Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The One and Only Ivan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Animal Abuse and Human Cruelty
Kindness
Art and Self-Expression
Memory and Storytelling
Family, Friendship, and Identity
Summary
Analysis
hello. Ivan introduces himself: his name is Ivan, and he’s a gorilla. Being a gorilla isn’t “as easy as it looks.”
Insisting that being a gorilla isn’t “as easy as it looks” indicates that Ivan believes human readers have preconceived notions about what it’s like to be a gorilla—and they’re probably wrong.
Themes
names. People call Ivan “the Freeway Gorilla,” the “Ape at Exit 8,” or “The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.” The names belong to Ivan, but they don’t really describe him. He’s just Ivan. Humans, in Ivan’s opinion, “waste words.” They throw them on the ground like banana peels—and everyone knows the peels are the best part of the banana. Addressing the reader, Ivan suggests that they probably don’t think gorillas can understand them—but they probably also think that gorillas can’t walk upright. He suggests that they try “knuckle walking” for an hour, and then come back and tell him which is more fun.
The association of Ivan with a highway exit and the descriptions of him as “The One and Only” and “Mighty Silverback” suggest that he’s some kind of roadside attraction for a human audience. But Ivan doesn’t seem to like these names, because he just wants to be himself—not the spectacle that humans make him out to be. Ivan also makes it clear here that even though he’s an animal, he isn’t inferior to humans. He has a rich inner life and can engage in higher-level thinking, just like people do.
Themes
patience. Over the years, Ivan has learned to understand human speech. But this isn’t the same as being able to understand humans. Humans talk too much, like chimps. They talk even when there’s nothing to say. Ivan was very patient as he learned to identify human words and phrases. It’s useful to be patient, and gorillas are “as patient as stones.” Humans aren’t.
Ivan suggests here that he’s become human in that he can understand what humans say to him. But in important ways, Ivan is still a gorilla—he’s patient, and he still believes that gorillas, who he insists are quieter and choose their words more carefully than humans do, have the right idea.
Themes
how I look. Ivan used to be wild, and he still looks like a wild gorilla. He has a “shy gaze” and a “sly smile.” His back is snowy, which makes him a silverback. His shadow is majestic, like that of all of gorillas. Humans look at Ivan’s size and see him as a challenge. They think he wants to fight, but Ivan is usually just thinking about how the sun reminds him of a nectarine.
This passage again suggests that how people see and think of gorillas isn’t necessarily correct. Ivan isn’t an aggressive challenger just because he’s a gorilla. Instead, he’s “shy,” “sly,” majestic, and poetic. Indeed, he seems more interested in peacefully enjoying the sun than anything else.
Themes
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Ivan is 400 pounds, bigger and more powerful than any human. His family tree is also huge, as he’s a great ape, just like humans, chimps, orangutans, and bonobos. They’re all “distant and distrustful cousins.” He realizes that this is troubling and finds it difficult that he’s linked to “a race of ill-mannered clowns.” There’s no excuse for chimps.
By noting that he, as a gorilla, is distantly related to both humans and chimps, Ivan encourages readers to see that he’s not so different from them. But describing them as “distrustful cousins” suggests that some connection has gotten lost in translation over the millennia; now, humans and the other great apes struggle to communicate and trust one another.
Themes
the exit 8 big top mall and video arcade. Ivan lives in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, located off of I-95. There are shows at two, four, and seven, every day of the year. This is what Mack, the boss, says whenever he answers the telephone. Ivan works at the mall too; he’s the gorilla. In addition to him, there’s a carousel, monkeys, and parrots. In the very middle, there’s a ring with benches for humans to sit on. Sawdust, which is made of dead trees, covers the floor.
Ivan can parrot what Mack says on the phone presumably because he hears it all the time—an indicator that Ivan’s day-to-day life doesn’t have much variety. Noting that the sawdust is made of dead trees shows that Ivan sees the world differently than many humans do. To most people, sawdust is just sawdust—but to Ivan, sawdust represents a tree’s death. This hints that he, as an animal, has a deeper connection to nature than most people do.
Themes
Ivan’s domain is at one end of the big ring. He lives in the domain because he’s “too much gorilla and not enough human.” The elephant Stella lives next to Ivan in her own domain, and along with a dog named Bob, she’s Ivan’s closest friend. He doesn’t have any gorilla friends.
Ivan’s word choice is important: he thinks of his habitat as a “domain,” not a cage. The word “domain” suggests that this space belongs to him and that he has power over what happens here. But still, Ivan’s domain reiterates that he’s “too much gorilla and not enough human,” meaning that he doesn’t fit in with humans even though he lives in their world. In a way, being in captivity means that he doesn’t fit in anywhere—he’s separated from other gorillas in their natural habitat, but he’s also separated from the humans around him.
Themes
Ivan’s domain is made of glass, rusty metal, and cement. Stella’s is made of metal bars. Three of the walls in Ivan’s domain are glass, though one is cracked with a hole in it. Ivan made the hole with a baseball bat that Mack gave him on his sixth birthday. Mack took the bat away but let Ivan keep the ball. On one wall of Ivan’s domain is a painted jungle scene. Ivan didn’t paint the scene, and it doesn’t look much like a jungle, but he likes it anyway.
