Reading Response: Faithful Elephants

      Faithful Elephants is a story by Yukio Tsuchia that takes place in a zoo in World War 2. In this story,the zookeepers are forced to kill all dangerous animals in the zoo. This includes 3 elephants, in which become the main part of the story. This story consisted of many opportunities of symbolism involving the elephants and their role in this piece. Yukio Tsuchia really expresses how reality can be somewhat deceiving and underestimated. She shows this throughout the book by explaining the story of a zookeeper and 3 elephants who happen to be caught in the middle of a war.

      As I previously stated, the author expresses how people underestimate reality. In this case it's war. After the elephants' lifeless bodies are dragged outside, the zookeepers scream "Stop the war!" repeatedly. Almost as if they were gradually realizing the reality of this situation, and once the elephants are dead, they have their breaking point. This also brings up an opportunity of symbolism that has been constantly used. It was the use of 'cage' instead of any other word. For example, "He could only pace in front of the cage". I thought this was the author's way of using the elephants as a symbol of the zookeeper's hope, considering he was trapped and left with nothing to do in the situation. 

     The way the author used the elephant as a symbol of hope, played an important role in the story. Considering this piece is all about how reality can be underestimated, you soon begin to find out that, as a result, not only are the elephants' lives lost, but so is the zookeeper's hope for the war getting any better for the rest of them. For example, "As the days passed, the elephants became thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker." The author wouldn't have described their death so vividly unless it was a symbol. So, basically, the author showed the elephants getting weaker, when really the hope in the war was actually getting weaker, as well.

     In conclusion, the theme of this story is reality can be disappointing. The author does a great job of portraying this theme, with the symbolism, and the ability to relate to this story. I don't necessarily mean losing hope in a war, but it could also be as simple as losing direction because of a situation in someone's life.