Orphan Island

The new child who arrives on the boat the day that Deen leaves, Ess is entrusted to Jinny as her Care, and the two share a cabin until Jinny leaves. Jinny is also responsible for protecting Ess and for teaching her everything she needs to know to survive on the island. Ess is around three or four years old and is generally kind, affectionate, friendly, and curious. She’s cooperative compared to some kids her age, like Loo, but she’s still very young and occasionally cries or throws tantrums. Ess comes to love Jinny like a big sister or even a sort of parental figure, although she understands that Jinny isn’t her mother. Likewise, Jinny loves Ess like a younger sister. She has a special love and care for Ess that she doesn’t have toward the other kids on the island. Jinny believes for most of the novel that she has a unique responsibility toward Ess that trumps her responsibility toward all the others. This logic drives her initial decision to stay after the boat arrives; this way, she can continue to be there for Ess, who “needs” her.

Jinny struggles to fulfill her mission as Ess’s Elder. As Joon observes, Jinny tries to protect Ess but fails to teach Ess how to protect herself once Jinny’s gone. In addition, Jinny often hesitates to push Ess to grow, allowing the younger girl to play in the water instead of learning to swim or to stare at pictures instead of learning to read. Unintentionally, Jinny inhibits Ess’s growth and progress by coddling her. She’s trying to do what’s best for Ess, but this isn’t actually what’s best. In contrast, others teach Ess how to complete tasks on her own or keep herself safe, which makes Ess feel accomplished, helpful, and part of the group. She develops friendships with others besides Jinny, causing Jinny to feel envious until she finally realizes that it’s okay for all children in the group to be friends with each other and be responsible for one another. In the end, Jinny accepts that she has duties toward not just Ess but all the other kids, most notably Loo, who might die if Jinny doesn’t take him to get medicine from the outside world. Furthermore, Ess doesn’t “need” Jinny to stay around forever because the remaining children will be there to help her.

Jinny’s best friend, Deen, leaves in the boat at the beginning of the novel. Although Jinny begs Deen to break the rules and stay, he refuses, claiming that his time has come, he’s ready to go, and he wants to learn what lies ahead for him beyond the island that he’s spent his whole (memorable) life on. Deen is physically absent for most of the novel, but Jinny continuously recalls memories of him, including his Elder Lessons, to guide her behavior in the present. Jinny was offended that Deen was able to leave so “easily” but never questions the strength of their friendship. Deen serves as a guiding light for her, ultimately allowing her to gain the courage to leave the island herself.

Although Deen gave Jinny many Elder Lessons about how to look after her Care and ensure the well-being of others on the island, he didn’t give her advice for every single situation—or if he did, she can no longer remember it all. After Loo appears as well, Jinny learns that not all children are the same—some throw tantrums over the same things others are excited about. This helps Jinny realize that maybe Deen didn’t know everything either and that he may have had the same issues with Sam that she has with Ess and Loo. She reasons that Deen was not so much older or wiser than she was after all, and if he was ready to leave, maybe she is too. When she does leave, she still wonders if she’ll see Deen again on the other side and if, together, they can find out some answers and also save Loo’s life. Deen didn’t abandon her after all but simply moved forward on the path to adulthood, which she also must do now out of duty, whether she wants to or not, because this is what’s best for everyone else.

The second-oldest child on the island, Ben is one year younger than Jinny. As such, when Jinny becomes Elder, she’s supposed to give Ben Elder Lessons about how to lead the group once she’s gone, as well as about how to take care of a young child. Ben is responsible, level-headed, kind, and thoughtful. He’s eager to learn how to be a good Elder because he feels a deep sense of responsibility to the group. Already, as the Elder-in-training, he takes on just as many responsibilities as Jinny (if not more) and often helps pick up slack when Jinny fails or needs assistance. She often goes to Ben for advice and expects him to help or fill in for her without question, even when he’s already busy doing other things like cooking for everyone. Meanwhile, Jinny neglects her duty to teach Ben, thinking she has her hands full enough already with Ess. Whenever he approaches her asking for lessons, she claims there’s nothing to teach or that Ben will be able to figure it all out on his own—despite the fact that Jinny relies heavily on the information she can remember Deen telling her and also feels disappointed whenever she encounters a new situation with Ess that she didn’t receive (or can’t recall) a lesson about.

At a certain point, Ben gives up hope that Jinny will teach him anything or do the right thing by anyone else. Like Deen, Ben believes that there’s a good reason behind each of the island’s rules, and he disagrees with Jinny’s decision to stay once her boat arrives. However, Ben is too peaceful to force her to leave or openly contradict her. He still views her as his Elder and, while she’s on the island, he bends to her will somewhat. Nevertheless, he continually reminds her that maybe leaving is the best option and even her duty in order to ensure the well-being of the others. Like Joon, Ben is a good team player because he has fluid ego boundaries and is thus more committed to the needs of the group than his individual needs. This is an important quality that Jinny learns from Ben and others: Even though she may sometimes feel like falling apart mentally and taking time alone to do nothing, she can’t just do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, because it’s not fair to the others, who then have to pick up the slack. Similarly, she can’t stay on the island just because she’s afraid of what lies beyond it or of leaving her friends because her staying on the island is causing all the food to disappear and dangerous things like rattlesnakes and snow to appear.

