COURAGE

Chief Matasaip explains to Karana that they cannot wait for Ramo, because if they do, the ship will be wrecked against the rocks. Then, though many people try to restrain her, Karana jumps off the boat into the water and swims back to shore.

Information from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dolphins/section4.rhtml

When the remaining islanders departed for a nearby haven, twelve-year-old Karana, realizing her younger brother Ramo has been left behind, jumps from the boat and swims back to the island to take care of him. She gathers food, builds shelter, and makes tools to survive. In order to take revenge against the wild dogs that killed her brother, Karana must make weapons, something that had been forbidden to the women of the tribe.

Information from: http://www.literatureplace.com/bookfolios/bookfolio.asp?BookfolioID=138

While rowing, Karana sees a hawk fly out of the cave and goes in to explore. Inside, she and Rontu find a row of figures made from reeds and clothed in gull feathers. Their eyes are made from abalone shells and glitter eerily. In the center of these figures sits a skeleton playing a pelican bone flute. Karana goes to leave the cave, but the tide has gone up and covered the entrance. She and Rontu thus have to spend the night in the cave with the strange figures and the skeleton. When Karana and Rontu leave the next morning, Karana names the cave "Black Cave" and vows never to return there again.

Information from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dolphins/section11.rhtml

SUMMARY:

From the first source, when Chief Matasaip told Karana that they can't wait for Ramo, Karana jumps into the sea and tries to swim back to the island while her elder sister, Ulape does not even care for Ramo. This shows that Karana has empathy for her brother and her courage to jump into the sea, giving up the good life she would have if she were to board the ship.

From the second source, after her brother, Ramo was killed by the wild dogs, she vowed to kill the pack of wild dogs but as she needed weapon to kill them but as it is against the Ghalas-at's rules for women to make weapons. In order to take revenge, she gathered up her courage and ignored the rule and went ahead with weapons-making .

And lastly from the third source, when Karana saw a hawk fly out of a cave, she went in. Inside the cave was filled with skeletons that makes her so petrified that she decided to leave immediately. But the tide was up and this prevented her from leaving. Thus, she summon all her courage and spent a night there together with Rontu.