Protagonist Character Synopsis
Karana
The protagonist in Island of the Blue Dolphins is Karana. She is an indian on the island of San Nicolas and she has black hair. She is caring for her siblings and knows how to gather abalone and plant roots. Karana thinks that the wild dogs have complete control of her at first and after a while, she believes she has complete control of the dogs. At first she feels afraid and lonely, but at the end she feels dominant and fierce. The tools Karana uses are her bow and arrow, spear, her hands, and rocks. Karana is very believable because at the beginning of the book the chief trusted her to watch for the tribe’s enemies.
Karana is a dynamic character because she changed the way she felt. Karana changed because she killed five of the wild dogs and then the dogs looked up to her and she felt that she was dominant. At the beginning of the book she was afraid and shy of the wild dogs. At the end of the book Karana feels confident and brave. The change of Karana did change the theme of the story because she is the main character and the story is based off of her. A quote that proves she was afraid is “The shore was steep and once I got to move the canoe to move with it’s own weight, it slid into the water”. I chose this quote because it shows Karana trying to flee from the island by herself to get away from the wild dogs. Another quote that proves that she is confident is “I pulled him through the opening under the fence and tied him to it with a thong and left food beside him to eat and drink some fresh water.” This quote shows Karana being brave because she is bringing a wild dog into her house.
Karana is a dynamic character because she changed the way she felt. Karana changed because she killed five of the wild dogs and then the dogs looked up to her and she felt that she was dominant. At the beginning of the book she was afraid and shy of the wild dogs. At the end of the book Karana feels confident and brave. The change of Karana did change the theme of the story because she is the main character and the story is based off of her. A quote that proves she was afraid is “The shore was steep and once I got to move the canoe to move with it’s own weight, it slid into the water”. I chose this quote because it shows Karana trying to flee from the island by herself to get away from the wild dogs. Another quote that proves that she is confident is “I pulled him through the opening under the fence and tied him to it with a thong and left food beside him to eat and drink some fresh water.” This quote shows Karana being brave because she is bringing a wild dog into her house.
Antagonist Character Synopsis
The Wild Dogs
The antagonist of Island of the Blue Dolphins is the pack of wild dogs. The wild dogs have gray hair and one of them has yellow eyes. The wild dogs sneak around the island to find food and survive. At the beginning of the book the wild dogs stalked Karana and tried to hurt her. At the end of the book the wild dogs were afraid of Karana because she killed five of them. The dogs feel dominant to start, and then cowardly at the end. The wild dogs mainly use their claws and teeth for defense and hunting food. The wild dogs are not believable because they always try to steal Karana’s food.
The wild dogs are dynamic characters because they changed the way they thought of things. The dogs changed due to Karana. Karana killed five of them and severely hurt their leader. All this happened because the wild dogs killed Ramo, Karana’s brother. The wild dogs change did not change the theme of the story because just because they became less dominant did not change many of Karana’s decisions. A quote that shows the dogs as dominant is “A big gray dog with long curling hair and yellow eyes was the leader and he stayed there to watch me.” In this quote the wild dog did not leave and he was not afraid of Karana. Another quote that proves this is “I made more snares and set these again, but while the wild dogs came close they would not touch the fish.” This quote shows the dogs being afraid of Karana. In this sentence she is trying to catch the pack leader.
The wild dogs are dynamic characters because they changed the way they thought of things. The dogs changed due to Karana. Karana killed five of them and severely hurt their leader. All this happened because the wild dogs killed Ramo, Karana’s brother. The wild dogs change did not change the theme of the story because just because they became less dominant did not change many of Karana’s decisions. A quote that shows the dogs as dominant is “A big gray dog with long curling hair and yellow eyes was the leader and he stayed there to watch me.” In this quote the wild dog did not leave and he was not afraid of Karana. Another quote that proves this is “I made more snares and set these again, but while the wild dogs came close they would not touch the fish.” This quote shows the dogs being afraid of Karana. In this sentence she is trying to catch the pack leader.