“ ‘ But everyone everyone was hopingand praying that is the
elephants could survive only one or more day, the war might be over and the
elephants would be save.’ ”
-Faithful Elephants
In the
evocative story Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya, it tells a tale
about a zoo in Tokyo during a war were bombs are being frequently dropped. Just
in case the bombs dropped on the zoo, broke the cages, and have the animals
rampage through the city, they would have to put large, harmful, animals down
to protect the people of Tokyo. These animals included three beloved elephants
named Tonky, Wanly and John. I feel that a strong theme in this story is love.
Love can be
found at any page of this book. It can be found when the zookeepers finally
feed Tonky and Wanly after they have starved the elephant for a great amount of
time. The zookeeper hugs their legs and tries to get them to eat. I think the
only reason he did it was because he loved them. The author is saying that love
means never giving up. Love can also be found when in the story it says, “…the
elephant trainer loved them as if they were his only children.” When people say
this, it truly means something special. When you have children, all you can do
is love them, and it’s unconditional. So, putting them down must have been
really hard. You can also find love at the end when the elephants are about to
pass; the zookeepers end up staying away from their cages. See, when you love
someone, you can’t see them in pain so clearly the zookeepers loved Tonky and
Wanly because they couldn’t bear to see them suffer.
I think
this is important because I can relate to having a relationship with an animal that
is unconditional. Recently my tortoise named Button, who was living at my dad’s
house, fell on her back and stayed there for two days. Without food, water,
range of motion or sleep, this posed a possible threat to her life. My dad, who
is a truck driver, leaves her alone for days and sometimes weeks at a time. And
after that, he finally told me he could no longer take care of her because
Button was not getting the care she needed. I was shown two options. Give her back
to the shelter she came from two and a half years earlier or bring her over to
my mom’s house (where I live full time). My mother sat me down and told me that
she would not take care of her. I begged and cried and fought with my mom about
keeping her. Eventually, she allowed her to stay if I took care of her. For a
lazy thirteen year old that was a lot of pressure. But I couldn’t let Button waist
away, without daily kisses and weekly baths, in a shelter. So, she was now my
problem. Even though I forgot to feed her a couple times and she might have
pooped on my hands more then once I still loved her. This relates to the
zookeepers and the elephants because like me and Button they loved the
elephants like their own children and tried so hard to fight to keep them just
like I did with Button.
I guess
what I’m trying to say is that love is the theme in Faithful Elephants because
of the relationship between the elephants and the zookeepers. Just like me, I
believe everyone’s life should be filled with love from animals just like me
and Button and the zookeepers and Tanky and Wanly. And I don’t believe anyone should live without
that special, sweet, and beautiful feeling. Should they?
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