An Elephant in the Garden

“And whenever we could on summer nights, Karli and I would sleep up in the tree house on the island [in the pond at Uncle Manfred’s farm]. We would lie awake listening to the gramophone playing far away in the farmhouse, to the owls calling one another. We would watch the moon sailing through the clouds. […] Karli would go riding on Tomi [Manfred’s horse] with Uncle Manfred every day out around the farm, and I would go bicycling on my own. I went off for hours on end. I loved free-wheeling down a hill, the wind in my face. It was our dreamtime, full of sunshine and laughter. But dreams do not last, do they? And sometimes they turn into nightmares.”

Lizzie describes her and Karli’s childhood as their “dreamtime”: a period of joy, peace, beauty, and freedom. Their dreams turning into nightmares alludes to how their lives changed when the war came to Germany. Before the war invaded their lives, Lizzie and Karli existed in a state of childhood innocence. The loss of their dreams suggests their subsequent loss of innocence, which supports the novel’s coming-of-age theme.

“I always recognized injustice when I saw it, and I felt it deeply. And […] there was plenty of it about in those days. I saw the Jews in the streets, with their yellow stars sewn onto their coats. I saw their shops with the [S]tar of David daubed in paint all over the windows. Several times I saw them beaten up by Nazi stormtroopers, and left to lie in the gutter.”

The Nazi government under Adolph Hitler persecuted the Jewish population relentlessly, leading to the horrors of the Holocaust. Lizzie clearly remembers the terrible displays of antisemitism she observed as a child in Germany; they are among “the important things, the things that matter” that she references at the beginning of the book (15). That she recognized injustice as a child and felt it “deeply” even then contributes to the development of her character as the novel’s protagonist.

“Then, as the war dragged on, year after year, Papi came home less and less. […] We had letters, of course, but not that often. Whenever a new one did come, Mutti would read it out loud to Karli and me every evening at bedtime. We would have then what Mutti always called a ‘family moment’ together, holding hands around the kitchen table and closing our eyes to think of Papi.”

One of the consequences of war, a theme in the novel, is the separation of families. The family deeply felt the absence of Lizzie’s father in their home. The meaning of family, another theme, emerges in Mutti’s efforts to keep her family together by reading Papi’s letters to Lizzie and Karli and by sharing “family moments.” Through the letters and “family moments,” she keeps Lizzie and Karli’s father present in their lives while he is away.

“[T]her war was lost. […] It was only a question of how quickly it would end, and who would get to us first, the Red Army from the east, or the Allies from the west. We all hoped it might be the Allies—from the refugees we had heard such terrible things about the Red Army.”

This passage underscores Lizzie’s family’s dire situation in Dresden: They are physically trapped between two advancing armies in the middle of the war. Their location heightens the tension later in the novel as they travel west across Germany to escape the Russian army moving across Germany from the east.

“Whatever happens, I shall look after you and little Karli. The air-raid sirens will give us plenty of warning, and the shelter is very near, isn’t it? And it is so deep that the bombs cannot reach us down there. […] We shall survive this, I promise you. You, me, and little Karli. They can send all the bombers they like, and we will survive. […] I shall make sure also that Marlene survives with us. I will not let this war take from me all those I love.”

When the Allies’ bombing of Dresden is imminent, Mutti attempts to comfort Lizzie and allay her fears. Mutti’s fierce love for her family, which includes Marlene, and her devotion to them are central in the development of her character. Her determination to protect her family, whatever may come, informs all of Mutti’s decisions and actions throughout the novel.

“[Marlene] had a way of looking at me that I found quite uncomfortable, at first. She was not looking at me, so much as right into me. […] But then I began to understand that she wasn’t judging me. No one had ever gazed into my eyes quite like this before. I can only describe it as a look full of curiosity, kindness, and love.”

The implication that the children have talked about the Red Army and the war while at school reveals that both subjects are very much on their minds; they are aware of the unusual circumstances they are living in, even though they cannot fully understand them. Seeing Marlene distracts the children from the frightening Red Army and the war itself, giving them something happy and exciting to talk about. The passage suggests the war’s emotional impact on children, supporting one of the themes in the novel: the terrible consequences of war.

