The Elephant – Slawomir Mrozek

Genre- Contemporary realistic fiction

At the Surface level, ‘The Elephant’ is a simple story about how a small polish zoo attempts to cut
costs by fabricating an elephant, rather than adding real elephant to the Zoo’s collection. But at
another level, ‘The Elephant’ is Satirical allegory. This is aimed at the communist government that
controlled Poland at the time the story was written (1958).

Language: Contemporary
Technical device: Satirical allegory
Satire: Literary works those critics/ridicules human follies, institutions, government by depicting it in a
humorous, sarcastic, or scornful way. The purpose of satire is often to teach a lesson or encourage
change.

Or
A literary mode based on criticism of people and society through ridicule. The satirist aims to reduce
the practices attacked by laughing scornfully at them--and being witty enough to allow the reader to
laugh, also. Ridicule, irony, exaggeration, and several other techniques are almost always present. The
satirist may insert serious statements of value or desired behavior, but most often he relies on an
implicit moral code, understood by his audience and paid lip service by them. The satirist's goal is to
point out the hypocrisy of his target in the hope that either the target or the audience will return to a
real following of the code. Thus, satire is inescapably moral even when no explicit values are promoted
in the work, for the satirist works within the framework of a widely spread value system. Many of the
techniques of satire are devices of comparison, to show the similarity or contrast between two things. A
list of incongruous items, an oxymoron, metaphors, and so forth are examples

Allegory: An allegory is a simple story, such as a fable or parable, whose major purpose is to teach a
moral lesson. An allegory can always be read on two levels – one literal, the other symbolic. The
underlying meaning can be parallel to, but different from, the surface meaning.
Or
A figurative work in which a surface narrative carries a secondary, symbolic or metaphorical meaning.

Theme: Deception
Deception and its repercussions emerge as the central themes of the story, especially the conflict of
the state versus its people. The zoo is substandard in this communist society in which appearances
mean everything and in which major inadequacies are overlooked because they would, if articulated,
reflect badly on the bureaucracy governing the country.

Conflict: Man versus Man

Man versus State

Setting: Zoo in Poland

Point of View: The third-person omniscient narrative focuses on the ambitious and self-serving
director of the Zoological Gardens in a provincial Polish town.

Third Person Omniscient

This style is often frowned upon, and comes under fire from many writing style authorities. Nine times
out of ten at least, it's a liability to the book. But there are a few stories that must use this style and
come out better for it. Since these stories are few and far between, writers are encouraged to use
careful judgment, and avoid omniscient viewpoint unless it would add something extraordinary.

First, some definitions: third person omniscient is not to be confused with using multiple viewpoints. A
writer can have multiple viewpoints in a piece of fiction and can be writing in third person without using
third person omniscient. This is covered later on. Third person omniscient is an older narrative
style in which a single viewpoint contains all characters and perspectives.

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The key point to remember in using third person omniscient narration is consistency. Narrative shifts
shouldn't happen randomly; they should have a sense of order and rhythm that remains consistent
throughout the story.

SUMMARY
Surface level:
The story starts with a description of the zoo director. "He regards his animals simply as stepping
stones of his career. He is careless about the educational value of his establishment." Being in a
remote town the zoo is not funded and therefore was "lacking all the important animals". On the
anniversary of the liberation of Poland, the zoo was informed that it was receiving an elephant. The
staffs of the zoo were very happy but they were surprised that their director was preparing a plan for a
more economical elephant. The director had written a letter to the higher authority suggesting an
economical elephant made of rubber. Thus, money can be saved to buy a jet plane or to conserve
some church monuments. His letter was officially sanctioned and the ministry had approved the idea.
The director began the preparation of the rubber elephant.

The director, who has 3000 rabbits but no elephant, thinks the most important thing is his promotion in
his career. So he thinks it doesn’t matter what children are affected by their seeing a spurious
elephant. He orders the zoo keepers to blow air into a rubber elephant and to make it as if a real one.
He, who was indifferent to educational importance and cared about only his own career, planned to
make an elephant out of rubber instead of having a real elephant for saving the cost significantly. He
thought that they could fill it with air and place it behind the railings, and that nobody would notice it
was not real because elephants are sluggish animals.

