of freedom, the sea becomes an isolating force that traps him on an island, upon which Michael believes himself to be alone. He can barely fathom the horror of this and expresses it simply by repeating “Sea. Sea. Sea.” as he takes in the bare horizon. The worst risks of his family’s voyage have come true––Michael is shipwrecked on an island with no way to escape. Michael’s inability to start a fire without matches reveals that despite spending Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum
Chapter 5 Quotes
It came to me suddenly that I had seen the old man’s face somewhere before. I had no idea how that could be. As I lay there pondering this, I felt the piece of glass in my pocket pressing into my hip. My spirits were suddenly lifted. I still had my fireglass. I would build my fire again, but this time somewhere he wouldn’t discover it. I would wait for a ship to come, and until then I would survive. The old man had survived in this place. If he could, I could. And I could do it alone, too. I didn’t need him.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Kensuke and Michael’s first meeting is a hostile one, as Kensuke destroys the fire that Michael built to signal for help. Despite the immediate animosity between the two castaways, Michael senses something familiar about Kensuke, which foreshadows the novel’s later reveal that Kensuke was the one who saved Michael from drowning in the shipwreck. This sense of familiarity hints that there is more to Kensuke than Michael’s first impression of him. Michael’s determination to defy Kensuke is a complicated moment in Michael’s journey of maturation. On the one hand, this moment is one in which Michael decides his own destiny Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusan
Chapter 7 Quotes
Every day, dawn to dusk, I translated the world around him into English. We did what we had always done, but now I talked all the while and he would echo every word, every phrase he wanted to. […] Sometimes as I enunciated a new word, I noticed that his eyes would light up. He would be nodding and smiling almost as if he recognized the word, as if he was greeting an old friend. […] Now at last we could talk more easily to each other, the long silence in which our friendship had been forged was over. It had never been a barrier between us, but it had been limiting.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Michael is growing up over the course of his adventures. He has developed from a child being homeschooled by his parents to a young adult who is confident enough in himself and his knowledge to teach English to Kensuke. Michael still depends on Kensuke to act as a guide and teacher on the island, but their relationship becomes more equal as Michael takes on the task of teaching Kensuke in turn. Michael teaches Kensuke English by “translat[ing] the world around him,” appealing to Kensuke’s connection to the island’s landscape and indirectly including the natural world in his lessons. Unbeknownst to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi n
Chapter 9 Quotes
“You go to sea, little turtle,” he said. “You live there now. You soon be big, fine turtle, and then one day you come back and see me maybe. […] You know what they do, Mica. Mother turtles, they lay eggs in this place. Then, one nighttime every year, always when moon is high, little turtles are born. Long way to go to sea. Very many die. So always I stay. I help them. I chase birds away, so they not eat baby turtles. Many years from now, when turtles are big, they come back. They lay eggs again. True story, Micasan.”
[…] We found several too weak to make the journey, and carried them down into the sea ourselves. The sea seemed to revive them. Away they went, no swimming lessons needed. We turned dozens right-side up and shepherded them safely into the sea.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Kensuke brings Michael to help him guide newly hatched turtles safely to the water, and the scene echoes the relationship between Kensuke and Michael. Michael found himself alone on the island, separated from his parents, and he would have died if Kensuke had not been there to help him. Just like Kensuke and Michael carry the turtles too weak to make the journey, Kensuke carried Michael out of the water after the shipwreck and again after the jellyfish attack. When the turtles reach the sea, they are immediately at ease and able to swim away, which mirrors how Michael quickly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volupt
