Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Elephant Vanishes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Alienation, Connection, and Unity
Order, Perception, and Imbalance
Modernity
Humans vs. Animals
Summary
Analysis
The narrator recalls the day he found out that the elephant housed in his town had disappeared. He goes through his typical morning routine of waking up at 6:13 and reading the paper from beginning to end, coming across an article in the regional section with the headline “Elephant Missing in Tokyo Suburb,” detailing the mysterious disappearance of the elephant and its keeper. The narrator remembers the photo included with the article of a policeman inspecting the empty elephant house, noticing the stark emptiness and blankness of the place in the elephant’s absence.
The narrator is characterized as a solitary man who abides by strict routines. The steady pace of his life is disrupted when he comes across the newspaper article about the missing elephant. The narrator is immediately struck by the imbalance of the elephant house without the animal inside it, and his preoccupation with the photo indicates that the elephant’s disappearance has fundamentally unsettled something within him.
Themes
The narrator studies the article meticulously, learning that the elephant’s absence had been noticed the day before (May 18) by men from the school lunch company who delivered leftover scraps for the elephant to eat. The zookeeper who cared for the elephant was also missing, and the shackle that had been locked to the elephant’s leg remained lying on the ground of the elephant house. The article reports that the elephant and its keeper had last been seen on May 17 by elementary school students on a field trip, and that there had been no unusual signs leading up to the disappearance.
The vanishing elephant is a mystifying event that captivates both the narrator and the town—no one knows how the elephant escaped, where it went, or what role the zookeeper played in its disappearance. Up until this point, the townspeople had been secure in their ability to control the elephant, symbolized by the shackle that kept the animal chained inside the elephant house. The image of the shackle left on the ground disrupts the hierarchy of humans as superior to animals and adds an additional layer of mystery to the circumstances surrounding the disappearance.
Themes
The narrative shifts to tell the backstory of how the narrator’s town, an affluent suburb in 1980s Tokyo, came to acquire the elephant. When the town’s zoo closes due to financial hardship and the land is sold to a high-rise condo developer, no other zoos would take in the elephant, who is elderly and feeble. This situation creates an “elephant problem” for the town, as the animal stays isolated in the abandoned zoo for four months and prevents the high-rise developer from moving forward with demolition and construction. The mayor negotiates an agreement that the town will take in the elephant at no cost, the developer will provide land to house the elephant, and the zoo’s former owners will pay the elephant keeper’s wages.
The town is characterized as a place concerned with modernization and expansion above all else—the townspeople who object to “elephant problem” prioritize finances above the elephant’s wellbeing. The reluctance of civilians, the local government, and surrounding zoos to take responsibility for the elephant indicates a modern societal shift toward valuing wealth and prosperity over the wellbeing of living creatures.
Themes
In the present, the narrator remembers his ongoing obsession with the “elephant problem,” noting that he kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles and attended town council debates on the subject. Flashing back to the past, an opposition movement rises up among the townspeople in response to the mayor’s decision to take in the elephant, arguing that housing the animal would be expensive, dangerous, and pointless. The townspeople are more concerned with urban expansion and infrastructure improvements than with what becomes of the elephant. The mayor responds that tax revenue from the new high-rise development will offset the cost of caring for the elephant, that the elephant’s age prevents it from posing danger to anyone, and that the elephant can become the town’s symbol. Ultimately, a decision is reached that the town will indeed take ownership of the homeless elephant.
The narrator admits that he has been fixated on the elephant even before the disappearance, an obsession that alienated him from the townspeople who rejected the animal from the start. The townspeople’s dissent toward the mayor’s proposal to take in the elephant indicates that the town lacks unity or a cohesive identity as a community. They assess the “elephant problem” based on the animal’s merit—what value (or lack thereof) it would bring to the town—rather than its inherent worth as a living creature. The mayor’s decision to take in the elephant is more aligned with pandering to an altruistic image than with genuine concern for the animal.
Themes
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The elementary school’s gym is moved to a cleared plot of land and established as the makeshift elephant house. The narrator recalls the dedication ceremony for the building, including a speech by the mayor, a reading by an elementary school student, and a community sketch contest. He is struck by the meaninglessness of these displays, as the elephant remains indifferent and held captive by the shackle chaining its ankle to a concrete slab.
The narrator’s memories of the dedication ceremony reflect the townspeople’s hypocritical treatment of the animal. Despite their contrived displays of appreciation, the elephant is still captive and has no agency over where or how it lives.
