The Magician's Elephant

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Believing in and Achieving the Impossible

The power of hope and its ability to inspire people to overcome challenges is a powerful theme in the novel. Throughout the story, DiCamillo shows that characters who sustain hope and have faith in their beliefs have the power to effect change: to do the seemingly impossible. These are characters willing to act on their dreams, their trust, and their optimism. Those who do not embrace possibility remain fixed in resigned acceptance, or even despair. DiCamillo illustrates that those who ask, seek, and knock on doors of opportunity are rewarded with what they desire most: social and familial belonging.

Leo Matienne’s questions, “What if? Why not? Could it be?” (36), reveal him as the shining example of one who believes in the impossible. Leo wonders about “questions that had no answers” (34), showing that he is both philosophical and creative. Because of his open heart and open mind, Leo is ever hopeful. He thinks it is still possible that he and Gloria will have a family, even though Gloria has been unable to conceive. Leo has faith that, as the fortuneteller decreed, what seems to be the truth in one’s life can change. In contrast, Gloria believes that “the world cannot be changed” (143). She cautions Leo not to get his hopes up. Many failures have caused Gloria to lose hope. Questioning, however, leads to change, while unquestioning acceptance leads to stagnation. Leo’s questioning and Peter’s earnest belief that they can change things alter Gloria’s perspective. She lovingly adopts Peter as family. Both Leo’s and Gloria’s wishes come true thanks to their openness to possibility.

Sister Marie is another example of the power of faith. She expresses her certitude in the possible. She is convinced that “one must wait and hope”—for a dream of an elephant, or for any good thing (88). Sister Marie represents a more Christian perspective of hope. Sister Marie’s dream of flying and witnessing the glow within all living creatures affirms her faith in the spark of divinity within everyone and in spiritual connection. She accepts unquestioningly that her dream is true and revelatory, though she murmurs that she knew it “all along” thanks to her faith.

Sister Marie is a doorkeeper on a literal level—admitting orphans and others into the building—but she also figuratively represents the spiritual aspect of asking for and receiving guidance. Sister Marie tells Adele and others that the orphanage door is always unlocked—one needs only to knock to be admitted, and no one is ever turned away. Her words reflect a Christian belief found in the book of Matthew: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). Those with faith, who take initiative, who ask for help are not alone: They will receive help in achieving their goals.

Adele has nearly perfect faith. Although Lisette tries to crush her hopes, Adele always believes that the elephant will come for her. The words from her dream sustain her faith, and she repeats them as if she is praying, showing the spiritual aspect of her dream guidance. Consequently, when Adele sees the elephant and the snowy procession, Adele does not doubt that her dream has come true. Like Sister Marie, Adele “waits and hopes” and follows the guidance of her dream. She opens the orphanage door herself and is rewarded with everything she desires.

Maintaining hope, however, can be hard. It takes work and faith. Peter, trapped in a loveless routine of marching and drilling with the feverish Vilna Lutz, initially loses hope in the fortuneteller’s improbable elephant solution. Peter’s unhappy reality makes hoping to find Adele and the elephant impossible. Hope is “terrible and complicated,” and Peter thinks “that it might be easier, instead, to despair” (51). Without hope, Peter feels helpless to control his future. Yet Peter clings to the dream of the wheat field and the door that opened for him there. The dream restores Peter’s faith and sustains him through multiple challenges. Strengthened in resolve, Peter approaches several doors: those of Leo Matienne, Madam LaVaughn, and the countess Quintet. At each, Peter seeks help. Each door opens to his knock, or appeal, and he receives help at each one. Peter’s belief that he can make things change informs his actions and inspires others. Ultimately, it is Peter’s empathy for the elephant and his sense of connection to her that compels him to send her home. In sacrificing his own desire to find Adele and help the elephant return home, Peter finds his heart’s desire.