“Some of our school friends who saw us [with Marlene] now joined us in the park, dozens of them […] full of questions, and high with excitement. […] We all stood and watched Mutti and Marlene walking away through the trees in the direction of the zoo, before running off down the hill to the school. That day at school no one talked about the Red Army or about the war. We all had something else to talk about.”

The implication that the children have talked about the Red Army and the war while at school reveals that both subjects are very much on their minds; they are aware of the unusual circumstances they are living in, even though they cannot fully understand them. Seeing Marlene distracts the children from the frightening Red Army and the war itself, giving them something happy and exciting to talk about. The passage suggests the war’s emotional impact on children, supporting one of the themes in the novel: the terrible consequences of war.

“She came out to meet me from her woodshed, wandering slowly towards me, snuffling at the snow with her trunk as she came. She rumbled at me contentedly from somewhere deep and echoing inside her, and then explored my hair and face with the tip of her trunk—her way of saying hello. […] We let our eyes do most of the talking […]. We stood there with the snow coming down around us, each of us knowing, I was sure of it, that we were making a friend for life.”

Lizzie recalls the first time she visited Marlene by herself in the garden. The scene is infused with descriptive writing that appeals to the senses. Marlene’s rumbling “contentedly from somewhere deep and echoing inside her” is an auditory image describing the sound Marlene makes as she approaches Lizzie. Lizzie and Marlene’s standing together “with the snow coming down around [them]” is a visual image. The auditory and visual imagery suggests the peace and beauty of the moment when Lizzie and Marlene’s friendship begins—a friendship that plays a significant role in the development of Lizzie’s character.

“I [sensed] in her eyes the depth of the grief she was still suffering after the loss of her mother. And without my ever saying anything, I knew she understood all my own fears, about Papi, about the bombers that might come any day now, about the war.”

Like human beings, elephants feel grief and mourn their dead. Lizzie’s sensing Marlene’s grief indicates that Lizzie understands Marlene’s suffering and feels empathy for her. Marlene cannot intellectually understand Lizzie’s fears, but she can sense Lizzie’s distress. The mutual understanding between Lizzie and Marlene supports the novel’s theme regarding family relationships and the meaning of family.

“I never once saw [Marlene] irritated or angry, until the day the dog came, that is. It was a big dog—a loud dog—a German shepherd […]. This dog would appear suddenly at the garden gate, and bark at her, his whole body shaking with fury. He kept coming back again and again, and every time Marlene would run at him across the garden, trumpeting, tossing her ears, flapping them, but that only infuriated the dog even more. […] Sooner or later that wretched dog always came back.”

The neighborhood dog that torments Marlene brings out another trait in her nature; she will defend herself against threats. However, unless threatened, she is never “irritated or angry,” suggesting that she is not aggressive or dangerous. Marlene’s peaceful, passive nature surfaces numerous times in the narrative, and it contributes significantly to the survival of Lizzie and her family. The sentence “Sooner or later that wretched dog always came back” foreshadows the dog’s reappearance, which leads to a moment of crisis in the plot when Marlene and the family become separated as the bombing of Dresden begins.

“[W]e were through the gate and out into the park beyond, the snow bright with moonshine, and the whole world silent and peaceful about us.”

The park adjacent to the back gate of the garden at Lizzie’s home is a large, open space with a forested area. Walking through the gate leads the family away from their neighborhood in the city and into a place created by nature—a place where the snow is “bright with moonshine” and the world is “silent and peaceful.” The park exemplifies the beauty of the natural world, a motif in the novel.

“The bombers were coming. It sounded like a distant humming at first, then it became a droning, like a swarm of bees […] coming closer, ever closer. […] Then, in no time at all, the sky above us was filled with a thunderous throbbing roar. […] And then the bombs began to fall, behind us, on the city, on the far side of the park, on where we had come from, our street, our house. The whole world shuddered and shook with every blast.”

