CHAPTER SUMMARIES
Chapter 1 Summary
Island of the Blue Dolphins opens with Karana remembering the day the Aleut ship with the red sails came to the island. She firstly believes the ship to be a shell on the sea and then a gull with folded wings before she realizes what it actually is. Karana and her brother are in a small harbor called Coral Cove, collecting roots that the tribe needs for food. She reveals that she is twelve and her brother Ramo is half her age. She continues working diligently throughout the scene while her excitable little brother runs about, going on about the ship with red sails. Karana tries to convince Ramo that it is not a ship, it is only a red dolphin and that he does not know everything. The visitors on the ship with the red sails are the Aleuts, who have come to hunt otter. But first they must make an agreement with karana’s tribe.
Chapter 2 Summary
To Karana's dismay her father agrees to the terms and the Aleuts make camp on higher ground. She then describes the island as two leagues long, one league wide and in the shape of a fish. She debates over whether the island was named for its shape or for the many dolphins that live in the surrounding ocean. She describes the wind, the polished hills, the twisted trees and the canyon. Her village is east of the hills on a mesa near Coral Cove and a small spring and there is another spring half a league to the north, where the Aleuts have made camp. Chief Chowig warns the tribe not to visit the camp.
Chapter 3 Summary
Karana describes the kelp beds where the Aleuts hunt and the playful otter that they are killing. She describes the canoes and weapons they use and the process of how they skin and flesh the otter. She shares her feelings of anger toward the Aleuts for killing her playful animal friends. She then mentions her father's dismissive reaction when she tells him how she feels. While trying to relieve Karana's fears that the otter will all be gone soon, Chief Chowig tells her that he believes the Aleuts will be gone within a week. She is sure he is right since he had some of their men go to the beach to build a canoe.
Chapter 4 Summary
Karana describes the day the Aleuts leave the island as a sunless day. She relates that early in the morning, they tear down camp and load their tents onto their ship. The men of the tribe gather their weapons and rush to the beach as the women follow and hide themselves in the brush along the cliff. Karana and her sister Ulape hide in the same spot Karana had hidden in the day the Aleuts arrived and watch them as they happily load their ship with the otter pelts. Chief Chowig begins speaking to Captain Orlov and although the girls cannot hear what is being said, they know their father is not happy. As all the other men of the tribe stop what they are doing and begin to watch the two leaders. A bloody battle soon erupts and many of karana’s people are killed, including some of the Aleuts. A violent storm also batters the island.
Chapter 5 Summary
Karana explains the night after the battle as the most horrible time in all the memory of Ghalas-at. She tells of how there are only fifteen men remaining and of those seven are very old. She also states that every woman has lost some part of her family and that the storm last for two more days. On the third day, they bury their dead and burn the fallen Aleuts. Everything about the village goes on in silence; no one leaves the village except for food. Some wish to leave the island for neighboring Santa Catalina, others will not go because of the lack of water there. It is a village-wide decision to stay. The new chief chosen to take Karana's father's place is Kimki. Kimki is very old, but was a good hunter. Kimki leaves the island in search of a new home for his tribe.
Chapter 6 Summary
One moon has passed since Kimki left the island. Everyone begins to watch for his return, yet spring comes and goes with no sign of his return. Karana becomes aware that the weather has been almost too fair and takes note that they must be careful with their water because of this. Many members of the tribe are afraid they will die of thirst for the lack of water. Matasaip, who had taken Kimki's place as chief, tells them there are more important things to worry about, meaning the Aleuts returning once more. The tribe plans for a quick escape should they see the dreaded red sails. They store food and water in canoes that they hide on the rocks on the southern end of the island and plan to flee to the island. A ship is seen approaching the island, only this time it is a ship of friendly missionaries who have come to the tribe’s rescue.
Chapter 7 Summary
Since the villagers had brought nothing with them when they believed they were fleeing from the Aleuts, they return to their homes to pack their belongings. Karana tells of the two baskets she fills with her belongings such as whalebone needles, an awl, a stone knife, cooking pots and a shell box filled with earrings. Ulape is more vain and packs her two boxes of earrings and then draws the marks on her face, which means she is unmarried. Nanko comes to warn them that the ship is leaving and Ulape, who is in love with Nanko, tells him that even if it does it will return for them shortly. She then laughs at him and tells him that handsome, brave men will return for her.
