Man The Animal Need Not Be So Manly
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The most striking element of The Island of the Blue Dolphins is, for me, its use of a girl in its central role. The novel does not rely heavily on dates, a feature that is no doubt meant to convey the lack of concern Karana has for the current date on her island, but one can generally get a sense that we are speaking of a time around the Victorian Era. This novel was not written during such an era, but I find its use of it quite striking in juxtaposition to the use of Karana as the central role. The Victorian Era was a time of logic, science, and great men. Brave, strapping, multi-talented men who traveled the globe and brought civility to untamed wilderness all while armed with nothing but their wits. It was a time of science over magic and logical reasoning over mad hysteria.
That last word is key–hysteria. A word with a root which is literally referencing womankind. That is what is so intriguing about this particular book. I find in Karana someone who does not sit well within a gender role and I fiercely admire her for it. Karana is a hunter, a seamstress, a fisherman, a teacher, a warrior, a mother, an animal tamer, a cook, an inventor, an architect, an explorer, a pacifist, a strategist, a girl who is later a woman, and a sailor. She is, with little doubt on my part, one of the most versatile characters I have ever encountered and certainly a person I would want with me if I were to be trapped on a deserted island.
Karanas accomplishments stand as admirable all on their own. She is not noteworthy for being so young and so meek and yet doing so much, although all this is quite true, but the things she has done stand as remarkable feats for any one person to have done. Man or woman, young or old, Karana has accomplished what so few–and I certainly suspect myself not to be among that few–could have managed. Left all on her own and deprived of all that our collective ancestors have toiled for thousands of years to create, Karana survived. With nothing more than her wits. She was, as they used to say in the Victorian Era, a prime example of Man the Animal. Though the writers and philosophers of that time may have literally meant “a man” when they spoke of “Man,” I find Karanas exploits to be true inspiration.
Karana stands toe to toe with Mother Nature and proves to the world and to me that it is not our social constructs, our great inventions, or even our great numbers that make a human being special. It is our adaptability, our logical faculties, and our persevering spirit that allow us to thrive and to conquer all we see. To me, this represents all that those old Victorian tales were trying to espouse. And for me personally, it is a powerful message of what I am capable of. Though I may not be able to attain the heights attained