“Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya is a story that takes place during World War II in Tokyo. Bombs are dropping frequently everywhere and the military and the zookeepers of the Ueno Zoo started to worry about what would happen if a bomb landed on the zoo. The army orders for each of the animals of the zoo to be killed so that if a bomb drops they won’t escape and become a danger to the people of Tokyo. “Faithful Elephants” is a story of love death and loyalty that shows no matter how much you want to hold onto something, sometimes the best thing to do is accept when you can’t.
First of all, the zookeeper’s acceptance of what they have to do is directly a result of how much love they feel towards the elephants. In the story, the zookeepers and the elephants love each other to the end. Everything the zookeepers do is basically out of love. They want to send the animals away out of love, but they decide to keep them out of love. According to the story, “the elephants trainer loved them as if they were his own children.” When the elephants die, the elephant trainer “buried his head and cried, beating the desktop with his fist.” The story adds that everyone in the zoo “burst into tears, then stroked the elephants legs and trunks in sorrow.” Even though they don’t want to kill the elephants, they knew they had to, and they went through with it all the way till the elephants die. Their acceptance of the elephants’ death is brought on from love of the elephants.
Second, although it is hard for the zookeepers to accept the death of the elephants, they let the elephants die, believing it’s out of love for the elephants. The story takes place during World War II, and the zookeepers of the Ueno Zoo have to kill the animals by command of the army. The zookeepers accept that all the animals in the zoo have to be killed, and so “all of the lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and big snakes were poisoned to death.” The zookeepers had clearly accepted that all these animals had to die for the safety of Tokyo. If the animals escape, they could be a safety hazard to the citizens. They now have to kill the elephants, who they love so dearly. The elephants are described as “sweet and gentle-hearted.” They try to kill John quickly by poison, but it doesn’t work, and they “reluctantly” feel that the only option is to starve him to death. Even though they don’t want to do it, they know they have to, and they go through with it all the way till the elephant dies. The zookeepers love Tonky and Wanly even more than they love John. They thought about sending these elephants to another zoo, but they are worried that bombs could also fall on the other zoo. The zookeepers feel they have no choice. The story says, “Tonky and Wanly, too, were doomed to be killed at the Ueno Zoo.” Even though they don’t want to, the zookeepers stop feeding the elephants. They hate it, but they feel they have to. It’s very painful for them. The story says that the elephants’ trainer “could only pace in front of their cage and moan, ‘You poor, poor pitiful elephants.’” He’s so painfully trying not to feed the elephants, and even though he does give them food at one point, he and everyone else starve the animals to death. This shows that even though it is hard for some people to accept the death of these elephants and the love and loyalty these zookeepers felt lead them to the pain of the death. The only thing they can do is accept that the elephants will be gone, and it will probably be better for everyone.
Finally, the zookeepers in the story act out of loyalty to their country, and this means they have to accept that they must kill the elephants. It’s very hard for the zookeepers to let these animals go, but they are so devoted to their country that they feel it’s imperative to do whatever they are commanded to do. Following the orders of the country’s leaders leads to their forced acceptance of the elephants’ death. The zookeepers do the right thing for the safety of the people of Tokyo and for their country. If they kept the animals alive and bombs did hit the zoo, then the animals could get released and people could be harmed. They can’t hold on to the elephants, and they can’t even send the elephants somewhere else without feeling the elephants could be dangerous. The zookeepers are not sticking by the elephants side. They are slowly killing them, but it does take acceptance. It was not at all an act of loyalty to kill the elephants but the zookeepers felt as if they had no choice. The death of these loving creatures, or loyalty to the army.
I feel what the zookeepers do is very loyal to their country, and maybe to the zoo, but it isn’t loyal to the elephants. The zookeepers actually torture the elephants to death by starving them slowly over several weeks, making them suffer. “Their small, loving eyes began to look like round rubber balls in their drooping, shrunken faces.” After the elephants are unable to stand, and they’re lying on the ground, the zookeepers can’t stand it any longer and stay away from the elephants’ cage for two weeks, until they die. This is nothing like loyal, since the zookeepers stay away from what’s happening and away from their problems by not even looking at the elephants. This story caused me to think about what acceptance really means. The zookeepers of the Ueno zoo love the elephants a lot. The death of the elephants is painful for them but they realize that it is loving the elephants or being loyal to the country. The zookeepers accept that the elephants have to go. They hate it but by the end of the story, the zookeepers hastily discover that no matter where the elephants are, if they are dead or alive, they will always be loved and never forgotten.
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