LITERARY ANALYSIS #2

Literature Analysis #2

Book- Island of the Blue Dolphins

Author- Scott O’Dell

TOPIC(S) and/or EVENT(S)

1. [a] Overall my book is based on a true story of The Lost Women of San Nicolas. In 1835 it is said that an African American girl jumped off Captain Hubbard’s ship and ended up on an island off the Californian coast known as La Isla de San Nicolas. Then, miraculously, Captain Nidever traveled toward La Isla de San Nicolas and found that same girl 18 years later! They say she was found living in a hut with a tamed dog that she had befriended, she was able to befriend it and use it to hunt. It turns out she had jumped off the ship because she knew that her younger brother had been left behind, unfortunately he had been killed by a pack of wild dogs. This is her story. [b] This book is the story of the Lost Women of San Nicolas who lived alone on La Isla de San Nicolas for 18 years and lived.

2. I believe Scott O’Dell decided to write about this women because it was just an astonishing event. This is the 1800’s and women were seen as very inferior compared to men. Now this story of a women who lived on an island for 18 years, survived in a hut, and tamed a wild dog comes up? Well how can’t this catch someone’s attention. At that time it was probably the story of the century.

3. I chose this book because it really caught my attention, not so much because it was a women that survived 18 years on an island but because a HUMAN survived there. I loved the idea that someone was smart enough to live off the resources on an island and also tame a wild dog. Now what separated this from other stories like this was the fact that this one is true, that blew my mind when I figured that out. So after realizing that it was about a women who lived off resources given to her on an island and befriend the wild animals there how couldn’t I stop reading it.

4. Yes I found this book to be very realistic because of the background story that inspired it. I did make one connection with the book and that was losing a loved one. In this case the women lost her brother to a pack of wild dogs and it was pretty cruel how he died. In my case I lost my grandmother before I was able to tell her what I needed to tell her. Both bad ways to go, and I really felt her pain when she lost her brother. That was the main connection I made with her throughout the book.

PEOPLE

1. In this book the authors choices tell me that he can really paint a picture for the reader, I mean you can pretty much place yourself there on La Isla de San Nicolas and just see everything happening as he describes it. I believe Scott decided to write about this book because, just like me, he found it amazing that a women knew so much about survival and was able to use those skills to survive for 18 years on one island. Over the entire story the authors tone tends to be mysterious, going through the pages you are always wondering what’s going to happen next.

2. Karana is a young women who is tall for her age, fit, has long black hair, and having rugged clothing on at all times. How I see her, she resembles a Pocahontas type of character because she is out in the wild and is on an island for a good fraction of her life. She at first was an outgoing girl who really didn’t listen to reason but was fairly quiet most of the time. It is because she is quiet that I would use direct characterization to describe Karana, nobody would know how she really was unless I used that kind of characterization. The second character I chose was Ramo, Karana’s six-year-old brother. He is a little one, dark skinned from always being outside, slightly long hair, and having small rugged shorts that barely fit him. Imagine him like Mowgli from The Jungle Book, he seems to fit the role perfectly. Now he is very enthusiastic and extremely energetic so because of this I would use indirect characterization since the author would get an idea of how he is just by all his actions.

3. What made these two interesting enough to write about is that they resembled characters from my childhood but seemed to be more adult modernized considering Karana went through really hard times and Ramo ended up being killed by wild dogs. That’s what made them interesting to me.

CHARACTER/PEOPLE

1. A form of direct characterization happened more with Rontu, the wild dog that Karana befriended. How the author directly characterizes Rontu is, one, by his physical appearance. He is said to be the biggest dog of them all, the leader, and that he is strong and quite the hunter. Secondly he is directly characterized through his actual emotions, such as when he first met Karana to when he began to warm up to her. A form of indirect characterization happens mostly with Ramo, considering his actions spoke louder than anything. By seeing how energetic he is we can easily tell that he is one that does not listen to others and really does what he wants. Also that he can be hardheaded and this is shown through how he fights with his sister, saying how he is a man already and shouldn’t be treated like a child. The author uses both approaches because there were times when he could obviously describe how a character is without having to tell the audience directly about a character. Now with both of these being used I can see that these characters are not slackers, they are hard-working people and there is not a doubt in my mind that they really know how to handle a situation at first seconds notice. There’s a reason Karana survived for 18 years, she knows what she’s doing.

2. I don’t think the authors diction changes when he focuses on character because he seems to keep his tone no matter what is happening. For example, after Ramo was killed he did not change the overall tone or use of words when describing Karana’s reaction to all of this. It remained mysterious and still kept me wondering what she was planning to do next.

3. The protagonist, being Karana, is more of a dynamic character and also a round character. She is dynamic because she undergoes a huge change after her brother is killed and spending so many years on that island. She is a round character because the ways the author describes her gives the reader a pretty clear picture of what she looks like and how she acts.

4. After everything I really do feel like I’ve met Karana because of how she became after her brothers’ death. I can really relate to her because how she got was exactly how I got after my grandmothers death, she blamed herself and I did too until a lot of time went by. We pretty much are the same in that area so I feel like I’ve met her.

STYLE

1. Scott O’Dell used many tools such as foreshadowing, there was actually a lot of that. For example through Ramos actions (being that he never listened when he should have) we could imagine that something was going to happen to him. For one he did not make it to the ship that left with all his family and friends on it causing Karana to jump off and go back for him. Also his death, he did not listen to his sister and the dogs took advantage of that.

2. Typically the author focused more on actions because those alone would help create a good description of what is going on at that moment and how people must be reacting. The effect on the book was that it made it more action packed and just more interesting because you can place yourself in that setting and perfectly see what is occurring at that moment.

3. The author tends to use foreshadowing to keep things interesting, considering the tone is mostly mysterious that really helps him. Helps keep the reader wondering about what is going to happen next.

4. Toward the subject I believe the author was nothing short of amazed, he can see that in the 1800’s women were seen as less superior and did not appear to be able to do something like this.

5. Now the author does not really offer resources but he does mention the real story title of what he based his book on, The Lost Women of San Nicolas. With that alone I can find the real story and get the real insights about that story.

ENDURING MEMORY

            With this book I can see that Karana took a big risk when she jumped off that ship, and this tells me that when you believe that something is right then the risk is well worth taking. This does relate to our current topic of taking risks and that when it’s the right decision it is worth taking. I found this important because we seem to live I fear of taking said risks and that we can’t seem to shake that fear. We are all afraid of the unknown. Such as now as a senior I am about ready to head off to college and stat a whole new life, which is one of the biggest risks any of us have to take. I do not think I’m ready but you know what it’s to do it now than later, I AM ready for it and I will not back down from it.