Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins tells the archetypal story of the young, virgin, orphan girl who is vulnerable to either debauchery or rescue. That such a girl must succumb to either one or the other is a necessary element of the archetype. In O'Dell's work-one intended, after all, for children-the heroine is rescued by a paternalistic figure and re-inscribed into the patriarchal world. Yet, in the hands of young readers, Island-part fairytale, part rescue narrative, part feminist parable-becomes a story of independence and survival, despite the heroine's ''rescue'' at the end.
Keywords Orphan AE Rescue AE Island of the Blue Dolphins AE Scott O'DellScott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960) tells the story of Karana, a young Native American girl who is abandoned on an island off the west coast of the United States and spends the next eighteen years living alone before she is rescued by white hunters. Based upon a true story, Island of the Blue Dolphins is part survival narrative, part fairytale, and, perhaps, surprisingly, part feminist manifesto. It is the latter that creates the most tension in the story. In the novel, O'Dell plays out the archetypal scene of the young, virgin, orphan girl. Without the protection of a male family member, she is vulnerable and in need of rescue. Like her sisters in Western culture, Karana, as she exists in the fictional world of O'Dell, lives in a patriarchal world that values virginity in its women above all else. She is valuable property. Whether she is rescued by the handsome prince and relinquishes her property willingly or whether she is debauched, she will relinquish it. Her virginity is not hers to keep, and she, alone, has no power to protect it. In literature that accepts such patriarchal values, the young orphaned virgin finds her story being played out for her between two extremes: the paternalistic rescue or the violent rape. Both will rip her away from life as she knows it.
