The theme of independence emerges in the earliest pages of the book, when Robie believes that she has achieved independence by spending a few nights in Honolulu alone. She discovers she is not prepared for that kind of independence, only to have herself thrust into a much greater test of adulthood when she tries to escape her quasi-adulthood by getting on a flight home to Midway.

Robie’s inner conflict—her back-and-forth between longing to rest and give up and asserting the need to take care of herself—illustrates the development of this theme. As the days of her adventure go by, she gradually comes to terms with the fact that adulthood—the maturity required to take care of ourselves, and to manage our own affairs—does not arrive when it is convenient. Adulthood comes to Robie, like many others, all of a sudden, and she has to rise to the occasion or perish. 

Bodeen hints at this theme even before the book starts. The epigraph is a quote from George Orwell that states: “To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.”

Robie engages in a lot of inner dialogue about what sort of rules and propriety from her old life are applicable on the raft and on the island.