Interpretation Of The Lone Woman Analysis

Scott O’Dell: Intentional Misinterpretation or Accidental Appropriation? She braves the wrath of nature, fighting both the world around her and the world inside of her; her brother is eaten alive by dogs, her father is killed before her eyes; she has to make the choice of abandoning her tribe’s traditions and living, or keeping them and dying. In Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, Karana is the fictional representation of the Lone Woman, who spends roughly twenty years isolated on San Nicolas Island after her tribe’s massacre. Yet, as precise as his writing is to his research, the question arises of whether or not O’Dell’s writing is accurate to reality. Due to sources with limited understanding and narrow minded perspectives, O’Dell’s …show more content…
Originating in the 1800-1900’s, O’Dell’s sources were limited to a western perspective and a one-sided view on the Lone Woman. These sources were the only ones available to him at the time of his writing, therefore, O’Dell’s depiction of the Lone Woman is also one-sided and limited. O’Dell’s entire caricature of the lone woman was based off of the written documentation of white men; no physical evidence was sifted through and used to determine the life of the Lone Woman until 2009. Because he was limited to sources from ignorant white men, O’Dell was unable to get an accurate portrayal of a Native American woman – more specifically, a Nicoleño woman. O’Dell’s sources are also heavily reliant on processual archaeology, the act of making a statement on an unknown culture based on the commonalities of other cultures around it, as in the Nicoleño people and the tribes that lived near them. A downfall to this would be trying to assume characteristics of Miami, Florida based off of surrounding states like Georgia and Alabama. Granted there may be a few accurate statements within the mix, …show more content…
However, by creating his version of the story, O’Dell had to sacrifice – and add – a certain number of details that changed the Lone Woman’s story tremendously. By altering the language, culture, and physical characteristics of the Lone Woman into a young island girl named Karana, he reduced the Lone Woman’s experience to only the faint essence of her ordeal, showing the world only a fraction of the truth. The liberties taken while writing drastically changed the outcome of the woman’s mental state, her views and beliefs, and the culture and traditions of the Nicoleño people. Although O’Dell’s “Karana” is true to the sources that he read, his sources had a narrow, one sided, western approach to a broad, multidimensional and non-western