Themes
The elderly zookeeper, who bears a striking physical resemblance to the elephant, lives in a small room attached to the elephant house. The keeper is lonely and socially withdrawn, and the two old creatures are generally ignored by the townspeople. The elephant and its keeper subsequently develop a close bond that the narrator regularly visits the elephant house to observe. The elephant and keeper seem to have a complex system of communication that mystifies the narrator—he cannot decipher whether the elephant understands verbal commands, responds to the keeper tapping its leg, or if the pair somehow communicates telepathically.
The close friendship between the elephant and its keeper is a stark contrast to the solitude and alienation felt by the narrator in relation to his community. He is drawn to the deep relationship shared between the two old creatures and the juxtaposition between the forced social unity of the town and the genuinely intimate connection between the elephant and the zookeeper.
Themes
After the town takes ownership of the elephant, a year passes before the animal and its keeper vanish. The narrator is captivated by the mysterious circumstances and comparatively shallow media coverage of the disappearance. The narrator summarizes three inconsistencies that lead him to believe the elephant vanished, rather than escaped: 1. the shackle fastened to the elephant’s leg was found in the elephant house still locked with its keys still in their respective locations, 2. there was no plausible route of escape, and 3. there were no elephant tracks. Despite these facts, the rest of the town is under the impression that the elephant was either stolen or escaped on its own. The narrator believes that amid the absurdity and confusion of the situation, the newspaper reporter, mayor, and local police are denying the only plausible conclusion (that the elephant and its keeper vanished into thin air) in attempts to uphold a sense of normalcy.
The narrator’s unique perspective on the elephant’s disappearance further distances him from the people around him. He seems to be the only one in his community who is deeply affected and thrown off balance by the event. The narrator is frustrated by the fact that none of the other townspeople are willing to fully acknowledge the circumstances of the disappearance, as all factual evidence only leads to the bizarre conclusion that the elephant vanished. Instead, they rely on the media’s narrative that the elephant either escaped or was stolen. Local journalists cover the event with an air of avoidance and denial in the midst of the confusion, reflecting the tendency of modern media and society to examine issues superficially and uphold the status quo rather than critically investigate.
Themes
While the mayor assures the townspeople that the “malicious act” of stealing the elephant will be punished, members of the town’s opposition party are skeptical, believing the elephant’s disappearance to be a corrupt political maneuver. The narrator briefly considers responding to the police’s request for information on the elephant’s whereabouts but decides against it, as he does not believe they are even willing to consider the possibly that the elephant simply vanished. The police enlist the help of military troops and the fire department to perform a highly publicized search for the elephant which yields no results.
The mayor is characterized as a political figure whose main priority is creating a favorable image. Despite having no success in finding the elephant or solving the case, the mayor continues to uphold a staunch moral stance and encourage public outrage about the perceived theft. The narrator remains isolated in his frustration at how his community is reacting to the elephant’s disappearance—he knows he will not be believed if he comes forward with his theory that the elephant and its keeper vanished, rather than escaped.
Themes
Meanwhile, the narrator obsessively follows newspaper reports and editorial cartoons about the elephant, filling multiple scrapbooks with clippings. He becomes frustrated with the reports that are all “either pointless or off the mark” and fail to acknowledge the possibility that the elephant vanished. The narrator believes that people are beginning to dismiss the case as unsolvable and forget about the elephant in the midst of their monotonous everyday lives. He visits the elephant house, whose gate is now locked with a heavy chain, and notices the building’s early signs of decay and the “air of doom and desolation” that hangs over the place.
The narrator’s fixation on the elephant grows deeper as the case remains unsolved. His frustration stems from the fact that no one in his community—neither the townspeople, the political leaders, the police, nor the media—sees the event from his perspective. There is nobody to confide in or to validate his conviction that the elephant vanished. The ease with which the townspeople begin to forget the elephant reflects their indifference toward the animal despite the fact that the town controlled every aspect of its existence. The narrator is again disturbed by the sight of the empty elephant house, sensing that the structure seems strange and off-kilter without the animal there.
Themes
In late September, about four months after the elephant and keeper vanished, the narrator recalls a misty night during which he feels that the rain is washing away his summer memories. On this night, the narrator (who works in public relations at an electrical appliance manufacturer) meets an attractive young woman (an editor of a women’s magazine) at a launch party for his company’s new advertising campaign. The narrator is in charge of showing the woman around and explaining the various kitchen appliances. He emphasizes the importance of unity as the fundamental principle that creates a successful kitchen. The narrator and the woman begin to joke with each other and hit it off, chatting over champagne about mutual acquaintances, family, and careers.
The narrator attempts to distance himself from the jarring sense of chaos he has felt since elephant’s disappearance by focusing on his present work obligations. He imagines the confusion surrounding the vanishing elephant begin to fade away with the changing weather. The narrator’s career in public relations places him at the center of the modern consumerist landscape that is dominated by superficial aesthetics. Alienated in his personal life, the narrator conceives of unity in terms of how it applies to product design and function rather than to human connection. His attraction to the woman is an attempt to surpass this shallow conception of unity and find a kindred spirit with whom he can connect on a deeper interpersonal level.
