Faithful Elephants Reading Response

“Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya begins on a cheerful day in Tokyo at the Ueno Zoo, and ends with a sad and depressing picture. The story takes the reader back to the zoo during World War II, where three devoted elephants must be killed by the trainers for fear that bombs will drop and set them loose from their cages. As the story continues, the bond between the zookeepers and the elephants grows stronger, and killing the elephants becomes harder. The story ends in love, loss, and defiance. In the short story “Faithful Elephants,” the setting descriptions symbolize important ideas and themes.

In the very beginning of the story, the main character, who remains unknown throughout, comes upon a cherry blossom tree with a zookeeper under it. The zookeeper is stroking a gravestone. Even at the beginning, it is clear that the cherry blossoms symbolize something important. “The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the Ueno Zoo. Their petals are falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the sun.” The setting description here gives you the picture of a beautiful, peaceful day, with many possibilities for an amazing story. It symbolizes the mood of the character at the beginning. They are serene and open to anything. This differs greatly from his mood at end of the story, once they have heard the tale of the three elephants. The cherry blossoms pop up here again, to show their feelings. “He was still patting the gravestone tenderly as the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” The story ends in the same setting, but here it is described differently. The cherry blossoms are now falling on the grave, symbolizing the mood of grief and loss. The blossoms are also being compared to snowflakes, showing the cold and sullen feelings of the character.

Throughout the tale, there are numerous mentions of the sky and the clouds. It came to my attention that these showed deeper meaning in the story as well. Towards the end of the story, when it is finally time for the elephants to die, the sky is mentioned in a meaningful way. “At last, Tonky and Wanly could no longer move. The just lay on their sides, hardly able to see the white clouds floating in the sky over the zoo.” The sky was clear during the time that the elephants were dying, symbolizing the release of the elephants from their grip on life. The bright and beautiful sky shows that Tonky and Wanly have peacefully decided to let go. The sky was mentioned again at the end of the story, but it showed something completely different.  Just as the elephants die, the zookeepers are reminded of the war. “Above them, in the bright blue sky, the angry roar of enemy planes returned.”  This setting description shows that a once peaceful place, such as the sky, or the zoo, was ruined by the war. The amazing and bright sky is now blackened by bombs because of the war, just as the zoo is now filled with sorrow and death because of it.

“Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya is a meaningful story full of symbolism and defined word choice. It tells the story of three elephants, faithful to one zoo, and what happens when they must be killed. The death of the elephants tests the zookeepers and their views on the war. Symbolism in this story is shown through the cherry blossoms at the beginning and end of the story, showing the mood of the character and of the reader. The sky and clouds also showed meaning, but in different ways. This story clearly uses setting descriptions to symbolize ideas.