Faithful Elephants, a Reading Response

I will warn you in advance, even though this is a children's book, it is not for children. “Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War" has a zoo called the Ueno zoo. In Japan a war broke out, leaving 3 elephants that starved to death. The war left the zookeepers afraid that if a bomb hit and the cages were broken they would have animals rampaging the streets. All the animals were doomed to be killed. All the animals in the zoo except the elephants were poisoned to death. Finally it came time for the elephants to die. John, the first of the 3, outsmarted the zookeepers. He did not eat the poisoned potatoes and his skin was too tough to inject the poison directly, so he was starved to death. Then Tonky and Wanly starved to death as well leaving the torn a part elephant trainer alone. Even though it's hard, you have to let go of the things you love.

The elephant trainer is torn apart by what he had to watch. He has to let his elephants die. He stopped walking by their cage because he had no courage to see them. "All this while, the elephant's trainer loved them as if they were his own children." The elephant trainer had trained with his elephants for a long time, he should and does love them very much. He grows an even greater connection with the elephants as he realizes they have to die, but he must let go eventually.

Tonky and Wanly get one more chance. The elephant trainer broke the rules. The elephant's had gathered enough strength to do one of their tricks (the "banzai trick"). The trainer was so heartbroken, seeing a trick they had done billions of times, "he carried food and pails of water to them and threw it at their feet." Because of this it seems as though even though we think the story is about all the elephants, it's really only about Tonky and Wanly. They get to live a little longer because the elephant trainer was so sympathetic. John was the first to die, then two together. Also, John didn't have his death explained in as much detail, he just had the details of the ways the zookeepers tried to kill him, then the author just said, he died. Even though this is a happy point in the book, it just gives the trainer more time to look at their saddened faces. He has to let go of the things he loves.

The elephant trainer grew stronger connections with John, Tonky and Wanly. These elephants were killed because of a war. But you must let things go, especially the ones you love. It seemed like the elephant trainer died too. But you must let things go, especially the ones you love. "The zookeepers raised their fists into the sky and implored, 'Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!"