cannot hunt neither hunt, dig nor find them. Moreover, she has to feed Rontu, her dog and Mon-a-nee, her otter with bigger amount of foods. These foods can be
abalones, shellfish, roots, scarlet apples, and cactus. As she can neither cultivate nor breed them, she only can depend on the nature. In other words, she relies upon
the availability of those food in the nature. The food scarcity makes her become so miserable as she needs to limit what she eats.
The only thing that worried me was that all the abalones I had gathered in the summer were gone.
I would need to live from day to day on what I could
catch, trying to get enough on the days when I could fish to last through the times when I could not.
Through the first part of the winter, before Mon-a-nee swam away, this was sometimes hard to do. Afterwards it was not so hard and Rontu and I
always had enough eat . O’Dell, 1960: 150
Thus, she has to starve and struggle against her own ego. She sacrifices her own self for the lives of hers, Rontu and Mon-a-nee. She has to work harder and look
for enough food for the three of them. Thus, she learns how to solve this problem day by day.
d. Bad Weather
Living in a small island called the Island of the Blue Dolphins means dealing with bad weather. It occurs because the island’s weather is influenced by the sea.
The bad weather can be in the form of stormy wind and heavy rain. This bad weather usually leads Karana into several difficulties. One of these difficulties is
that Karana cannot live permanently in one place. It happens as she has to consider the unpredictable and changeable weather in the island. For example, she
has to live in the cave during the winter which stormy winds usually come. She
also needs to live on the hill in the nice weather like summer. One of the bad weather conditions can be seen in the following quotation.
There were few storms that winter and rain was light and ended early. This meant that we would need to be careful of water. In the old days the springs
sometimes ran low and no one worried, but now everything seemed to cause alarm
. Many were afraid that we would die of thirst. O’Dell, 1960: 30 The existence of storms and less rain in the winter makes the people in Galas-at
worry. It happens as the spring as the water resource does not run well. It will threaten their lives as finding the drinking water can be so difficult. The bad
weather makes people cannot live comfortably. They need to prepare their ownselves when the winter comes and find a solution to make the spring run well
in the cold weather. Moreover, the bad weather does not only occur on the land but also on the sea.
The bad weather l eads the sea to have bigger waves which can hamper Karana’s
sailing toward the bigger land compared to the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Thus, Karana gives up and turn back to the island. This condition is reflected in the
statement below.
A wave passed over my head and I went down and down until I thought I would never behold the day again
. The ship was far away when I rose. Only the sails showed through the spray. I was still clutching the basket that held all
my things, but it was very heavy and I realized that I could not swim with it in my arms. Letting it sink, I started off toward the shore. O’Dell, 1960: 39
In addition, the bad weather in the form of harsh winds can make Karana lose
her opportunity to go away from the island with some stranger men. These stranger men refer to the white people. These people are able to rescue Karana and
bring her into a safe place from living alone in the island. However, Karana cannot call them and her communication with the men is interrupted because of
the harsh winds. Furthermore, she might forget her language since she has lived alone and had no one to talk to for many years in the Island of the Blue Dolphins.
I raised my hand and shouted over and over, but the wind carried my voice away. I ran down the beach and waded into the water. The men did
not see me. O’Dell, 1960: 175
2. The Interdependence between Human and Nature
a. Human Needs Nature
1 Needing Foods
Foods are the essential things for humans to keep them alive. Nature provides these things for them. These foods can be in the form of water, fish, abalones,
vegetables, fruits and so on. In other words, these foods only can be found in the nature. Thus, humans depend on nature in order to fulfill their basic needs.
It cannot be denied that water is a very prominent thing in human body. It is very crucial for humans. Humans can live until seven days without food, but they
will be starving to die if they did not consume water for three days. In this novel, humans needing water is presented as the following quotation.
The spring was not far off and I rested there, though I was very thirsty, cutting a lobe from a cactus bush to chew on.
O’Dell, 1960: 89.
Karana feels so thirsty because the lack of mineral in her body. Thus, she needs water to fulfill her body’s need. Then, she finds a cactus near her and she sucks
the cactus to drink. It means that the water can also be taken from plants like cactus too. This water can be gotten by chewing the cactus. Thus, nature provides
not only spring but also plants which c an be utilized to fulfill humans’ needs for
water. In other words, human depends on the existence of the nature.
