Island of the Blue Dolphins by Jalen
Jalen's entry into Varsity Tutor's October 2025 scholarship contest
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Island of the Blue Dolphins by Jalen - October 2025 Scholarship Essay
I love reading, especially fiction, so choosing a specific character for this essay was difficult. I decided to choose a character from a book that I read as a child called Island of the Blue Dolphins. Karana is the main character in this book and I decided to choose her because I remember the most about her. I read this book hundreds of times when I was younger because the story itself was fascinating to me. It is based off of a true event with a lot of fictional elements.
The book is about a tribe of people who live on what they call the island of the blue dolphins. A group of white men comes to the island and brings all of the people to the mainland. However, Karana and her younger brother are left behind because he forgot his fishing spear. Karana is very brave in this moment because her brother is concerned about what they will do now that they are left on the island by themselves, but she remains calm and collected and tells him that the men will surely come back for them. Not long after they are left alone her brother wanders off and is attacked and killed by pack of wild dogs. Karana remains on the island alone for eighteen more years.
Karana's story really stands out to me because the idea of living alone for so long is terrifying, however, she handled the situation with great bravery and incredible knowledge of how to survive. Although this type of high-pressure situation is highly unlikely to fall into, it is impossible to ignore just how much of an inspiration this story is. Karana taught me so much in my childhood from handling tough situations with composure to even handling grief and loss. An important lesson that I learned from her character specifically would be to embrace new experiences. Whether they are hard things or happy things, it is important to embrace every situation fully. In one of the scenes from the book Karana is struggling to stay alive and is scared because unknown people have arrived on the island, but she meets a woman that has come with the people, and they form a friendship. This scene was especially impactful for me because she found some joy in her hardship no matter how hard things were for her.
I have been through many struggles in my life, but also many amazing things, and Karana's character has taught me to find the joy in it all. She has taught me to embrace new experiences, how to approach hard things with composure and knowledge, and most of all she has taught me how to persevere no matter the circumstances.