Theme of "Faithful Elephants"

     The story Faithful Elephants is about a heartbreaking tale of the deaths of three elephants.During a time of war the government declared all dangerous animals to be killed.The author Yukio Tsuchiya links this to war and teaches the reader that war can cause tragic things outside of the battlefield.For example the deaths of all the innocent animals in the zoo.This along with the fact that trainers were forced to kill animals they loved especially the three elephants.

     All the "dangerous" animals were to be killed despite the fact that they had nothing wrong. Including the elephants. This along with how they were killed , is cruel and terrifying. They first injected poison into all the animals food this continued until John ,Tonky ,and Wanly (the three elephants) were to die . Then because their intelligence they were to have poison injected directly into their body. Still the elephants were to strong and their skin was hard so they were finally starved to death.

     The most tragic thing of all however was the fact that trainers had to kill their beloved animals with their own hands, especially the elephants." The zoo keepers wanted so much to keep Tonky and Wanly alive they thought of sending them to the zoo in Sendai." They still had to be put down however. The trainers were so sad and the author even stated that one trainer loved them like they were his children."He could only pace in front of the cage and moan"Oh Tonky oh Wanly". The trainers were soon so sad because of what they had done they had even refused to look at the cage. In a final attempt for food the elephants did their banzai trick for food and the trainer gave it to them begging them to eat it.The other trainers ignored it showing that they also cared for the elephants as well. This including ,how depressed the trainers were after the deaths of the elephants shows they loved the elephants. These actions show how they truly cared for the elephants and their agony because of the precautions of war.

     The story "The Faithful Elephants" through the tragic deaths of John, Tonky, and Wanly reveal to us even though not on the battle field tragic things happen . Many lives were lost including the lives of all the animals and the elephants. The setting was also a zoo showing how the effects of war reach farther than just the deaths of soldiers.