Reading Response: "Faithful Elephants" By Yukio Tsuchiya

     The short story, "Faithful Elephants, illustrates a very important lesson. The book teaches the reader that war affects everyone and everything negatively. During WW2, Japan was being heavily bombed and the government feared that the cages at the Ueno Zoo would break. They also feared that if the cages broke all the animals would run loose onto the streets and hurt ordinary civilians. In order to prevent such catastrophe, the Japanese army ordered that all big animals be poisoned at once. So one-by-one all the animals at the zoo were being put down. After the animals were killed. It was time to kill the beloved elephants John, Tonky, and Wonly. With the death of the three animals, Yukio Tsuchiyo implants an image of how a war can ruin the lives of innocent people and their loved ones,

     The first example where we see the lesson being taught is when the elephants die. The author describes how the elephants were getting skinnier and skinnier by day. She explains that they where being starved to death because they couldn't be killed any other way. The elephants are begging for food but the zookeepers, who were supposed to be their friends, could only watch with sorrow. At a last attempt to survive, Tonky and Wanly raised their bodies and did the Banzai trick in hope of receiving something to eat and drink. At that moment the one of the zookeepers couldn't take it anymore, he dashed for some food and water and then begged the elephants to eat. But at that time the damage was already done. As the elephants ended died, they died in pain and hunger instead of a quite and peaceful death. This scene shows that a war can effect everything on and off the bloody battlefields.

     Later on in the book, after the elephants die, the zookeepers are in distraught. "' The elephants are dead! They're dead!' screamed the elephant trainer as he ran into the office. He buried his head in his arms and cried, beating the desk top with his head in his arms and cried, beating the desk top with his fist.'" This quote shows that even though the trainers weren't physically effected by the war, a part of them also died with the elephants. These zookeepers trained and raised the elephants like their own children. So it was like having to kill your own kids. This just goes to show the devastating side effects that a war can bring.

     The main idea in this book is that war effects everyone and everything negatively. The author portrays this by showing the pain of the elephants and the grief of the  zookeepers. This short story reminds the reader of what happens when we fail to control our anger.

    

Alex Rider Series: Snakehead By: Anthony Horowitz

                               NOTICE

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     The book Alex Rider: Snakehead is my favorite book from the Alex Rider Series. Anthony Horowitz, the author, does an excellent job filling in the gaps that many authors fail to do. He fills the gaps with action. The little details that we take for granted turn out to be huge factors later on in the book. These are some of the things that Anthony Horowitz include in his books.
     Snakehead is a very interesting book. The tides turn very quickly and you never know when they will turn on you. One example of this is when Alex meets his godfather, Ash. Alex is very eager to meet him because Ash is the one who knows who killed Alex's parents. In the book, Alex is told that he will go into a secret mission with Ash. While acting as a victim of human trafficking, Alex loses touch with Ash. Snakehead is the organization that smuggles humans into Australia from all around the world. While on the mission, Ash gets caught and held prisoner. When Alex finds out that Ash was caught, he tells MI6 (the British version of the CIA) about the situation. MI6 comes and picks him up and then they decide to launch a mission to recover Ash. But what no one knows is that Ash, who is thought to be a retired MI6 agent, is actually working with Snakehead. When Alex meets Ash, he is in bad shape. He is coughing blood and covered in bruises. That's when the Snakehead commander tells Ash to tell Alex the truth. So Ash tells Alex everything about his parents and how they died. But the most startling fact about the explanation was that fact that Ash was the one to kill his parents. When Ash wanted to join Snakehead, he had to prove his loyalty. So Ash decided to kill Alex's parents. The news that Alex received knocked the wind out of him. He felt a sudden mix of anger and sadness. The book is so well described that the reader can feel the same emotions as Alex. With that the book ends and Alex continues on with his life. 
     These are some examples of the sudden change in events in the Alex Rider Series. Of course there are so much more but this book is where I felt the most emotion so I decided to do a summary about it. Anthony Horowitz is a great author. He is one of only the handful of people who really understand how to describe scenes and characters in a book. His books entertain the reader and I hope he writes more novels to read.