Response to Faithful Elephants, by Yukio Tsuchiya

     Faithful Elephants, by Yukio Tsuchiya is a short story showing the terribleness of war and how sometimes you are forced to do things that you are repugnant against. It is a melancholy story teaching a lesson about the things that can happen as a result of a war. The story takes place in the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, and is about how to zoo is commanded to, by the army to kill all the animals. The story focuses on three elephants John, Tonky, and Wanly. They are starved to death because the army is scared of what will happen if they get loose.
     As a result of Japan being at war, the zoo is ordered to kill all the animals so they don't get loose and run wild in the city. At the time Japan is being bombed. Yukio writes "Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day and night, like falling rain." He compares bombs to falling rain to give the reader an idea of how many bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day. The bombs were the reason that the animals had to be killed because the army was concerned for the people's safety. If the animals got loose then they would be in danger. The author also has the zookeepers say "Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!" As the zookeepers say this, they raise their fists to the sky as if to imply their sorrow towards the elephants and their resentment of the ongoing war. The zookeepers realize that if there wasn't a war happening then all the animals would be alive including John, Tonky, and Wanly. This short story really shows what effects a war can have on not only people, but also animals.
      In this short story, the author, Yukio Tsuchiya really focuses in on these three elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly and how they because it's the only way to kill them. At first, the zookeepers try to poison John by giving him poison potatoes. However, John is clever and only eats the good potatoes. The author writes "He ate the good potatoes, but each time he brought a poisoned potato to his mouth with his trunk, he threw it to the ground, kerplunk." This shows that John knows that he is trying to be poisoned and he refuses to give in. He's clever and has good spirit. The author describes Tonky and Wanly as sweet and loving, he says "These two had always gazed at people with loving eyes. They were sweet and gentlehearted." I think that yukio did this to tell the reader that they weren't just elephants, they were living animals like people and they could feel. Tonky and Wanly do their Banzai trick in an attempt to get food from the man who once gave them food. The trainer gave them food and everyone pretended not to see what he did because in Yukio's words "But everyone was hoping and praying that if the elephants could survive only one more day, the war might be over and the elephants would be saved." The zookeepers never gave up hope. They kept on hoping that the war would end so that the elephants could live. The elephants died doing their banzai trick. The author described it like"Both died leaning against the bars of the cage with their trunks stretched high in the air, still trying to do their banzai trick for the people who once fed them." The elephants died with hope and trying to get food. They never gave up. They always had faith even when they knew it was over. I think that this shows that war can take down even the biggest of the pack.
     Faithful elephants gives the reader a lesson about the terribleness of war and that sometimes you are forced to do things that you don't want to do. An example was the zookeepers had to kill the animals so that they didn't escape. I like that the elephants always had faith, it says that you should never give up no matter how hopeless it seems.