Point of View

Island of the Blue Dolphins is narrated by a girl named Karana, who is twelve years old at the story's beginning. She is thirty years old at the end of the book. Details about her personal development are not included in the story, but the reader is exposed to her thinking as she goes through the process of providing for herself and protecting herself from potential dangers on the island. Karana is someone who is capable of extreme patience, as she waits for years in the hope that a ship will return for her. Every spring, she prepares to be rescued. When no one finds her, she is not destroyed by despair or loneliness.

Language and Meaning

Island of the Blue Dolphins is narrated in the plain-spoken English that might have been used by a Native American woman who learned English later in life. Some...