Faithful Elephants

       The story Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya takes place in Japan, in the Ueno Zoo. The story of three elephants during World War II is told to the author by a zoo employee in front of the elephant's tombstone. The elephants, Tonky, Wanly, and John, were ordered to be killed along with all of the other large and dangerous animals at the zoo, to ensure that the city would be safe if the animals ever got loose after bombs were dropped.
       The plot and actions of the characters contribute to one of the overall themes  that history is made up of good and bad decisions, with some overlaps and some so gray that you can't really tell. The most important example is the main conflict in the story, the decision to kill the elephants. I was shocked and horrified, like most people, at the inhumane way they were to carry it out. But then I realized that the reason to do so seemed valid, for both the elephants and the residents of the city. It would be safer for the people and less confusing, stressful and terrifying for the elephants. 
       The actions of the zookeeper that broke down and fed Tonky and Wanly was also an example of good and bad meshed together. In the story, it said that he was "sobbing, and clung to their thin legs. 'Eat your food! Please drink. Drink your water!'". At the time the trainer seemed like a saint and the hero of the story, but then you realized that the elephants still had to die, and all he did was give them hope and a few more long, painful days.
       The setting details in Faithful Elephants are also symbolic of the theme. In the story, the cherry blossoms are blooming in the zoo, their petals "falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the sun". This idea of things falling is repeated throughout the story, like when the employee telling the story says the "bombs were dropped on Tokyo everyday and night, like falling rain". In this sentence, both bombs and rain fall, but they are also quite different. Bombs would definitely be classified in the "bad" category, but what about rain? Rain often dampens the mood in a story and makes things gray and depressing, but it is also what keeps us alive. By saying this sentence, the employee is taking two contrasting ideas, life and death, and saying that their not so different after all. 
       Another example of this is when the author describes the scene at the end of the story, saying that "the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes". Cherry blossoms seem "good", but when the fall, it means the flowers are reaching the end of their peak, almost dead. Snow is cold and deadly, but it is also eerily and silently beautiful. This is an example of when the "good" and the "bad" come together to create something you can't exactly classify.
       This is how history, and life in general, is made up -- out of events that have both positive and negative aspects, and you can't always tell which. The elephants died, and we won't ever know if it was in vain.