The novel describes the arrival of the planes that will bomb Dresden with vivid auditory imagery and similes that gradually grow in intensity. At first, the sound of the planes is “like a distant humming.” Then the sound becomes “a droning, like [the sound] of a swarm of bees.” When the planes are overhead, the sound becomes “a thunderous throbbing roar” filling the sky. With the Allies’ bombing of Dresden, the novel’s plot shifts from Lizzie’s life at home to her family’s escape from the city and their consequent struggle to survive the war as refugees.

“Dresden was no longer a city anymore. Rather it looked to me like one vast bonfire, where fire caught fire with fire, a fire whipped up by a mighty wind of its own making […].”

The novel describes the aftermath of Dresden’s bombing with visual imagery, comparing it to “one vast bonfire”; the simile emphasizes the scope of the destruction. The flames consuming Dresden are described with hyperbole, a figure of speech that overstates or exaggerates; “where fire caught fire with fire” suggests that as the city burns, the fire is so intense that the fire itself caught on fire. The vivid description of the bombing of Dresden continues to develop a major theme in the novel: that war has terrible consequences.

“Lizzie was cradling [the compass] lovingly in her cupped hands, and for several moments seemed too overcome to speak. […] ‘This is a compass, to help you find your way. But this is not just any old compass. […] Because it has shown me the way all through my life.’”

The compass, which Peter Kamm first used as a navigator in the Canadian Royal Air Force during the war, is a major symbol in the novel. When Lizzie is elderly and living at the nursing home, the compass symbolizes her enduring love for Peter, their life together for 60 years, and her memories of him. She cradles the compass “lovingly” in her hands because it is precious to her, and she is overwhelmed with emotion as she remembers Peter. It is Peter and their love for each other that have “shown [Lizzie] the way all through [her] live” (97). From this point forward, the compass will play an essential role in the story Lizzie tells.

“We thought it would be like the blitz on London, I suppose, when the Luftwaffe came. […] I was there. And that was terrible enough. But last night it looked like the fires of hell. That’s what we’re doing in this war, all of us, on your side, on our side, we are making a hell on earth, and we do not seem to be able to know how to stop. I am sorry. I know that is not enough, but it is all I can say.”

Peter’s reference to “the blitz on London” alludes to the German air force’s (Luftwaffe’s) massive bombing of London; “blitz” is a shortened form of the German word blitzkrieg, which means “lightning war.” London suffered great damage during the blitz, but unlike Dresden, the city itself was not destroyed. Peter’s apology is heartfelt; he recognizes that countries waging war against each other both create “a hell on earth” (101). Peter’s observations support the novel’s theme regarding the terrible consequences of war, and his apology contributes to his character development as a good person caught up in dreadful violence.

“I liked to listen to [Peter] talk. He was so full of spirit, so determined. The truth was that I was enjoying his company, even though, of course I knew that I should not be. The thing was, you see, that I could tell he liked being with me, talking to me, looking at me. […] When you are young, and you find for the first time that someone likes you like this, it is powerful. Very powerful.”

Looking into Peter’s eyes for the first time after finding him in the barn at Lottie and Manfred’s farm, Lizzie “[knows] right away that he [is] no more of a killer than Papi” (99); she cannot hate him, even though he is the enemy in Germany’s war. As she spends time with Peter, Lizzie knows she should not grow too close to him—he is still the enemy, after all—but she is attracted to him, and she recognizes that Peter feels the same way about her. Lizzie is just 16, and her “powerful” feelings regarding Peter are new to her. The beginning of her relationship with Peter is another step in Lizzie’s coming of age, one of the novel’s themes.

“Sooner or later they will come looking, and I shall turn you in. […] And if you try to run away, you will either freeze to death out there, or the Abwehr [German officials who gather military intelligence] will catch you. Either way, you are not going home. […] And I will have that compass, please. Without it you are not going home, you are not going anywhere.”

Mutti initially despises Peter. He is one of the airmen who firebombed Dresden and made her and her children homeless, starving refugees; however, because she cannot bring herself to let him freeze to death, she brings him into the farmhouse. Even though Mutti has given Peter shelter, she makes her feelings clear to him: He is the enemy in her eyes. Taking Peter’s compass away from him underscores Mutti’s anger and her hatred for him. The passage develops Mutti’s character by showing how profoundly the war has been affected her; compassionate and nurturing by nature, the woman who rescued an orphaned elephant now feels hatred for a fellow human being.