Chapter 8 Summary
The storm that was brewing as they were boarding the ship is now in full force, so Karana and Ramo take shelter among the rocks and stay there until nightfall. By the light of the moon they return to the village that now reminds Karana of ghosts. They hear the sound of many feet and look around to find a pack of wild dogs racing through the huts, snarling at them. The dogs have ravished everything the tribe has left in the village and Karana and Ramo have to search for enough food for their supper. While they eat beside a small fire they hear the dogs nearby and only when morning comes does the pack trot off to their lair. Karana and Ramo spend the day gathering food. The dogs come again. Ramo is killed by the wild dogs.
Chapter 9 Summary
Time begins to pass very quickly for Karana and she remembers very little except for the morning that she decided she would never live in the village again. She describes the weather and how the fog crept through the huts reminding her of ghosts. She could almost hear the dead speaking. When the sun came out and the fog vanished she made a fire against the hut wall and watched as it burnt to the ground. Then she did the same to the rest of the village. The only thing she saves was a basket of food that she took with her to the headland, where she had decided to wait for the ship to return. Karana's new place to sleep is high enough that she does not need to fear the dogs.
Chapter 10 Summary
It is now spring on the Island of the Blue Dolphins and Karana now spends her days looking out to sea toward the country where her people have gone. She sees an object once that she believes to be a ship, but it turns out to be a spouting whale. The first storm of winter comes and dashes her hopes. She is very lonely and cannot bring herself to eat. Sleep only brings terrible dreams. The dogs begin to approach the headland and she kills three of them before they stop coming. The storm lasts for six days and when it is over, Karana goes to the canoes and finds them just as they had been left. She decides to take one and go to the land where her people are.
Chapter 11 Summary
Karana is awakened from her slumber on the beach by waves lapping at her feet. She is so exhausted that she simply crawls to a higher spot where the waves cannot reach her and goes back to sleep. When she wakes up in the morning she finds her canoe and gathers her baskets and weapons and takes them back to the headland. She stands and gazes out with happiness and finds she is surprised that she had been homesick. She looks across the sea and knows she will never again attempt the journey; she is at home. Karana decides to build a house and sets about picking a spot. She needs shelter from the wind and a spring close by.
Chapter 12 Summary
Karana remembers that many years ago two whales had washed up on the shore and while most of the bones had been taken straight away to make ornaments, the ribs were still buried in the sand. She uses these bones to make a fence, facing the curve outward so they cannot be climbed. She weaves bull kelp between the bones, like a basket, to provide more protection. For a door she digs a hole under the fence and lines it with stones. She covers the hole on the inside with a woven mat to shed the rain and on the inside with a flat rock that she is strong enough to move but that is too heavy for an animal to move.
Chapter 13 Summary
Karana does not sleep the night before she goes to the sea elephants because she is thinking again of the law that forbids women to make weapons. She heads toward the cliff anyway. She describes the sea elephants in great detail, from their sizes down to their whiskers. She chooses the smallest of the six adult males and she can tell from his position in the water that he has no herd of his own. Karana makes her way toward him, fearing that because she is a woman that her bow will break. She begins to describe the sea elephant's skin. The animal begins to move toward the shore and Karana is afraid he has heard her.
Chapter 14 Summary
Karana's leg is injured to the point that by the time she reaches her home she has trouble crawling under the fence. Five days go by before she runs out of water and is forced to leave to get some more. She crawls to the spring, slowly carrying food on her back while dragging her weapons. Around noon she stops to rest and sees the leader of the wild dogs and then the rest of the pack. They stop when they see her as well. When Karana lifts her bow the dogs fade away, as if they had never been there. Karana continues to crawl and when she reaches the spring she lays on the ground to drink. She then fills her basket and crawls toward the mouth of a cave.
Chapter 15 Summary
Karana explains that the wild dogs have always been on the island, but that after the Aleuts came the pack grew larger and much fiercer. She believes that this is because of the yellow-eyed leader, who she is sure is one of the Aleuts' dogs who have been left behind. She is sure of this because his looks are so different and his temperament so mean. She has already killed four of the pack but there are many more and the young are even more wild. Early in the morning she takes her weapons to the side of the cave the dogs use as their lair and leaves all but one spear there while she goes to collect brush that she shoves into the cave. She then gathers her weapons and climbs up the cave. She sets fire to the brush and the dogs escape from the cave. Karana hopes to kill the leader of the pack. Karana wounds him, takes him home and nurses him back to health. Karana names him Rontu, meaning “Fox Eyes.”
