The One And Only Ivan

In The One and Only Ivan, Ivan, the novel’s gorilla narrator has spent most of his life among humans and learned to understand their speech, perplexing words with “meanings within meanings” (34). He has also witnessed the way humans separate themselves from animals, literally caging wild creatures behind glass walls and bars. At the same time, Ivan knows that a sometimes “troubling” but undeniable bond exists between humans and animals, “a connection across time and space, linking [Ivan] to a race of ill-mannered clowns” (5). Throughout the novel, Ivan and his animal friends wrestle with the way humans mistreat and trap animals, while at the same time, the novel suggests that in many ways, humans and animals aren’t so different at all—and as a result, animals deserve to be treated with the same respect as humankind.

Every major animal character in The One and Only Ivan has a backstory that illustrates how cruel and senseless human treatment of animals can be. Ivan’s parents were murdered, while his sister died in the same captivity that brought Ivan to the US; Stella spent years in chains when she was part of a famous circus, and ended up with the foot injury that eventually kills her; Ruby’s family was killed by humans as well, and she was chained 23 hours a day in the circus she belonged to before she came to the US; and Bob was abandoned on the freeway with his siblings, who died. With these shared experiences, it’s no surprise that the animals distrust humans in general—as Bob says, they believe “rats have bigger hearts” (103) than people do. In addition to killing animals and taking them from their homes, humans seem determined to deny animals their freedom while simultaneously emphasizing the gulf between people and other species. Ivan has spent 27 years behind the walls of a cage that says to him: “[Y]ou are this and we are that and that is how it will always be” (14). The author suggests that this separation arises not only from cruelty, but fear: In a strong, potentially violent animal like Ivan, “humans see a test of themselves” (4), both a threat to their safety and a reminder of the savage, wild aspect of their own evolutionary heritage.

Even from the beginning of the novel, Ivan recognizes that despite the apparent gulf between animals and humans, these living creatures share quite a bit—though some humans share more with their fellow species than others. Ivan feels a special bond with Julia, a connection that serves to illustrate human-animal similarities throughout the book. Julia and Ivan, the gorilla says, “have a lot in common. We are both great apes, and we are both artists” (16). Julia also becomes a symbol of the good humans can do: She cares for all the animals at the mall, expressing concern over Stella’s sickness and Ruby’s mistreatment, and pays close enough attention to Ivan to realize he’s created a giant picture of Ruby at the zoo. She shares Ivan’s picture with the world and, when the animals have the opportunity to move to the zoo, is happy they’ll enjoy the “different life” they “deserve”(245). 

Julia isn’t the only example of humans who have more positive relationships with animals throughout the novel. Ruby tells a story of humans from a village in Africa who saved her when she fell into a hole full of water. She concludes that while “bad humans killed my family,” people also “saved me”—and “those humans were good” (105). Stella also tells the other animals about zoos where animals can live in natural habitats, with others of their own kind—places where “humans make amends” (64). Workers from one of these zoos arrive to care for Ivan and Ruby at the end of the novel, providing another example of humans who support and respect animals. Still, the zoo is “not a perfect place”—a “perfect place would not need walls” (186) separating animal and human—just as the relationship between humans and animals will never be completely ideal.

Ivan’s journey throughout The One and Only Ivan emphasizes the bond joining humans and animals, even if humans aren’t always willing to acknowledge it. At the opening of the novel, Ivan says most people “think gorillas don’t have imaginations. They think we don’t remember our pasts or ponder our futures” (20). In other words, most people don’t believe gorillas and other animals can experience meaningful lives, hopes and dreams and relationships; as a result, these humans do not treat animals with the respect that, the author suggests, these creatures truly deserve. However, as Ivan’s act of painting an image that saves himself and his friend shows, animals do imagine, dream, and feel for themselves and for each other—and in this, they are more like humans than most people would care to admit. In one of Julia’s and Ivan’s last interactions, before Ivan leaves his mall cage for the last time, the author aptly illustrates both the connection and separation between human and animal. As Julia and Ivan touch hands on either side of the glass, Ivan observes, “My hand is bigger, but they’re not so very different” (245).