Faithful Elephants

The story Faithful Elephants: a true story of Animals People, And War, by Yukio Tsuchiya is a beautiful story about three elephants living at the Ueno zoo in Tokyo. Japan is currently at war, and the government orders all animals in the zoo to be poisoned to death lest bombs drop on the zoo and the animals run wild through Tokyo. The first animals to be killed are the three beloved elephants: John, Tonky, and Wanly. Although this is a children’s book there are many symbols and deeper meanings. One example is the setting, which carries a much stronger meaning than just describing blue skies and cherry blossoms.

At the beginning of the story, the author describes a scene at the zoo: “The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the Ueno zoo their petals are falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the breeze. Beneath the cherry trees, crowds of people are pushing to enter the zoo on such a beautiful day.” In this excerpt of the story, there are two happy lively elephants performing outside the zoo. They are happy and lively.  I think that the elephants reflect the setting. The two details often coordinate, such as in this section where the day is beautiful and the elephants are jubilant. However, the setting isn’t always so upbeat and neither are the elephant’s conditions.

In a later part of the story the author describes the frightful setting of the war: “’The elephants are dead! They’re dead!’ screamed the zookeeper… Above them in the bright blue sky, the angry roar of enemy planes returned. Bombs began to drop on Tokyo once more.” In this section, the elephants have died after the zookeepers were forced to starve them. Just after they die, bombs are being dropped on Tokyo in a frightening war scene. The elephants reflect the setting similarly to before, as the war is sad and dire, and so is the elephant’s predicament.

The last part takes place at the elephant’s grave. The author describes the scene in a sad, but peaceful way: “With tears in his eyes, the zookeeper finished his story… He was still patting the tombstone tenderly are the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” This last excerpt is serene and calm just as the elephants that are ‘resting’ peacefully.

All in all, I think the setting is a symbol for the elephants. They seem to be closely intertwined, and very similar to each other. The elephants could also be reflecting the whole world currently in the story. The idea that the elephants reflect the world is a strong one. Because the zookeepers oppose the elephant’s death so immensely, it seems to me that they also oppose the state of the world right now (war) it has caused the whole nation, the whole world so much grief, it seems only natural that they would despise it.