Peter’s certainty, his belief in the impossible, influences other characters. It restores Hans Ickman’s faith in miracles and even persuades Madam LaVaughn that “anything could happen” (166). The magician and Bartok Whynn have some soul-searching to do before they accept a new possibility for their lives. The magician credits the light of the star (Venus) that he sees from his cell window for keeping him alive and giving him hope, and the snow for showing him what he truly wants from life. Bartok Whynn was an absurdist before meeting Peter and crew. His near-death accident, rather than bringing him closer to the divine, made him instead view the world as irrational or absurd—meaningless. His dream of carving Peter and the elephant shows him a new truth and restores his stone-carving ability.

Countess Quintet and Vilna Lutz represent the negativity of closed-mindedness. Unlike her husband, the countess Quintet is unable to see the extraordinary in the magical appearance of the elephant or its possibility for other than selfish reasons. She comments, “I do not see. […] And you will not make me see” (58). She figuratively lacks vision and, as such, sees life as fixed—the opposite of Sister Marie. Similarly, though Vilna Lutz admits his lies, he does not change. The people of Baltese hope that the elephant “would somehow deliver them, would make their wishes and hopes and desires come true” (114), but the narrator explains that the people know inside that it will not happen. They believe more in the unchanging world than the world of possibility.

Peter, and those others who believe, hope, and ask one another for help, truly can achieve the impossible.

Coming of Age: Making and Facing Truths

“Truth is forever changing,” the fortuneteller tells Peter at the start of the novel, but Peter does not quite understand what that means (7). Thus far, the truth of his 10-year-old life has been fixed. As Peter learns more about truth, he learns more about himself. His emotional journey to find Adele and rescue the elephant is one of self-discovery. Peter learns about the larger world and his role in it: He begins to come of age.

Visiting the fortuneteller is a tipping point in Peter’s life. He is willing to misappropriate the money given to him to buy food and compromise the values he has been taught for what he believes is a higher priority—finding out if Adele is alive. Peter’s action reveals that he is starting to determine his own values and make his own decisions. At this early point in the novel, Peter still believes he will follow in Vilna Lutz and his father’s footsteps and become a soldier, but when Vilna Lutz sidesteps Peter’s questions about lying, Peter begins to doubt the military honor of the adult he has until now trusted and respectfully obeyed. Peter’s questioning shows that he is beginning to think for himself.

Peter experiences the inner conflict and turmoil that often accompanies coming of age when he realizes that someone—either Vilna Lutz or the fortuneteller—is lying to him. This new, staggering idea threatens Peter’s insulated life. His understanding of the truth changes as he contemplates “lies and who told them and who did not and what it meant to be a soldier, honorable and true” (13). Vilna Lutz’s betrayal causes Peter to lose his innocent trust and evaluate what is important to him. In this instance, the truth hurts, but it also inspires Peter to recognize that family is what matters most to him. He rejects the military because it destroyed his family, and he understands how it hurts others, thinking that soldiering is “a horrible, terrible, nightmarish foolishness” (98). This observation shows that Peter critically evaluates larger world issues and recognizes how they relate to him. Peter’s new understanding catalyzes him. He rejects Vilna Lutz and takes independent initiative to make things right, to “undo what had been done” to himself, to his family, and to the elephant (132). The truth results in Peter’s personal growth.

When Peter experiences the familial, loving kindness of Leo Matienne and Gloria, he faces and comes to terms with another painful truth: the devastating loss of his family. Peter acknowledges the reality that he will never regain the same love he had—and he moves on. Peter allows himself to grieve but does not lose his faith in his ability to fix whatever he can moving forward. His response reveals a new maturity. Peter is finding his place in the larger adult world. Now earnest, committed, and decisive, Peter focuses on righting wrongs and making good on his promises. Although Peter initially has self-doubt and despair, his perspective changes to one of idealistic determination. He, like Leo Matienne, believes in the possibility of positive change. Leo recognizes and approves of Peter’s idealism. Even Gloria, less convinced about the possibility of changing the status quo, praises Peter as a “foolish, beautiful boy who wants to change the world” (144).

