Orphan Island

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Shoe Pile and the “Mama” Bracelet

When the children first arrive at the island, they’re required to get rid of their shoes and old clothes as part of the initiation process. The young kids will soon outgrow their current clothes anyway, and there’s a storehouse with uniforms in it on the island. The children don’t wear shoes, which allows their feet to grow strong and tough enough to walk barefoot on the island terrain. The pile of shoes symbolizes the sacrifice that the children make to be part of the group. They give up (for nine years or so) their former lives, which presumably took place in some sort of civilization or family, where they wore shoes and followed customs, rules, and laws dictated by adults. On the island, they follow island customs, some of which are dictated by nature and the physical setting, others by folklore passed down through the “generations” of children. The act of placing one’s shoes on the pile symbolizes the transition from one “world” to the other (the island). The pile itself is seen as a type of shrine, and it’s sacrilegious to dismantle it like Loo does. Even when the shoes’ previous owners depart the island, the shoes stay behind, symbolizing how each child who has lived there continues to be “part” of the island’s chain-like community even once they’re physically gone, having influenced the other kids, the setting, and the island folklore in lasting ways.

Unsurprisingly, some children—like Ess—want to keep their shoes because they’re used to wearing them or they have a sentimental attachment. For instance, in Ess’s case, her shoes either remind her of her mother or were given to her by her mother. Ess thus views putting her shoes on the pile as saying goodbye to the one thing that reminds her of home and “Mama.” Jinny compromises by allowing Ess to keep her shoelaces, which Jinny ties around Ess’s wrist as a bracelet. This appeases Ess, who continues wearing the bracelet for months to feel like “Mama” is there to protect and comfort her. The shoelace bracelet thus symbolizes her continued ties to the outside world, which serves as somewhat of a comfort. Ess reaches the point that she no longer “needs” this tie to the outside world, yet she can sense that Jinny “needs” a tie to the island, which she’ll soon have to leave. Ess then gives the bracelet to Jinny, showing how Ess has matured and is now ready to take care of her “big sister” figure who used to take care of her.

The Boat

Once a year, a small, green boat arrives at the island, carrying a single passenger: the island’s newest, youngest child. The current “Elder” is meant to leave on the same boat, which magically pilots itself to whatever unknown destination lies ahead for the Elder. The children refer to the days when the boat arrives as a “Change,” and the boat thus symbolizes both literal (physical) and figurative (emotional) change. When the children see it coming, they know it means someone is about to leave and someone else is about to arrive, which will shift the group dynamics and will also result in a goodbye. Just as change often brings unknown consequences, the boat is mysterious in many ways: The kids don’t know when exactly it will come, who controls it, how it works, what type of new person it’ll bring, or whether it takes the Elders to a better or worse place than the island. Still, the boat is inevitable: It comes each year (or so) like clockwork. It doesn’t really matter if it’s exactly a year or not because it always comes and everyone always must leave at around the same age, when they reach puberty. This shows that although change brings the unknown with it, people can at least count on one thing staying the same: Change will always keep occurring.

Jinny attempts to take fate into her own hands and prevent the changes that are supposed to occur in her life now that she’s becoming a teenager. To try to accomplish this, Jinny struggles to push the empty boat back into the water, but it doesn’t work, illustrating how she can’t delay change forever. However, she can temporarily delay the specific change of her leaving, simply by hauling the boat further up the beach. After Jinny avoids leaving, though, other changes immediately begin to occur: The clouds and sky change, it starts snowing, the winds change, the chickens lay fewer eggs, the kids catch fewer fish, and more. This shows that some types of change will occur no matter what, even though humans have some degree of influence over which changes come to fruition or how soon. Jinny ultimately decides that leaving is a better change than destroying the island for everyone, so she changes her mind and leaves after all.

Books and the Book Graveyard

One of the children’s main sources of education, entertainment, and connection to the outside world is the books on the island. Recognizing the importance of these books, the kids treat them with respect and keep them in a special building called the book cabin, similar to a library. The Elder reads a book aloud each night in a sort of ritual, and the others read alone as they please. Reading is one of the three required skills that an Elder must teach their “Care” (along with cooking and swimming). All of this demonstrates the great significance of books to the children’s “culture.” Books symbolize their connection to the outside world, as well as to the others who lived on the island before them and those who will live there after them. Over time, just as the kids’ connection to the outside world dwindles, so does their collection of books. Like any of the supplies tied to civilization beyond the island, books are never restocked; the children simply have a fixed number of books, and when a book becomes too worn out to read anymore, they bury it in the book graveyard. The island has no graveyard for people because, apparently (or at least to Jinny’s knowledge), no one has ever died on the island.

In addition to the books they bury, the book graveyard contains all the old books that Jinny (and the other kids who currently live on the island) never got a chance to read; they’ll never know what those books were or what they said. As such, the book graveyard symbolizes the mysteries that are, as yet, unknown to the children. Everything they know about the outside world is from the books they have, but this knowledge is increasingly limited because fewer and fewer books remain. Eventually, no books will be left at all, and only folklore will remain. The longer “Orphan Island” exists, the more severed its connection becomes with the outside world.