Island Of The Blue Dolphins’ Subversionof The Desert Island Fiction Tradition

Scott O’Dell is one of the most important children’s historical novelists in America. In 1960, he published his first children literature work--- Island of the Blue Dolphins. Since its publication, it has won many awards including Hans Christian Anderson Award and The Newbery Medal for Best Children’s book which are the highest accolade of children’s literature award, and established the writer in the world children literature.This thesis studies Island of the Blue Dolphins as the desert island fiction. It attempts to show how the novel subverts the tradition of desert island fiction from the angle of the eco-feminism. The basic characteristic of desert island literature lies in that the writers set the deserted island as the background of the story and make the protagonists show the human society, the human nature, the human being and the nature which the writers want to express in the special background. Desert island fiction is the work of desert island literature in the form of novel. Through comparing Island of the Blue Dolphins with other representative works of desert island fiction from the angle of eco-feminism, the study shows that the novel subverts the traditions of desert island fiction by challenging man’s authority, weakening anthropocentrism and construction of eco-feminism consciousness.The beginning of this thesis is the introduction. It mainly introduces the life of the writer of Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell, some characteristics of desert island literature and some domestic and foreign scholars’ study about the novel. In the following parts, this thesis shows that this novel challenges man’s authority by exploring the changes of female image and female roles in Island of the Blue Dolphins and explaining that females are not “ other” and “the weak”. It shows that this novel weakens anthropocentrism by exploring the harmonious and united relation between human beings and the nature showed in Island of the Blue Dolphins. It shows the construction of the protagonist’s eco-feminism consciousness by the transformation of Karana’s characters and ideas.Finally, we come to a conclusion that Island of the Blue Dolphins subverts the traditions of the desert island fiction by comparing and analyzing Island of the Blue Dolphins and other representative works of desert island fiction from the angle of eco-feminism. It can also make readers know O’Dell’s eco-feminism consciousness expressed in Island of the Blue Dolphins. This is very important to the development of our modern society.