Chapter 16 Summary
Every day now Karana watches for the ship of the White man and also the Aleuts. She decides that if the Aleuts come she will hide in the cave but be ready to flee if they should find her and so she builds a new canoe out of the boards of the old ones abandoned on the rocks. She describes in detail the process she uses to fashion this new canoe from the old ones. She sleeps in the canoe in the sand until the job is finished. All summer Rontu stays with her. He has learned his name quickly and seems to understand other words when she speaks to him. When the canoe is finished they set off on a journey around the island to test the canoe for leaks.
Chapter 17 Summary
The winter storms come early this year and Karana spends much of her time working on the devilfish spear. She also makes herself a new dress. All but one of the sea elephants teeth have broken, but the one that is left makes a fine barbed point that she connects to the shaft with a string so that when the spearhead strikes the devilfish, the head comes loose from the shaft and can still be held onto. When the first day of spring comes she takes the spear to Coral Cove; Rontu has gone off alone and not returned all morning. Karana pushes her canoe to the water where the devilfish lives. She wonders all morning where her beloved pet has gone. After she hides the canoe, she climbs back toward her home.
Chapter 18 Summary
Karana describes the lush flowers and the many birds of the spring in great detail. She finds that a pair of birds with yellow bodies and scarlet head has made a nest in a small tree near her home. In the nest she discovers there are two eggs. When they hatch she lays out food for the mother to feed her young. Although the babies are ugly and gray, Karana takes them and puts them in a small cage made of reeds so that when the rest of the birds migrate she will have these two as friends. The birds soon grow to be as beautiful as their parents had been and make soft cries. When they outgrow the small cage Karana clips the tips of their wings so they cannot fly away. She names them Tainor and Lurai.
Chapter 19 Summary
Another summer has arrived and Karana continues hunting the great devilfish everyday. They find many devilfish, but not the giant that Rontu had discovered. Karana gives up to begin gathering food for the winter and describes in vast detail how she collects abalone and avoids starfish. One windless day Karana and Rontu take the canoe and go fishing among the blue dolphins, otters and gulls. They go to the end of the reef and catch two large fish. They also collect purple sea urchins to use for dye. Rontu suddenly drops his fish and stares into the water. Karana sees that he has again found the giant devilfish and she takes her spear to the edge of the reef. The fish is still and she can see his eyes.
Chapter 20 Summary
Karana gathers two more canoe loads of abalone, mostly the sweet red ones. She leaves them out to dry and at first lets Rontu protect them from the gulls, but he does not like this and howls the entire time she is gone. She eventually makes a contraption out of abalone shells and poles that reflects the sunlight and scares the birds away. She also catches small fish with a handmade net to store for the winter. Her yard looks as if an entire village was staying there. After gathering food daily, Karana and Rontu explore more and more of the island from their canoe. They discover a cave that they name Black Cave because it has very little light.
Chapter 21 Summary
During the night Karana leaves Rontu in the cave and climbs again to the headland, where she watches the fires and debates moving her hiding spot to another part of the island. She decides that she is afraid of the girl more then the men, as the men spend their days hunting. She believes the girl might be out gathering food and come across her home at the spring. She watches until the fires are out before she returns to her cave. Karana and Rontu go for a walk. She sees that three of the whale ribs have been cut away from her house. They gather some food and return to the cave before light. Every night she goes out only to gather roots to eat. She sees none of the Aleuts.
Chapter 22 Summary
Karana does not enter the cave, nor does she take the necklace. Where she hides now she can see the necklace all day. Rontu starts barking when they hear footsteps and the girl singing. When the girl sees the necklace still laying on the rock she grows very quiet, picks up the necklace, puts it down again and peers into the cave where two of Karana's basket still sit, then begins to drink from the spring. Karana runs down the ravine yelling "Tutok" and quickly picks up the necklace and puts it on. Tutok says "wintscha" (which means pretty) again and Karana repeats the word. The two girls begin to share words in their own languages, smiling and having a good time. Karana introduces herself as Won-a-pa-lei, but keeps her secret name to herself.
Chapter 23 Summary
Among the many wounded otters that the Aleuts leave behind Karana finds a young one that is not badly wounded wrapped tightly in a bed of kelp. When she reaches out of her canoe to cut him loose he does not move and only looks at her with his large eyes. She takes him to a tide pool behind the reef, where she feeds him and keeps a close eye on his wound. She brings him fresh live fish everyday until he grows to the size of her arm. She decides to name him Mon-a-nee, which means Little Boy With Large Eyes. The waves become so high one day that she cannot make it out to fish for Mon-a-nee and it is three more days before the weather calms enough for her to bring food for him.
