Zia

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, illness, death, and child abuse. 

“Mission Santa Barbara, where the padres were taking us, was near the Island of the Blue Dolphins. People, after my mother died, told me about my aunt who lived on this island and that she had lived there for many years alone.”

This passage introduces Zia’s primary goal throughout the narrative—reuniting with Karana. Zia’s childhood is marked by loss as she has lost her mother and remains disconnected from her homeland. The introduction of Karana’s character links the novel with its predecessor, The Island of the Blue Dolphins, emphasizing her long isolation on the island.

“But because of what I had been told I had grown up with my mind set upon finding Karana. It was a silent promise I had made to myself. This was why I went to the Mission Santa Barbara with Father Vicente and why I stayed there when I was homesick for the mountains. It was the only way I could ever hope to find Karana, who was the last of my kin, except for Mando.”

O’Dell emphasizes Zia’s fixation on finding Karana—a goal that defines her early childhood and provides the impetus for her relocation to the Mission—as emblematic of The Struggle for Cultural Preservation and Survival. Because Karana is Zia’s last surviving relative, she symbolizes Zia’s only bond with her ancestral past. Vowing to accomplish this “silent promise,” Zia demonstrates her determination to remain connected to her Indigenous roots.

“If you were a sailor. If you had experience on the sea, even on the water near our islands, I would say nothing. But you are going into a treacherous world of winds and seas that can be very rough in a very small boat.”

Captain Nidever’s warning to Zia and Mando about traveling alone to the Island of the Blue Dolphins foreshadows their abduction by the white whale hunters and their subjugation on the ship. O’Dell positions the journey itself as a metaphor—just as they navigate the treacherous ocean, the children also navigate a colonial world where their lives as Indigenous children are in constant danger.