Island of the Blue Dolphins Friendship Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

That night I stayed in the house. Before I fell asleep I thought of a name for him, for I could not call him Dog. The name I thought of was Rontu, which means in our language Fox Eyes. (15.37)

In the beginning, Karana is enemies with the leader of the dog pack, but she eventually becomes his buddy. Even after trying to kill him! Why? Is it important that Karana gives the dog a name?

Quote #5

Would he come back, I wondered, or had he gone to live with the wild dogs? Would he again be my enemy? If he were my enemy, I knew that I could never kill him, now that he had been my friend. (17.7)

When Rontu disappears, Karana wonders what her relationship with him will be like. Why would she not be able to kill him now that they've become friends? What does this say about friendship (besides the fact that we don't often try to kill our friends)?

Quote #6

The young birds were not like their mother and father, being gray and very ugly, but anyway, I took them from the nest and put them in a small cage that I made of reeds. So later in the spring, when all the birds except the crows left the island and flew off to the north, I had these two for friends. (18.4)

Karana becomes friends with many animals on the island – including a pair of birds.