Forgivenss - NuRuL aka IfAh

The first enemy Karana forgives is not a person, but a dog. Rontu
is an enemy because he is the leader of the dog pack that kills
Ramo and threatens Karana. He is also an enemy because he is
an Aleut dog, and the Aleuts are Karana’s enemies.

Website summary:
http://www.scholastic.com/Kids/homework/pdfs/Island_of_the_Blue_Dolphins.pdf

The heroine's many virtues:

• Will to survive.
• Self-reliance, ingeniousness, adaptability. She is knowledgeable about her tribe's skills, and creative in devising replacements for the animals she renounces killing.
• Compassion and forgiveness.
• Patience and Foresight. She is willing to wait for the right season, she makes plans for the future.
• Optimism. She makes the best of her situation--when she finds she cannot flee, she commits to making the island her home by building a shelter.
• High self-esteem. She rejoices in her own accomplishments. She shows respect for herself by dressing and looking her best even though there is no one to see her.

Website summary:
http://www.sanedraw.com/NOTEBOOK/ISLANDBD.HTM

After Ramo is killed and Karana is left alone on Ghalas-at, she has many enemies and no friends. She is harassed constantly by the wild dogs of her island, and lives with the vague fear in the back of her mind that one day the Aleuts that killed her people will return to the island. Eventually, Karana is forced into confrontation both with the wild dogs and with the Aleuts. In each case she has the opportunity to take her revenge, but doesn't. The case of Tutok is the most important of these because it shows the development of Karana's trust in more detail and to a deeper extent (in the case of Rontu, the only thing Karana and Rontu to show trust was refrain from killing each other). In the case of Tutok, Karana is mistrustful because Tutok is an Aleut. She has seen first hand what happens when one deals with these people, and has likely inherited some of the dislike and mistrust her father had for them. Even when Tutok makes friendly gestures, Karana is aloof and assumes that Tutok will betray her to the Aleut hunters. It takes a long time for Karana to see that Tutok has no ill intent, but it is some time before Karana makes a gesture of trust on her own. When Karana reveals her secret name to Turok, it is her ultimate sign of trust, for she ascribed her father's death to his decision to reveal his secret name to someone not worthy of trust. What Karana receives from her trust is a rewarding relationship that she will remember and think about for the rest of the novel.

Website Summary:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dolphins/themes.html