The Magician's Elephant

“Where she was, was not where she should be. Where she was, was not where she belonged.”

The elephant pithily expresses the novel’s emphasis on the importance of belonging. The place where one is known and loved and feels connected is where one belongs. The elephant is one of several characters who must discover or return to where they truly belong.

“And so, no matter what words he may have spoken to the star that occasionally appeared above him, the magician could summon no true regret for what he had done.”

The magician, unhappy with his life, is thrilled that he spectacularly conjured the elephant. Though ordered to send the elephant home, he does not truly want to, and his attempt fails. It takes the loneliness of prison to make the magician realize what he wants in life: human connection, rather than fame and self-satisfaction.

“What if everything was to be irrevocably, undeniably changed by the elephant’s arrival?”

This one of Leo Matienne’s “what if” questions is prescient: The elephant’s arrival does impact the lives of most of the citizens of Baltese in some way—whether in a new dance, a new pastry, hopes for making wishes come true, or deeper life changes like those of Peter, Adele, Leo Matienne, and Gloria. Leo Matienne’s speculative, hopeful questioning reflects the novel’s theme of believing in and achieving the seemingly impossible.

“You will become, like him, a soldier brave and true.”

Vilna Lutz is intent on making Peter into his image of Peter’s late father, whom Vilna Lutz fought with and respected. Initially, Peter goes along with this plan. As Peter questions more things in life, he begins to make his own decisions about what he values most.

“It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak words that matter.”

Hans Ickman tells the magician and Madam LaVaughn to stop their meaningless talk. He advises that they speak from the heart—to show their emotions and vulnerabilities and communicate authentically. Only then can they escape their isolating situations.

“Looking out over the city, Peter decided that it was a terrible and complicated thing to hope, and that it might be easier, instead, to despair.”

Peter learns that hope requires work. He must have patience and faith in the future. He must also take action—he needs the motivation, or agency, that will push him to fulfill his goal. Peter’s dream of the wheat field pushes him out of his negative, low-agency thoughts, restoring his hope and his belief that he can change things.

“Mayhem! Possess the plaster of disaster!”

“Obsessed with the elephant,” the citizens of Baltese feature the elephant in all their professions, from preaching to puppet shows, and even sell chunks of the opera house roof that fell when the elephant arrived (54). This street cry exemplifies the moments of dry humor that lighten the novel’s somewhat heavy mood.

“I know it to be true.”

Dreams have significance for many characters in the novel. Peter’s wheat-field dream shows him the truth of his past—which is different from what Vilna Lutz tells him. Peter’s dream restores a true memory and convinces him that Adele is alive and that the elephant is key to finding her. Peter’s understanding of the truth—and his self-confidence—changes from the beginning of the novel.

“All of God’s creatures have names, every last one of them. Of that I am sure; of that I have no doubt at all.”

Names and being known by others are important concepts in the novel. Knowing someone’s name means that you know who they are and share a connection. Sister Marie has faith that everyone—every living creature—is named and therefore known, whether by God or by others. Her belief in the spiritual connection of all creatures is also evident in her flying dream.

“And for the first time, soldiering did not, in any way, seem like a man’s work to Peter. Instead, it seemed like foolishness—a horrible, terrible, nightmarish foolishness.”

To Vilna Lutz’s horror, Peter rejects the soldierly profession. Peter’s thoughts about warfare show that he is thinking critically about the larger world around him and starting to make his own decisions. The painful loss of his father makes Peter think that war leads only to separation and sadness.

“It is the one you are calling Adele I am coming for to keep.”

Adele’s dream elephant speaks these words to Sister Marie, who cannot understand them, but to Adele they are clear. The elephant will take Adele to where she finally belongs: home. Repeating the phrase gives Adele unwavering hope.

“She belongs to you, and you belong to her.”

