Elephant Run

Beyond the elephants’ role as characters within the story, they represent the strength that comes from practicing patience and respect. Elephants are powerful animals with the ability to commit great acts of destruction: “[T]he bulls are an entirely different story [...] You can rely on a bull, but you can never give him your complete trust. With little warning he will turn on you as quick and deadly as a cobra” (40). Despite their potential for destruction, the elephants in the novel do not align with other misuses of power that litter the plot. Instead, elephant taming is an act of patience and humility—an elephant will not harm a person who respects its physical and mental limitations and treats it with kindness and respect. Hilltop, who is the most skilled of all mahouts, is also a Buddhist monk with an inherent respect for all kinds of life. In this sense, elephants become a symbol of dignity and respect because they respond to those who share these values.