Small as an Elephant

“Dang! The rental car was gone! He stood there, rooted as if his eyes just had to adjust to the light, had to let forms take shape, and the car would be there, right where she’d left it.”

The novel depicts Jack in third-person perspective but also as though his thoughts occur directly through the narrative. This narrative technique is called “free and indirect discourse.” This conveys a glimpse into Jack’s psyche throughout his experiences that helps reveal the reasons for his panic, confusion, shock, and loneliness.

“Slowly, slowly, she’d reached out her trunk again and touched his cheek. Jack remembered giggling, remembered feeling as if the elephant tent were the safest place in the world.”

Jack’s earliest memory is of meeting an elephant and feeling utterly safe and connected to her. For many years, Jack has believed that his mother is the one who took him to the circus to see the elephant, but in the end he learns that his grandmother actually took him. All along, Jack’s safest place was in his grandmother’s arms, looking at an elephant, and in the end, that’s exactly where he is again.

1.  “Jack was glad he had two cups to fill; it gave him more time to think.”

Jack spends much time thinking, planning, and wondering what to do next. He often makes decisions on a whim or based on a present need rather than considering the bigger picture, but at other times he gives himself the space to think about what he should do next. In addition, Jack hops between optimism and pessimism. In this moment, he takes advantage of an inconvenience to avoid being conspicuous.