Peter flashes back to the night Adele was born and to the emphasis his mother placed on Peter and Adele’s family bond. Their connection is one of the deepest forms of love and belonging. Peter remembers his promise to his mother to take care of Adele and feels that he has failed in his responsibility.

“The whole of existence struck him as cause for hilarity.”

Bartok Whynn’s uncontrollable laughter may simply be his response to his traumatic near-death experience, but it reflects his emotional isolation and prohibits him from connecting with others. Since everything is funny to him, nothing matters deeply. He stops laughing only when Leo Matienne suggests he can go “to the place you were meant, after all, to be” (172), and when Peter reunites with Adele. When Bartok Whynn experiences powerful, true emotions, he connects with the others and stops laughing.

“As for the elephant, when she opened her eyes and saw the boy, she felt a small shock go through her. He was looking at her as if he knew her.”

Like several of the other characters, the elephant is isolated because she has no authentic connection with others: She does not belong in Baltese, and no one truly knows her the way her family does. Peter is similarly cut off from family and belonging and empathically understands the elephant’s feelings.

“Peter looked at the truth of what he had lost full in the face.”

Used to Vilna Lutz’s austere guardianship, Leo and Gloria’s kindness undoes Peter. He releases emotions he has repressed—because soldiers do not cry—about the loss of his family, acknowledging his great loss. This acceptance is a sign of his growing maturity.

“We must ask ourselves these questions as often as we dare. How will the world change if we do not question it?”

Leo Matienne constantly questions things that appear to be fixed or impossible. He is ever hopeful and believes that change can occur only when people challenge tradition. If one loses hope, one no longer has the agency or motivation to change.

“Who could keep from loving a boy so brave and true?”

Gloria’s loving comment turns around Vilna Lutz’s comment of making Peter into a “soldier brave and true” (5). She recognizes that Peter is not a soldier but a loving and love-starved boy. Peter is brave to try to change the world, and he is true to his heart and his family. Gloria’s comment shows that she has considered Leo’s implied “what if” question about Peter joining their family and agreed. Her closed mindset about never being able to have a family changes as she loves and welcomes Peter.

“I believe that things can still be set right.”

Although Peter initially doubts that the scruffy, desperate-looking magician can send the elephant home, the conjurer’s tears reveal the man’s deep unhappiness and reflect his desire to change. Peter keeps faith in the magician’s ability and the possibility of change, an important theme in the novel.

“‘What if?’ is a question that belongs to magic.”

The magician’s comment is expanded by Leo Matienne’s addition: that the question also belongs “to the world in which we live every day” (151). Magic, by nature impossible, is only possible if one tries, just as one can make changes in everyday life only if one makes the attempt.

“The whole of creation glowed.”

Sister Marie’s dream reveals to her that all living creatures give off “pulses of light” and look like stars, making the world seem to glow. Her dream suggests that everyone possesses a divine spark within them. Although this is not necessarily a Christian belief, and the idea of the divine spark is more common in Gnostic religions, there are biblical references to every human possessing the image of God. Sister Marie’s vision emphasizes the community and connection between all living things.

“And he understood that what he wanted now was something much simpler, much more complicated than the magic he had performed.”

The magician, lonely and cut off from others in prison, suddenly realizes that what he wants most in life is to have a genuine connection with someone: to love and be loved. He recognizes that while this is a basic human need, it can be hard, requiring self-work and the ability to express vulnerability.

“The door is always and forever unlocked. You must simply knock.”

Sister Marie, alluding to the Christian scripture “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7), articulates the novel’s theme of achieving what seems to be impossible. Doors that are closed will open to those who ask and seek. The fact that Sister Marie, a doorkeeper, makes this comment several times during the novel emphasizes the symbolic importance of doors.

“And that, after all, is how it ended. Quietly. In a world muffled by the gentle, forgiving hand of snow.”

The snow from Adele’s dream becomes a reality. Snow is a powerful symbol in the novel, signifying cleansing and change. Snow erases grievances, fixes wrongs, and allows characters to start afresh.