Chapter 24 Summary
When spring comes and the birds return to the island Tainor and Lurai build a nest in the tree where they were born and soon have two beautiful babies. Karana finds a young gull that has fallen on the beach and cares for his broken leg and he too joins the growing household. Karana is happy with her yard full of her animal children. She wonders if her sister and Kimki are married and have children yet. Karana gathers abalone as she begins to prepare again for the Aleuts to come and one day, while she is out on the reef, she sees a herd of otters playing. She is so sure that one is Mon-a-nee that she holds out a fish toward him and before she can take a breath he has taken it.
Chapter 25 Summary
The Aleuts never return to the island, although every summer Karana watches for them and prepares for the day when they return. Two winters after they were last there, she makes new weapons to store beneath the headland, ready to move quickly. The otters have now learned that summers are a dangerous time and lead their herds away, out past Tall Rock until winter. The summer that Rontu dies the otters do not leave and Karana knows that the ones that lived through the Aleut hunts are no longer alive. She does not think of the White Men anymore who had promised to return. She has stopped keeping track of the moons since she has been alone. It is nearing fall when Rontu dies. Karana remembers the day Rontu stood at the fence and barked.
Chapter 26 Summary
The winter is bad and Karana stays in her house most of the time making snares from branches. She has seen a young dog in the pack that looks like Rontu and she is sure he is Rontu's son. She intends to catch him in the spring. The dogs come to the headland often now once Rontu is gone and she catches many dogs but not the one she wants and she sets them all free. They eventually learn to stay away from the fish bait and all she catches now is a fox, which bites Karana when she lets her out of the trap. The fox is soon tame and joins Karana's happy yard. Karana knows she cannot catch the dog with the snare and begins to poison the spring water with a sleeping potion, thereby capturing Rontu’s son, Rontu-Aru.
Chapter 27 Summary
The summer comes and it is hot and humid with no wind. Rontu-Aru does not like the warm weather so Karana leaves him at home much of the time. On the hottest day of summer, she shields her eyes with wood and pulls her canoe up on the sandspit to repair any cracks that need fixing. When the sun reaches the high point of the sky she turns the canoe over and sleeps under it. She is soon awakened by what she believes to be thunder but when she jumps up she finds no clouds in the sky. The tide is lower than she has ever seen and the rocks and reefs usually unseen stand bare as if she has woken up on a different island. Karana survives a tidal wave and an earthquake.
Chapter 28 Summary
The earthquake hasn't caused much damage, although the waves cost Karana all the food and weapons hidden in the cave, as well as the canoe she was working on and those hidden under the south cliffs. It will take her a year to start again from scratch so she searches and collects the parts of the lost canoes until she has enough planks to reshape and make a new one. It is now late in the spring and Karana does not think of the Aleuts. She describes clearly how she forms the new canoe out of the old pieces. One day as she is collecting seaweed to make pitch for the seams, she sees a ship and runs for the headland. She sees that this is not an Aleut ship.
Chapter 29 Summary
Two more springs go by before the ship returns, but this time Karana sees it while it is much farther away. The men come ashore and make a fire. She does not sleep that night for thinking of the man who had called out to her. She had thought of his voice many times and watched for his return every day. In the morning she bathes in the spring and puts on her cormorant skirt and otter cape. She dons her necklace and earrings and as Ulape had done, she marks her face with the marks of her tribe and the mark meaning she is unmarried. She returns to the house and cooks for Rontu-Aru. As he eats she tells him that they are leaving the island.
THEME
SurvivalThe story is based on Karana's survival skills and self-reliance. She has to go through the stages of learning to do everything for herself with no one to protect her. In learning to provide herself with everything she needs, she not only overcomes her fears, she finds she is quite capable of performing every necessary task and more. She learns who her enemies are and when to trust them, how much food and water to store and how to protect it and numerous other tasks that in her past were always performed by the men. Similar to the famous book Robinson Crusoe, Karana finds herself as a person and a human through her soul-searching adventures alone on the island. The environment surrounding her tests her courage and yet also allows her to find inspiration.
STYLE
Point of ViewThe Island of the Blue Dolphins is written in the first-person, through Karana's own eyes. The reader is listening to Karana tell the story of her life alone and reminisce through her thoughts and feelings. One can get a good sense of the surroundings and environment of the small island. She knows of nothing else and this is portrayed by the lack of references to anything outside of her world. She is twelve at the beginning of the story and her words and actions are appropriate for someone of that age and as she grows older the thoughts and feelings she shares with the reader portray the maturity she has acquired. There is a simplistic, tribal sense throughout the entire book. Every detail of the terrain is described, as is every feature and habit.
