Tarek Kawser October 2 2013 809 Faithful Elephants Dying from starvation is something I don't want to experience. The pain, the suffering, and the struggle of not eating or drinking for 17 days is torture. I may not know what it feels like to be starved to death but I can say that, its not something we want. In the story “Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya is a story about 3 elephants that die without having water or anything to eat. In Tokyo, the war that is going on is the cause of this miserable incident. The trainers had to kill the animals, because if bombs hit the zoo than animals will go wild and cause a mess. So they had to kill the animals as a sacrifice to save the lives of others. The trainers were cornered and had no choice but to kill them. The theme of this story is, the war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and the trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. The war in Tokyo was so dangerous that if bombs hit the zoo than the animals would go wild. This created the killing of all animals living in Tokyo. The elephants, Tonky and Wanly were next on line after the death of John. These two elephants had always gazed at people with loving eyes. They were sweet and gentle-hearted. The trainers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly. The days went by and the elephants became thinner and thinner. These two elephants became weak and started to look like they were begging. Whenever the trainers passed by the elephants would stand up, tottering as they were begging. The elephants were very hungry and looked very depressing. Whenever the trainers passed by they would look down and walk away. This is one reason why I think the this is the theme. The war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. The military agents told the trainers to kill the animals so that the animals doesn't get wild. The military told them that if bombs hit the zoo than the animals will go wild. When the trainers stopped feeding Tonky and Wanly they were also suffering. They thought of them as there own children. The trainers would pace in front of the cage and moan, “You poor. Poor, pitful elephants!” This quote from the story shows us that the trainers aren't happy of what they are doing to the elephants. It shows us that they love and wish that what they are doing isn't real. When the elephants stood on there hind legs and lifted their front legs up as high as they could. They did the banzai trick and surely thought that there trainers would feed them. When the trainers saw the elephants, they couldn't stand any longer. They went and got food for the elephants but it was too late. All the other trainers acted like they didn't see what was going on. They pretended not to see but inside there minds and hearts were very happy. When they saw the elephants die they were very depressed. One of the trainers buried his head in his arms and cried. Others ran to the cage and they also burst into tears. This is another good example of why the war created a atmosphere in which the elephants and the trainers lives were very depressing and devastating. In conclusion the war that created this atmosphere was very depressing and devastating. The trainers had no choice but to kill the animals. They were forced to kill the animals because of the war. When reading this story I noticed how the author used details that made you feel there pain, there struggle, there suffering etc. What would you do when you were in there position.