“I sat there [in Uncle Manfred’s barn], and I cried my heart out, and I told an elephant […] that I loved this man—this airman, this enemy, whom I had not known even for twenty-four hours—that I knew I would love him till the day I died. […] Marlene was the only being in the entire world that knew my secret, and I wanted to be with her and no one else.”

Lizzie’s love for Marlene and her dependence on Marlene’s presence in her life deepen as the novel’s plot unfolds. Her declaration that she would love “this airman, this enemy” for the rest of her life foreshadows the development of Lizzie and Peter’s relationship and the end of the novel.

“For several moments Peter and Mutti did not speak, but sat there just looking at one another across the kitchen. […] Then she fished in her pocket, took out the compass, and pushed it across the table towards him. […] ‘You and I, Peter we must come to an understanding […]. From now on, no more sorrys, and no more thank-yous. What is done is done. The past is behind us. You are family now, one of us.’”

Mutti’s returning Peter’s compass indicates a major change in her feelings about him; she no longer considers him an enemy. In saving Karli’s life and obviously caring so much about him, Peter won Mutti’s heart, making him one of her family. For Mutti, the person Peter has shown himself to be is more important than the military uniform he wears or what he has done in the war. Peter’s becoming part of Mutti’s family supports the theme that families are created and defined in different ways.

“‘Where we go Marlene goes,’ Mutti said firmly. ‘She is part of the family, too.’ […] Mutti made us all join hands ’round the table then, for another family moment, as we had so often done back home.”

This passage illustrates the theme of family. Mutti’s conception of her family includes Marlene, even though Marlene is an elephant. Mutti, Lizzie, Karli, and Marlene are bound to one another as a family through mutual love, loyalty, and compassion.

“I love the sound of church bells ringing […]. Every time I hear a ring of bells, it makes me think the same thing, that there is hope, that life goes on. Did you know that in Dresden every year on the anniversary of the day the bombers came, they ring all the church bells in the city?”

In telling her story to her nurse and Karl, Lizzie draws their attention to church bells ringing nearby. Lizzie’s emotional response to the sound of the bells—that they remind her that “there is hope, that life goes on” (135)—indicates that Lizzie is someone who survived great fear, hardship, and suffering during the war without her spirit being crushed. The church bells ringing in Dresden on the anniversary of the firebombing that obliterated the city is another testament to hope and renewal.

“[The children] sang, as we marched along, lightening the darkness for all of us. They sang, crammed together in some shepherd’s hut, in some forester’s shed, huddling together for warmth. And when they sang, sooner or later we joined in. We loved that, loved being part of their music making. We were singing away our fears, and doing it together.”

The power of music, a motif in the novel, emerges in a refugee children’s choir that accompanies Lizzie’s family on their dangerous journey west to reach the American forces in Germany. According to Lizzie, the children’s singing “[lightens] the darkness for all of [them]” (179). As a metaphor, darkness suggests the harrowing circumstances they are all living through, as well as the war itself; bringing light into the darkness implies that hope has not been extinguished. Singing together creates a sense of community and security. Through music, Lizzie, her family, and the children found comfort and companionship during the darkest days and nights of their journey.

“Peter’s letters just stopped coming. I had sent him our new address, but he never wrote again. And Mutti too was as unhappy as I had ever seen her. Every day she went to ask the authorities for news of Papi. There was none. Both the men we loved had disappeared. I am sure this was why I became closer during these days to Mutti than ever before.”

For months after the war, with Peter back in uniform and Lizzie and her family resettled in Heidelberg, Germany, Lizzie and Peter’s love for each other sustains itself through letters. When Peter’s letters “just stop[] coming,” Lizzie is bereft—as is Mutti when she has no news about Papi. Lizzie’s growing closer to her mother during this time of mutual sadness shows the growth in their relationship since the beginning of the novel. Having come of age, Lizzie now has an adult relationship with Mutti; she understands her mother’s unhappiness and can relate to it.