| Quote #7 I often thought of Tutok, but on these days especially I would look off into the north and wish that she were here to see me. I could hear her talking in her strange language and I would make up things to say to her and things for her to say to me. (23.18) |
Communication is the key to the friendship between Karana and Tutok.
| Quote #8 Since night had fallen and it was too dark for me to carry Rontu back, I stayed there. I sat beside him through the night and talked to him. (25.10) |
The best way Karana can care for Rontu as he passes away is to talk to him.
| Quote #9 I came to the mound where my ancestors had sometimes camped in the summer. I thought of them and of the happy times spent in my house on the headland, of my canoe lying unfinished beside the trail. I thought of many things, but stronger was the wish to be where people lived, to hear their voices and their laughter. (28.19) |
Karana's loneliness gets the best of her. She wants to leave the island to be with people – to "hear their voices and their laughter."