When the Elephants Dance

Provide a close reading of any of the four embedded stories told in the Karangalan cellar. Research the folklore and myths of the Filipino culture and analyze how the story uses that indigenous culture.

The novel celebrates the Filipino character. Using each of the three narrators, define Holthe’s perception of the essential nature of the Filipino character. 

Research magic realism. Discuss the novel’s use of the genre. Assess what is gained (and lost) by the novel’s use of the fantastic, specifically the tension between the novel’s graphic realism as war fiction and its indulgence of magic in the stories told in the cellar. 

Discuss why the novel begins and ends with the narrative voice of young Alejandro. How does the novel chart the young boy’s emotional and spiritual growth? 

Review the Author’s Note. We know that the author never actually visited the Philippines and never lived through the Japanese occupation of the islands during World War II. What does the novel say about the power and reach of the imagination?

Each of the novel’s narrators has a defining moment—Alejandro at Fort McKinley; Isabelle at the hotel; and Domingo compelled to kill Nina. Using these moments, analyze how the novel defines honor.

Perhaps the novel’s most intriguing character is Feliciano, the Japanese sympathizer who saves Isabelle’s life. Yet he is not given his own narrative chapter and remains distant from the reader. Why? Prepare a character analysis of Feliciano using the novel’s title. 

Define what is meant by a civilian war. Use the people in the cellar to define the challenges and assess the strategies for survival as civilians in a war that does not respect boundaries.