Reading Response: Faithful Elephants

               In Faithful Elephants, by Yukio Tsuchiya, World War II has burst forth in Japan. The Ueno zoo, in Tokyo has been ordered to kill all the dangerous animals residing there for safety precautions. These animals include three elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly. The zookeepers must suffer through killing these three faithful elephants. Throughout the story the symbolism and the setting are used to set the tone of fear or hope.

 In the story, symbolism plays a major part in communicating the emotions of the plot. For example, "the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at Ueno zoo. Their petals are falling in the soft to set the tone of breeze and in the sparkling sun." The cherry blossoms are the emotions/tone of the story, the quote suggests that it's peaceful and lovely; there is hope at this time. However, at the end of the story it says, "the cherry blossoms fell on the grave like snowflakes." Snow it cold, and can be hard, the tone is sad and full of fear. Additionally, "squeezing out what little strength they had left, Tonky and Wanly made their appeal. They stood on their hind legs and lifted their front legs up as high as they could. Then, raising their trunks high in the air, they did their banzai trick. Surely their friend would reward them with food and water as he used to." The banzai trick is a symbol of hope for the elephants. Although they are weak, they still have hope for food and for living. Without symbolism, the story wouldn't have the same affect on the reader emotionally.

  

Furthermore, setting also has grave importance to Faithful Elephants. The setting is also a tone setter.  For example, "the cherry blossoms are in full bloom at Ueno zoo." This tells the reader that the story is set in spring, and spring signifies rebirth and hope. Another example is, "Both died leaning against the bars of their cage with their trunks stretched high, still trying to do their banzai trick for the people who once fed them.” The cage is a symbol as well as the setting of these two elephants death. Although a cage is meant to restrain an animal and is sort of a fearful thing, the cage also gave a hint of hope. On the elephant’s last breath, they attempted to make others happy in this cage. The setting has importance to further elaborate the emotions of the event-taking place.

Finally, the setting and the symbolism are both important and are linked together. Many sentences in the story were tied together with symbolism and setting. Without the two, the sentiment wouldn't have been communicated properly, and it wouldn't have fit well. For example, "Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day and night, like falling rain." Tokyo is the victim of the falling bombs of death, fear and confusion.

Overall, throughout the story the symbolism and the setting are used to set the tone of fear of hope. Without these two aspects, the communication to elaborate the sentiment would not have been properly executed.