Peter shows a new maturity in his perseverance in overcoming many challenges in his journey to reunite with his sister and save the elephant. He demonstrates leadership and initiative. Peter leads the elephant and the adults to the prison. He convinces the magician that he can perform his impossible magic again. Peter is changing truth by changing the world for the better. He is also changing himself. By the novel’s end, Peter is transformed. He embraces his responsibility to Adele with love and with the conviction that he can care for her. He has a new, loving home. He has become not a “soldier brave and true,” as Vilna Lutz groomed him to be, but “a boy so brave and true” whom Gloria and Leo love unconditionally (144).

Finding Where You Belong: Being Known and Loved

DiCamillo illustrates that what all people—and all creatures, including elephants and black dogs—most long for is to belong: to have a true, meaningful connection with others. Everyone longs to be known, to be loved, and to give love in return. Family offers perhaps the deepest level of this feeling of belonging. Throughout the novel, characters struggle against isolation and move toward attachment and thus fulfillment.

Living without being loved by others and without being able to give love causes separation and depression. Leo knows that “it is a bad thing to have love and nowhere to put it” (84). Peter has a loving heart but lives in a loveless, if not neglectful, environment. Gloria believes that Peter is essentially a “prisoner.” Vilna Lutz restricts his food to old bread and small fish and forces Peter to march and drill. Vilna Lutz treats Peter solely as a soldier-in-training, rather than a son or cherished ward. He does not even use Peter’s first name but calls him “Private Duchene,” consigning Peter to the role Vilna Lutz imagines for him and showing that Vilna Lutz does not truly know Peter. Peter longs to be loved. He sees Leo Matienne’s happiness and wonders, “What was it like […] to have someone who knew you would always return and who welcomed you with open arms?” (40-41). Vilna Lutz’s unsympathetic, unloving caretaking contributes to Peter’s feelings of hopelessness.

The news that Adele is alive prompts loving family memories that inspire Peter to find his sister. He knows that family belongs together. In Peter’s memory, his mother says, “She belongs to you, and you belong to her” (117). His mother’s comment reminds Peter of his responsibility and of what matters most in life: love and connection. Leo and Gloria are happy together, yet Leo comments that “we are all alone down here” (84). They wish for children to give them a sense belonging and to share their love. When Peter and Adele join their family, Peter feels a sense of completeness. His responsibility to his mother and Adele is fulfilled, and they are “warm and safe and loved” in a new family (197).

Names are important throughout the novel: They show that a character is known and loved by others. Sister Marie knows that “all God’s creatures have names, every last one of them” (90), suggesting that all are loved and known by God. The elephant has a name that is known only to her family and only in the place where she truly belongs. In the city of Baltese, where she is out of place, no one knows her name, and she is lonely and isolated. The countess Quintet believes the elephant “belongs” to her, but that ownership is a false belonging, based on materialism rather than love. The elephant repeats her name to maintain her sense of self and the feeling of true, familial belonging. When Peter looks at her, the elephant feels that he knows and understands her, although he does not know her name. Being known gives her a sense of hope.

The elephant’s situation mirrors that of Adele. Adele, though loved by Sister Marie, longs to be where she belongs: home. Adele’s dream elephant says her name, assuring Sister Marie she is “for taking her to where she is, after all, belonged” (71). Adele repeats the elephant’s words, which include her own name, in much the same way that the elephant repeats her own name. Doing this motivates and sustains Adele’s faith that she will go home someday. Family connection is one of the strongest forms of love and belonging. One always has a place to belong with family.

Characters like the magician, Madam LaVaughn, Bartok Whynn, and even Hans Ickman experience different forms of isolation, their true selves hidden from others and themselves. They reveal that a lack of genuine communication is a barrier to connection. For much of the novel, the magician and Madam LaVaughn do not say what they truly mean. When they acknowledge their feelings to themselves and others and show vulnerability, they can connect with others. Belonging is created by love and authentic connection. When characters are truly known, they experience belonging. Lines from Nat King Cole’s classic 1948 song “Nature Boy” nicely sum up DiCamillo’s theme of the fundamental need to belong: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn / Is just to love and be loved in return.”