ADAPTATIONS
Two of O'Dell's books have been made into cinema productions by Universal International. Filmed in 1964 Island of the Blue Dolphins was directed by James B. Clark and starred Celia Kaye, George Kennedy, Ann Daniel, Carlos Romero, and Larry Domasin. The Black Pearl in 1976. O'Dell was disappointed with what the directors and screen writers did with and to his stories. He felt, with good reason, that the portrayal of Karana ignored her development as a character. Focus was on the externals of island life rather than on the all-important changes.KEY QUESTIONS
When O'Dell wrote Island of the Blue Dolphins, he was not necessarily writing for young people. He had previously written for adults, and he chose to write about Karana at least in part because of his interest in American history and because her historical life appealed to him. His sometimes spare and direct style found itself a young audience for whom the details of Karana's survival was particularly inviting. Much has been made out of his making a girl the focus of his tale of survival, although he had the compelling reason that the real-life figure had been female. One might generate a good discussion out of the issue of Karana's gender by emphasizing people's reaction to the focus on a girl, rather than why O'Dell did it.TOPICS
FOR DISCUSSION
2. Research the history of the Ghalasat and the true story of The Lost Woman of San Nicolas, on which O'Dell's novel is based. Report on this history and discuss the accuracy of the novel's descriptions of tribal beliefs and customs.
- Discuss how Scott O'Dell's story parallels the true story of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island.
- Discuss how Rontu took the place of Karana's brother Ramo.
- Discuss the wide array of emotions Karana must have been going through at different points in the story and how those feelings relate to the other characters.
- Discuss the weather patterns and natural elements of the island and how closely they relate to the actual life on San Nicolas Island.
- If you were stuck alone on an island for many years, with nothing besides nature, could you survive? Explain the different ways Karana displays her great survival skills.
- Why is Karana's insistence on getting revenge on the dogs eliminated when she has the opportunity to kill Rontu?
- Why is Karana afraid of the ghosts and memories of her ancestors? How much do her beliefs change.....?
IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS
1. Write a review of the 1963 film of the Island of the Blue Dolphins. How does it differ from the novel?2. Research the history of the Ghalasat and the true story of The Lost Woman of San Nicolas, on which O'Dell's novel is based. Report on this history and discuss the accuracy of the novel's descriptions of tribal beliefs and customs.
LITERARY PRECEDENTS
Island of the Blue Dolphins is a recent addition to the long literary tradition of the "Robinsonnade" — those innumerable works written directly under the influence of Robinson Crusoe. Since the advent of Crusoe the "castaway" story has been extremely popular, and has reappeared in such diverse forms, usually designed for young readers, as Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson (1812), Marryat's Masterman Ready (1841), Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1858), Verne's The Mysterious Island (1875), and Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954) to name but a few (and not to mention Gilligan's Island). The principal way that Island of the Blue Dolphins is different from these previous works is that they usually portray castaways in families or groups rather than as solitaries — even Crusoe had his Friday — whereas Karana is for the most part alone.
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
Buell, Ellen Lewis. "Review." New York Times Book Review (March
22, 1960): 40-41. Summation of Island of
the Blue Dolphins and its sources; commentary on style, theme, and
substance.
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Based on the popular children's story by Scott
O'Dell, this family movie tells of the true adventures of a young Native
American girl. After her father is killed by a malevolent white trapper,
Karana (Celia Kaye) joins her community as they leave their island home in
the Pacific to live on the mainland. Upon her departure, Karana realizes that
her brother has been left behind. She immediately swims back to be with him
and the two remain on the abandoned island. Though Karana is able to
domesticate a wolf, her brother is not so fortunate with the animals and is
killed by a pack of wild dogs. She is left to survive against the odds for
several years before she has a chance to journey to the mainland herself. The
adept cinematography of Leo Tover (Journey
to the Center of the Earth, and The
Day the Earth Stood Still) greatly contributed to this outdoor adventure
film as did appropriate music from prolific film composer Paul Sawtell.
Starring: Celia Kaye, Larry Domasin, Ann Daniel
Fun Facts
Trivia
This movie is based
on the Newbery Award-winning book Island
of the Blue Dolphins by Scott
O'Dell. The book is based on the true story of a
woman left behind on the Channel Islands by missionaries in the early 1800s.
She lived alone on one of the islands for 18 years and died of dysentery (formerly known as flux or the bloody
flux, an inflammatory disorder of the intestine) seven weeks after she was
"rescued" and brought to the mainland. She is buried in the
graveyard of the Santa Barbara Mission in California. To watch the movie please click on the link below:
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