Ivan doesn’t describe his domain as being particularly homey; the glass, metal, and cement instead suggest that it’s cold and bare. The fact that Mack still hasn’t fixed the hole Ivan made with the baseball bat is a possible indicator that Mack doesn’t care for his animals and their enclosures as he perhaps should.
Themes
Ivan is lucky, in that his domain has three walls that are windows. Through them, he can see the mall and even some of the parking lot. Beyond that is a freeway where cars drive constantly. There’s a giant billboard beside it, encouraging humans to stop and rest. Though the sign is faded, Ivan knows exactly what it says, since Mack read it out loud one day. It reads: “COME TO THE EXIT 8 BIG TOP MALL AND VIDEO ARCADE, HOME OF THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, MIGHTY SILVERBACK!” Ivan can’t read, but he wishes he could. Reading would be a great way to pass the time. He did once get to “enjoy” a book that a keeper left in his domain; it tasted like termites.
Ivan might live in captivity, but fortunately for him, he still gets to see a fair bit of the world around him. However, Ivan’s description implies that everything that happens to him, or that he sees, is routine: the cars pass “constantly,” and it’s clear that the billboard’s message hasn’t changed in some time, since it’s so faded. Indeed, Ivan even implies here that he’s bored, since he wishes he had more ways to pass the time. The novelty of getting to eat a keeper’s book seems like it was a big deal for him, suggesting that he doesn’t get to experience new things very often.
Themes
That billboard along the freeway features a drawing of Mack dressed as a clown, Stella on her hind legs, and an “angry animal with fierce eyes and unkempt hair.” The animal is supposed to be Ivan, but the artist got his likeness all wrong. Ivan is never angry. For gorillas, anger is precious; silverbacks use anger to keep order and warn their troops of danger. When Ivan’s father used to beat his chest, it always conveyed that he was in charge and angry because he was protecting his troop. In Ivan’s domain, there’s nobody to protect.
It's telling that Ivan doesn’t even describe the “angry animal” on the billboard as a gorilla, let alone make it clear from the start that it specifically depicts him. This depiction, in Ivan’s opinion, is so far from the truth that it’s not even appropriate for him to identify with the drawing. In this way, Ivan—and perhaps all animals—are misunderstood by humans. Ivan also suggests that he’s lonely and unfulfilled here in his domain, since there’s nobody to protect.
Themes
the littlest big top on earth. Ivan’s neighbors at the mall know lots of tricks, and they’re very educated. A chicken plays baseball, while a rabbit drives a fire truck. Ivan used to have a seal for a neighbor who could balance a ball on her nose for hours on end. Children used to wish on pennies and then toss the pennies into the seal’s plastic pool. One day, the seal was either hungry or bored and ate 100 pennies. Mack insisted that the seal would be fine, but he was wrong.
Describing his neighbors as “educated” suggests that Ivan holds being able to do tricks in high regard. In this way, he links his and his fellow animals’ worth to their ability to obey and entertain humans. But living the way that Ivan and his neighbors do has a cost, as the implied death of Ivan’s former seal neighbor showed. Whether she ate the pennies out of hunger or out of boredom, both scenarios indicate that Mack is neglecting his animals. Ivan confirms this when he suggests the seal died because Mack didn’t get her the medical care she needed.
Themes
Mack calls the show “The Littlest Big Top on Earth.” Every day, during the three shows at two, four, and seven, humans applaud and drink sodas. Mack dresses as a clown and rides on a tiny bike, while a dog named Snickers rides on Stella’s back. Stella sits on a sturdy stool. Ivan doesn’t do tricks, since according to Mack, it’s enough for Ivan to be himself. Stella has told Ivan about circuses that move from town to town, with lions and humans that swing from ropes. Those circuses have whole lines of elephants who look into the distance, so that they don’t have to see the humans who want to look at them. This circus doesn’t move.
Mack seems to think of Ivan, a gorilla, as an attraction all on his own—it’s not necessary for Ivan to be trained to do anything, unlike the other animals at the mall. Stella, meanwhile, suggests that there’s a major toll to being forced to perform like this every day. Describing the circus elephants as not wanting to look at the people who have come to see them suggests that the circus environment makes them unhappy. All the animals are, perhaps, at the mercy of their human handlers and their human audiences.
Themes
After every show, humans “forage” through the stores at the mall. A store, Ivan explains, is where humans buy the things they require to live. Some stores at the Big Top Mall sell new things, like balloons or T-shirts. Other stores sell old things. Ivan spends his days watching humans run through the stores, passing green paper back and forth. No matter how many bags of things the humans leave with, they always come back to the store for more. Humans are pretty clever—they can, for instance, spin edible “pink clouds.” But they’re awful hunters.
Ivan’s understanding of shopping at stores is limited, given that he’s a gorilla and doesn’t totally understand how human society works. But he also suggests that although humans might feel superior to other animals, this might be somewhat misguided. Ivan implies that if he were a wild gorilla, his foraging would be far more effective than humans’ is.
Themes