One year younger than Ben, Joon is the closest girl on the island to Jinny’s own age (the boat always alternates, bringing a boy one year and a girl the next). Despite their relative closeness in age, Jinny struggles to bond with Joon the way she bonded with Deen or even Ben because Joon is somewhat cold and rational—she’s not mean, but she’s straightforward and doesn’t seem to experience petty or distracting emotions like most children do, at least sometimes. However, Jinny respects Joon and values her opinion. Joon is physically quick and agile, sometimes leading the group on expeditions or completing tasks faster than others can. She’s highly resourceful and, like Ben, is generally calm and clear-headed and seems to know what to do in dangerous or unknown situations. Joon always gets things done and is an important contributor to the team—but, also like Ben, despite her intelligence, rationality, and resourcefulness, she doesn’t question the rules like Jinny does but instead assumes that they must be in place for good reason. Joon has fluid ego boundaries, viewing herself primarily as part of a group or world rather than an individual fighting against anyone or anything.

Jinny sometimes envies Joon’s relative ease with everything—teaching Ess to swim and read, accepting reality without question, and facing hardships without panicking. However, Joon also helps Jinny in hugely beneficial ways, continually earning her gratitude and respect, if also a twinge of envy. In addition to Deen and Ben, Joon gives Jinny the courage, strength, and integrity she needs in order to make the best decision for everyone. Although American literature often celebrates individuality, Orphan Island suggests that individuals are really part of something larger (their family, society, the world, or the universe) and need to learn to work in concert with these larger forces rather than fight against them.

A younger girl, Evie is the character whom Jinny struggles the most to get along with. Eevie often makes comments that seem negative, rude, or defiant, whereas most others in the group avoid conflict and don’t argue much with each other. Sometimes, Eevie is funny, and she’s quite intelligent, easily pointing out flaws in others’ reasoning. In these ways, she resembles Jinny, but the two butt heads because both of them tend to question the rules and struggle to understand why they’ve been put on the island and why they must leave one day. After putting up with Eevie’s comments for a long time, Jinny finally snaps at her, demanding to know why she’s always negative, rude, and making things hard for others. Eevie finally confesses that she finds it difficult to be happy and to just accept things as they are—and when she sees how easily others do, she feels even worse.

Although Eevie and Jinny never fully reconcile verbally, they offer each other brief apologies, which each girl accepts. When Jinny finally decides to leave, there’s no time to say goodbye to each child individually, but she lingers a bit longer with Eevie than with most others, taking time to recognize that the two reached peace with each other even if their time together wasn’t always easy. Although Jinny doesn’t go so far as to consciously view Eevie as being similar to herself, she does seem to understand her much better once she realizes the forces behind Eevie’s negativity, which is really just an outlet for her unhappiness and confusion.

The youngest on the island until Ess arrives, Sam was Deen’s Care and thus spent a lot of time with Deen and Jinny the year before Deen left. Similar to Ess, Sam is generally kind, cooperative, gentle, and quiet. Naturally, when he arrived on the island, he was full of questions, but he didn’t throw a lot of tantrums like Loo does. As the novel starts, Sam is one year older than the new girl, Ess, and is saying goodbye to his Elder, Deen. With Deen gone, Sam looks up to Jinny, but she doesn’t quite realize the extent to which he values her until later in the book.

At the beginning, Jinny often envies Sam because of his closeness with Deen and, later, Ess. She notices Sam and Ess interacting in the same ways that she and Deen used to, which makes her feel like Ess doesn’t “need” her to stay. Jinny can barely remember her own Elder and doesn’t want Ess to forget her. However, she’s encouraged by how well Sam remembers Deen and claims he’ll always remember him. In addition, she’s touched by how Sam viewed himself, Dean, and Jinny as a “team.” Whereas before, Jinny felt a responsibility only toward certain members of the group (especially Ess), she later realizes that she has value to all the others, not just her designated Care, and needs to do what’s best for everyone as a whole, not just what seems best for Ess. Sam also helps Jinny learn that, just like he learned to turn to others when Deen left, Ess will also be able to survive without Jinny there.

A year younger than Ess, Loo arrives in the boat when it’s Jinny’s time to leave. Jinny resents Loo initially because his showing up means she’s supposed to leave, which she doesn’t want to do. Even though it’s not his fault that someone sent him to the island, she dislikes him. Loo is meant to be Ben’s Care. However, Jinny doesn’t leave and instead takes both Ess and Loo back to her cabin, becoming Elder to two Cares. Although she later regrets this and tries to pass Loo off to Ben, by this point, Ben’s no longer interested. Once Jinny gets to know Loo, she dislikes him even more because he’s much more of a handful than Ess was. Loo is noisy, inexhaustible, and mischievous, often throwing tantrums, refusing to eat what others eat, making messes, disobeying Jinny, and even torturing animals. When Loo pulls a limb off a starfish, Jinny finally snaps and slaps him in the face. Although she still views his actions as reprehensible, Jinny realizes that slapping him wasn’t helpful and tries to adjust her attitude toward both her Cares as well as the other kids.

When Jinny stays on the island too long, she apparently causes new dangers to appear, including rattlesnakes, one of which bites Loo. Jinny doesn’t love Loo the same way she loves Ess, but she ultimately still feels the same responsibility toward him. By choosing to stay, Jinny takes Loo on as an additional care and also causes him to get poisoned by a life-threatening snake. Therefore, she decides it’s her duty to try to save him (as well as the others) by leaving. She hopes to find medicine for Loo and also hopes that the island will go back to normal, ensuring the safety of the remaining children. Through Loo, Jinny learns that she has responsibilities toward all others, not just herself or Ess, and that some things are more important than what she wants or whom she likes best.