Deep Dive Into Jane Lee

Island Of Blue Dolphins – Scot O’ Dell

 “My house was comfortable. I was sheltered from the wind and rain and prowling animals.”

‘Island of Blue Dolphins’ start with the day when a ship came in the main character’s island. The people on the ship sign a treaty with Karana’s father, who is chief. However, when it comes for them to actually fulfill the treaty, they attack the island, and many men are killed, including Karana’s Father. The island is severely attacked, and many die. The remaining quickly hurry on a ship, which will take them to another land, but Karana jumps out of the boat, for her brother is stuck on the island. The story continues with how Karana trying to wait until the next boat comes in and learning new things about the island and herself.

My favorite part of the book was the scene when she buried her brother. Her brother gets attacked by stray dogs and viciously killed, and she quietly takes them, without acknowledging the dogs surrounding it, without brutally killing then as well, and simply praying for her brother. This is respectful, as later in the book she even makes one of the dogs, her pet. It must have been hard realizing she would be the only one living in the island, yet she did not let revenge make her into a worse person.

The Island of the blue dolphins was an interesting book- for the cultures and the ways they did things were unique. I am a city girl, so I have never seen tribes, or any other ocean cultures much. The way they use canoes, hunt for skin, and collect shells were interesting and also satisfactory to see.

The book itself shows how humans in this island had interacted with nature by providing and also taking, with a harmonious way, unlike what we usually see. Not only that, but we also get to see Western Expansion happening in the story, as the Aleuts (the ship that came in) conquers the island. But instead of the winners of the story, we get to see it from the loser’s perspective. As people often say, history is written in the winner’s point of view. This shows how motives are an important factor in cultural understanding, for the Aleut’s were greedy and their ways were to fight and to destroy, but the girl that Karana befriended showed that there are more ways to communicate- like showing friendship and care.

Karana also shows how women, can do great things if they are given the chance. In the society that she lived in, she was often repressed, as many others, to hunt, or to do ‘dangerous’ activities. However, in the book we can see her striving to prove against that, and hunting further and further, not just meekly gathering the few berries and then starving. This is a representation of jobs that categorized for men, which can actually be done by both genders.

So this book in general thrives to show how individuals are capable of doing and achieving what rly want without categorizations.

So when you read this book, remember that your capacities are far more than what people tell you, and that there is no limit to where you can go, and what you can be. Thank you.