Themes
The narrator and the woman take a liking to each other, and he invites her to continue their conversation at the hotel cocktail lounge after the party. He again notices the rain outside, and the city lights “sending blurry messages through the mist.” The two continue talking about superficial topics until the narrator decides to take the conversation deeper by telling her about the elephant. He believes he may have been looking for a good listener with whom to share his “unique viewing” on the elephant’s disappearance. At first the narrator relays only what the media has said about the event, until the woman challenges him on his comment that the disappearance only “probably” could not have been predicted. She finds it difficult to understand him, pointing out that the topic of the elephant has brought about a sense of imbalance and disconnect between the two of them.
The rain outside continues to mirror the narrator’s state of mind—scattered and unfocused as he attempts to wash away the “elephant problem” from his memory. The narrator’s efforts to forget are futile, however, and he decides to confide in the woman. Rather than deepening the connection between the two, his strange and evasive tone toward the elephant story immediately creates a rift in understanding between the narrator and the woman.
Themes
The narrator realizes that the woman can sense that there is more to the elephant story than he is telling her. He admits that he is having trouble articulating the strange circumstances of the disappearance but decides to give in and tell her the full story. The narrator reveals that although the public believes that the schoolchildren on their field trip were the last people to see the elephant before it disappeared, he, in fact, was probably the last to see the animal. He had found a vantage point on a cliff from which he could see into the elephant house through a vent opening and enjoyed occasionally visiting this spot to observe the elephant and its keeper. The narrator reflects on the deep friendship the two old creatures shared and how they only seemed to share their affection and warmth for each other in private.
The narrator’s revelation that he often watched the elephant and its keeper during their private moments provides further insight into his obsession with the elephant. He is not merely obsessed with the animal’s mysterious disappearance, but with the bond that the elephant and zookeeper shared. Although most of his fellow townspeople had no interest in the elephant, the narrator was captivated by the connection between these two creatures—a connection that the narrator is unable to replicate in his own life.
Themes
The narrator then reveals the strangest aspect of the disappearance to the woman: on May 17 (the night before the disappearance), he observed a sudden difference in the appearances of the elephant and its keeper. From his perspective, the balance between the two creatures had seemed to change—the physical size difference between them had shrunk. The narrator was at first critical of this magical and seemingly impossible change but can find no other plausible explanation for what he saw. He can only conclude that either the elephant had gotten smaller, the keeper had gotten bigger, or both had changed simultaneously. The narrator recalls feeling a definitive shift in that moment wherein a different sort of reality seemed to envelop the elephant house.
Murakami uses this moment of magical realism to further emphasize the narrator’s alienation from those around him. The size change between the elephant and the zookeeper seems bizarre and outlandish to both the reader and the woman to whom the narrator tells his story, widening the gap in their understanding of each other. The disorienting magical moment the narrator describes (in the midst of an otherwise realistic narrative) parallels the sense of internal disarray that he experiences in the wake of the elephant’s disappearance.
Themes
After the narrator recounts these strange events to the woman, an awkward silence falls over the pair as the woman is left confused and speechless. They leave the hotel bar and never see each other again. The narrator considers asking her out to dinner but decides it does not matter either way. He confesses that he often feels this way in the aftermath of the vanishing elephant—that things have lost their “proper balance” and that something inside him has fundamentally shifted after the mysterious size change and disappearance of the elephant and its keeper.
The combination of the change in the elephant’s and zookeeper’s sizes and their mysterious disappearance has seemingly subverted the natural order and challenged the narrator’s perceptions and sense of reality. Having been misunderstood by the woman at the business party when he told her what he witnessed, the narrator is thrown further into an isolated state in which he feels that he cannot trust himself nor be believed by anyone around him.
Themes
The narrator continues on with his normal life on autopilot, living “based on afterimages of memories I retain” from before his perceived shift in the natural order. He believes that people are searching for unity and balance as they move through the world, and that feigning a pragmatic outlook allows him to be successful. The narrator concludes the story by observing that the media and the townspeople seem to have forgotten about the elephant and its keeper, that the two have vanished completely, and that they are never coming back.
The story ends with the narrator fully succumbing to the alienated state of imbalance that has gradually overtaken him since the elephant’s disappearance. He continues living his normal life on autopilot as his community forgets about the elephant altogether. This collective apathy suggests a human tendency toward denying the chaotic nature of reality in order to maintain a stable, reliable status quo.
Themes