Two keepers were assigned to blowing the huge rubber elephant really hard; however, they could not
make it big enough to look like a real elephant. They got exhausted and came up with an idea that
they can fill it with gas and they did. The zoo keepers regarded their duties in a purely bureaucratic
manner and do not examine the heart of the matter, but followed only the directives of their superior.

The elephant was placed with a big notice proclaimed: Particularly sluggish, next to the monkey’s cage
in front of a real rock. And the elephant hardly moved. A party of children from the local school came to
see the elephant. At the moment the teacher was explaining to the children how heavy an elephant is,
the rubber elephant filled with gas rose in the air and was blown away by a gust of wind disappearing
above the trees. Later the elephant was found in the nearby botanical garden being punctured by
landing on a cactus. The children who witnessed the scene turned into hooligans and no longer
believed in elephants.

Satirical allegory:
The story exposes the corrupt communist government and its officials in Poland. It reveals the struggle
between the citizens and the policies of communist regime. ‘The Elephant’ can be termed as a satire
on the follies of the communist government. It indirectly criticizes the drawbacks of communism and
the policies implemented in Poland after the Second World War

It is an allegory because each character in the story symbolizes something. The elephant is fabricated
by the directors of the Zoo symbolizes the manifesto of the communist government. Like the elephant
the communist government is also beautiful when seen from outside with its almost utopian principles
to provide everyone equality. But deep within the politicians themselves are corrupt and lead to the
destruction of the state. These officials feel that they could fool the public by replicating the “real
thing” but in reality they are only making fool out of themselves.

Communism has brought only atrocities and corruption into Poland. It hasn’t brought relief to the
majority as promised, nor has it ended oppression as purposed. The metaphorical symbol in the story
symbols in the story gives us clear image of the leaders holding the absolute monopoly in power and
thus using forces to keep it concealed. The underlying meaning attached to the different abnormal
animals in the zoo could be a way to symbolize their acts – the short necked giraffe can be the officials
cut off from seeing what exactly the communist politicians were up to. The badgers, who have lost
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their burrows, could be the officials who have lost their post for going against their leaders. The
whistlers could be the revolutionist or the critics, who wanted to bring out the truth of the politicians
but reluctantly whistled, because of their lives at stake. These short comings shouldn’t have been
allowed especially as the zoo was often visited by school children.

The communist manifesto looks attractive and magnificent from outside, the way it is designed but
internally it is hallow just like the rubber elephant which was inflated with air. The zoo represents the
country, animals, and the defective policies of the government. The director represents the corrupt
officials who are manipulative, self centered and least bothered about the well-being, sentiments and
feelings of the innocent people. They were selfish and concerned about their own career rather than
the welfare of the state.

The two keepers represent the lower working class. These innocent people have to carry out their
duties according to the whims and fancies of the higher officials; they were also involved in the
corruption and manipulation of the government policies.

The children represent the innocent citizens who have a lot of faith in the government as per the
promises made in the communist manifesto. However, when they know the reality and motives of the
government they are enraged, become violent and turn against the government.

Study questions:

 What is a satire?
 What is an allegory?
 What is the setting of the story?
 Who are the characters in the story?
 What is the point of view?
 Why do they create the fake elephant?
 What do you think it means that is filled with gas?
 What happens to the elephant?
 What do you think the author is criticizing?
 What do you think the elephant stands for?
 What could it stand for in Bhutan? In other countries?
 Why was the elephant important for the zoo?
 What happened to the elephant in the end of the story?
 Explain the literal and symbolic meanings of the short story.
 Examine the story as a satirical allegory.
 Whom do you think the author is criticizing in the story?
 Why did the Director and the authorities plan a fake elephant?
 Give the plot summary of “The Elephant” in your own words.

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