47 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine ApplegateThe One and Only Ruby
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Animal Cruelty and Exploitation
Throughout the novel, Katherine Applegate explores and critiques humans’ cruelty and exploitation of animals. In particular, the traumatic effect of human intervention on the lives of African elephants is illustrated through Ruby’s experiences. Ivory poachers kill Ruby’s mother to take her tusks. The two bull elephants urge Ruby away from her mother’s dead body: “You’ve got to hurry. They’re coming for the tusks (103). In the days and weeks following her mother’s death, Ruby’s despondency is clear: “I closed my eyes and tried not to remember Mama’s warm body, lying next to mine as the life slowly vanished from her” (111). Ruby’s devastation functions as an implicit critique of the practice of killing elephants, particularly mother elephants with calves, merely to acquire their tusks. Aunt Akello’s description of what humans use ivory for—statues, board game pieces, boxes, piano keys—underscore the unnecessary cruelty of killing elephants. All of these items are unnecessary trinkets; the implicit message is that these luxury items are not worth the widespread slaughter of elephants.
Ruby’s life continues to be affected by the cruelty of poachers even after her mother is killed. Poachers are involved not only in the ivory trade but also in the trafficking of animals to circus and zoo owners. The elephant orphanage is likely burned down by the same poachers who trap and sell Ruby as she runs away from the wreckage.
Humans’ exploitative and cruel behavior is also illustrated in the inhumane living conditions they subject Ruby to. She crosses the sea in a “dark dung filled crate” (153), and at the circus her habitat consists of “two trailers by the side of the road” and a “small ride that squeaked and spun” (154). The circus is thus established as a depressing and run-down place; this impression is further supported by the other elephant Fiona’s despondency: “I could see from her empty eyes that she had given up a long time ago” (156). The descriptions of a beautiful and mighty animal being reduced to being walked in a circle, kicked by children until she is listless and has lost all hope, underscore the cruelty and injustice of humans’ behavior.
Ruby’s misfortune is compounded when she is sold to the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade at Exit 8, an incongruous setting for a giant creature who grew up walking miles across the African savanna. The small cage Ruby and Stella are forced to share smells like “moldy hay and animals who’d forgotten how to hope” (40). Applegate combines the literal scent of moldy hay with the metaphorical scent of hopelessness to stress the psychological effect of such inhumane treatment: It causes the animals to lose all hope and joy.
The sanctuary represents a slightly more hopeful depiction of animal treatment, given that it rescues animals from inhumane conditions across the country and provides spacious pens that imitate the animals’ natural habitats. On the other hand, the zoo is filled with animals, like Ruby and Ivan, who have lived a significant portion of their lives in cruel confinement for the entertainment of humans. Aunt Akello acknowledges the compromise of their living conditions, admitting that they are not free at the sanctuary, even if the humans there treat them well. Once an animal has been removed from its natural habitat, Applegate suggests, it will likely never be truly free again.
The Importance of Friendship and Family
Ruby’s young life has been beset with challenge and tragedy. She draws on an ever-changing network of friends and family to help to endure life’s hardships. Initially, Ruby survives the challenges of being a young elephant in the drought-ridden savanna by relying on her family and her herd, particularly her mother, Bishara: “She was a great mom, always checking on me, being an elebrella, feeding me whenever I wanted” (78). Later, when Ruby loses her mother, two young elephant bulls befriend and protect her, sheltering her from the heat and promising her she’ll be okay. Ruby is separated from these two bulls when the helicopter frightens them away, but then meets Jabori, a kind and gentle man who cares for young Ruby at the elephant orphanage. Ruby feels that Jabori “may have been part elephant” (122), illustrating the extent to which Jabori intuitively understood how to love and care for Ruby. These figures in Ruby’s early life keep Ruby alive not only by feeding her and sheltering her, by also by offering her unconditional love through cuddles and play. All of these aspects are essential for Ruby as a baby elephant.
After the orphanage burns down and a depressing stint at the circus, Ruby lives with Stella, who vows to Ruby that she will do her best to take care of her. Stella becomes everything to Ruby, imparting elephant wisdom and loving Ruby unconditionally. Support also arrives in the form of Ruby’s new uncles, Ivan and Bob. Her uncles, who continue to be a part of her life at the sanctuary, joke and play with Ruby, and lovingly support her after Stella’s passing.
At the sanctuary, Aunt Akello replaces Stella as Ruby’s primary maternal figure, loving and supporting her, disciplining her when necessary, teaching her about the Four Lodestars, and guiding Ruby through her Tuskday ceremony. The other Park Herd elephants become part of Ruby’s chosen family as well, loving and guiding her in ways that positively affect her well-being and her understanding of the world. At her Tuskday ceremony, Ruby explains that growing up means “taking care of others the way everybody’s always taken care of me” (202), illustrating the cyclical nature of care in the elephant world. Love has helped Ruby grow up and mature, and now she can help others do the same.
Coming of Age
Ruby must go through a difficult process of coming of age in order to face her Tuskday. Initially, Ruby expresses her discomfort with the big and confusing feelings she is experiencing through immature means, such as hiding behind a tree to get out of practicing for the ceremony. Likewise she insists, “I’m not pouting. I’m protesting” (7), but in an instance of paralipsis, it’s made clear that Ruby is, in fact, pouting.
Ruby learns that she must acknowledge and reflect on her emotions and memories, even if they are painful. Chief among these is her grief over Stella’s death. Given their close and loving relationship, Ruby is devastated when Stella dies. Even in the relatively cheerful sanctuary, Stella’s loss is “like a different kind of shadow, following [Ruby] day and night” (33). This simile emphasizes how ever-present Stella’s loss is to Ruby; it follows her constantly and casts a pall over her life. Bob points out that it can be helpful to talk about lost loved ones, but Ivan and Ruby cannot talk about Stella at the beginning of the novel. Ruby eventually confronts this loss, and talks openly and honestly about Stella, explaining that Stella was like a mother, who “saved [her] from sadness” (162). Her openness and bravery inspire Ivan to confront his own grief, and at the end of the novel he shares fond memories of Stella with Bob and Ruby.
Ivan and Bob tell Aunt Akello about Stella’s death and Ruby’s grief, inspiring Aunt Akello to symbolically include Stella in the celebrations. Ruby asks if Stella can be symbolically included in their herd, and she is dubbed “Stella of the Park” (196), causing Ruby to reflect, “I’d never lost [Stella]. She was with me all along” (203). By opening up about her feelings of grief, Ruby inspires her chosen family to lovingly commemorate Stella alongside Ruby, which helps Ruby to feel a sense of closure and acceptance, and makes her Tuskday feel more meaningful.
With her newfound maturity, Ruby is also able to confront and articulate her discomfort about her Tuskday in relation to her mother’s death. At the beginning of the novel, Ruby admits that she hates her tusks. The reason for this is elucidated in the distressing flashback to Ruby’s mother’s murder; the elephant bulls who care for Ruby in the wake of her mother’s death hint at the reason for her mother’s death when they say “They’re coming for the tusks” (103), but Ruby won’t learn about ivory poaching until she reveals this traumatic event to her chosen family at the sanctuary. Doing so helps the adults in Ruby’s life to support her through the upcoming ceremony. After Ruby has explained why she is ambivalent about Tuskday, Aunt Akello sympathizes with Ruby, relating her own traumatic experiences in Africa and teaching Ruby about ivory poachers. Aunt Akello comforts Ruby, and points out their relative safety in the sanctuary. After this conversation, Ruby feels able to confront the challenge of her Tuskday, and she makes the decision to return to the sanctuary to attend Tuskday, rather than escaping.
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