Faithful Elephants

The story Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchya takes place in Tokyo Japan during world war II at the Ueno zoo. Because of the war, any potentially harmful animals had to be killed by instructions of the military, incase of explosions that could set the animals free into the city. Among the many animals doomed to die, there were three elephants, Tonky, Wanly and John who had a strong bond with the trainers but never the less had to die. Throughout the story, symbolism is used to express emotion and set the tone of the story.

One example of symbolism is that in the story, the cherry blossoms are used to symbolize peace, hope and love. For example the author states, “He was still patting the tombstone tenderly as the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” This shows the love and the respect that people felt towards these elephants even long after their deaths. It also confirms the idea that the elephants are finally at peace.

Another example of symbolism is that in the story, the elephants are used to symbolize both the hardships and the victims of war. For example the author states, “Still clinging to the elephants, the zoo keepers raised their fists to the sky and implored, ‘stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!’” This shows how the elephants made people think about all the horrible sacrifices that were made for the war. It also shows how the death of these elephants reminded people of the many innocent deaths caused by the war.

Overall I enjoyed the story because it used symbolism to highlight emotion. Emotion played a big role in the story because it displays the characters attitudes to the situations presented. I also thought the author did a good job setting the tone of the story to fit the time period and the events were taking place at the time. I think that the symbolism greatly contributes to the tone of the story because it allows the emotions of the characters to emerge.