Moral developement-weishan

weishan
Links>>
1.http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dolphins/canalysis.html

2.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/27112/guide_to_using_odells_island_of_the.html? page=2

Karana's story spans eighteen years, we are able to watch her personal and moral growth. As the only human on the island of he blue dolphins, Karana is left to develop her own moral code. We know that Karana cares deeply for others even at the very beginning of the novel, as is demonstrated when she plunges into the sea to go back to the island for her brother. Later, she is faced with different types of decisions. Faced with the necessity of hunting and defending herself from the wild dogs, Karana need to make weapons, something that the laws of her tribe forbid women to do. The stories say that weapons made by women will break just when one needs them most. After long deliberation, however, Karana decides to make a set of weapons for herself, and soon realizes that the old tales were false. Later in the novel, after Karana has befriended a number of the animals of the island, she decides for herself that she will never again kill any of these animals. This is a significant decision, because she is dependant on a number of these animals for material. However, she considers animals to be very much like people, even though they do not talk. She knows that her tribesmen would consider her resolution ridiculous, but her animal friends are so important to her that she cannot bear to kill them.

“Ulape would have laughed at me, and others would have laughed, too - my father most of all. Yes this is the way I felt about the animals who had become my friends and those who were not, but in time could be. If Ulape and my father had come back and laughed, and all the others had come back and laughed, still I would have felt the same way, for animals and birds are like people, too, though they do not talk the same or do the same things. Without them the earth would be an unhappy place.” This passage best exemplifies the main character’s growth and development of her own moral code. It shows how Karana has adjusted to her surroundings in order to survive while maintaining what is right to her. It can prompt a good discussion of other ways in which Karana has matured and changed.