Animals at war and the significances of the stories

In the book A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk there are many references to animals and stories with lessons. These hold significance, visuals, lessons, a bit of foreshadowing or reality as the boys continue on their journey

Each of the references to animals have a big effect on the book as they give us a better sense of what is going on, as well as help us to better connect to the characters and better understand them.  The references are mainly toward people, how they look or acted and they can be also pointed toward events, sounds or groups of people, which gives us a visual idea. Our main character Jacob as stated before is called a hare for his long legs and feet, as well as long teeth in Majok’s opinion. Although Jacob is also compared to many other animals like a duck, turtle, cat and elephant as he grows and move forward in his journey. This gives me a visual of what he looks like and acts like, basically gave me an idea of whom he is. This can be said for many of the other people in the book as well.  Like Oscar, he is supposed to be a monkey as he is supposed to have big ears, although he is also compared to many other animals as well like a duck or a dying grasshopper. Then there is Will who is supposed to have the eyes of a Raven and Monyroor who is a lion because ha is brave. These are very few of the comparisons that are used but each have a visual, or significance. Few of the ones that I think have a big significance are some of the references to the Elephant and the hare. The one that I think has a biggest significance is when teacher Matthew is talking to the soldiers when he discovers that they were stealing from the boys. Teacher Matthew said “But, please understand; it is like elephants stealing food from baby hares.” (Pg. 136) This quote in particular gets us as well as Jacob wonders why would those who are supposed to be helping them steal from them, aren’t the soldiers supposed to be good. I think this helps Jacob get a realization later that it might not be go to fight and maybe words might be the answer.

Another thing that holds much significance is the stories (which all relate in one way or another) that are told during the boys’ journey. There are three stories that have lessons or significance whether to the title or to the people in the story. The first story we read about is one about the greediest man in all of Africa, named Col Muona (pg. 79). I think this story is a bit foreshadowing as throughout the story, Jacob meets people who are greedy, that steals or wouldn’t share with children and are also ignorant, as Jacob calls, the fighters, like Majok and Adam. The next story is the story about “The Elephant and the Hare” (pg. 126) this is a story that is reversed from what teacher Matthew said because of this it is also a bit foreshadowing but it is also significant. The hare in the story stole the elephant’s honey and replaced it with rocks; the elephant cuts off the hare’s tail before he leaves, by accident. When the elephant finds out that the hare stole his honey, he goes in search of the hare without a tail but finds that the hare convinced all the other hares to cut off their tails. I think this ties in to the last story about Col Muona, but also shows us that when a small person is smart and clever they can trick or out smart, a bigger, ignorant person who think they are the smartest (like Jacob and Majok). The final story is about how the warthog became ugly (pg. 217-218) this one ties in to the last two because the warthog is very ignorant and rude, just like Col Muona and the elephant a bit. This stories main point was that ignorance and rudeness gets you nowhere, as when no one really likes you they will not help you and only fight you. This really ties into the theme War vs. Peace as ignorance is war and kindness is peace. A good example of this is Majok and Jacob. In the story Majok is very mean and ignorant, as well as no one really likes him. While Jacob is nice and kind, he also helps people so people like him. So as you can see the stories have significance to the book as well, teaching lessons and showing that they can apply to real life.