An Elephant in the Garden

Long time no see....

Its been a long time since the last time I wrote. This time I decided that I wanted to read a book based on historical fiction, which is another favorite genre of mine. The book I am starting to read is called An Elephant in the Garden written by Michael Morpurgo. The story is narrated by a woman who works as a nurse in a house for the old and it is also narrated by the old lady who is being taken care by her. The nurse is a single mother who lives with her son Karl in England, Karl goes with her often to the house of the old in which she works in. There is where he and her mother meet an old lady called Lizzy who is willing to tell them an unusual story of her past. It is about an elephant who used to live in her backyard when she was 16. At the beginning, Karl's mother didn't believe her but Karl always did. He and Lizzy had a special connection, since he reminded her of her little brother Karli. One snowy winter day Lizzy asked for the date, and the nurse told her it was February the 13th. She was suddenly surprised and it seemed to Karl and his mother that this was a special day for her. Lizzy decided that this was a good day to start telling them her story, and how this day changed her life forever. According to her story, when she was little, they used to live in a joyful environment with their mom, whom she and her brother called Mutti, and her dad who was called by them Papi. She was born in a city on Germany called Dresden in 1929. Her childhood was a lovely one, being spent around family and friends. But time started passing and the war started approaching. It started to influence their family since her parents got in a terrible fight about who was in which side of the war with their close relatives. Later, her dad had to go become part of the army and fight in battlefields in France. She said that every time his dad came home to visit, he looked more and more depressed and weak. She started realizing that nothing was the same as before and that things were starting to change. With her father at war, her mother had to help the family and got a job at a local zoo. There, she became really close to an elefant who she called Marlene. Her mother and the elefant became really atached and loved each other. But bad news came one day, the animals were going to be shot in case of a bombing happening in the future. Her mother couldn't stand the thought of her beloved elephant being shot, so she brought Marlene to her garden and promised to keep her safe and make her part of the family.

Thinking and thinking.....

" I think I've always had a strong sense of justice, of fair play, of what is right and what is wrong." ( Morpurgo, 23)

In this quote Lizzy is showing one of the biggest aspects of her personality which is her good moral values. This quote represents how she feels about the war too since she is ( in the book's time) actually living in a time of war. She does feel that there's much injustice and wrong stuff going on in the world, no one is happy and no one is satisfied. This is a very special and important trait since not many people have it, and some even if they do,  forget about the values they have been taught since they were little children just to please others or to not feel rejected. In my opinion, this is a very important aspect and value that is essential in everyone's lives, although each time there is less and less people who really appreciate and use their values in their everyday lives. I personally have to say that I can connect to Lizzy through this because I share these values as well, and I am sure that nothing or no one will ever make me change my values for something else.

" I cannot remember much about yesterday, nor even what I had for breakfast this morning. But I promise you I can remember just how it was when I was young  I remember the important things, the things that matter . It is as if I wrote them down in my mind, so that I should not forget " ( Morpurgo, 16)


What this quote is trying to tell us is that childhood is never forgotten. Lizzy is expressing this by explaining how she doesn't remember what she has done in the day compared to the way in which she remembers her youth. Childhood is never forgotten, since it is the time in which all of us were innocent and where we took our first steps that led us to the path in which we are walking right now. They are our golden years and time. Lizzy had a happy childhood which she enjoyed. But the war later brought many changes that were hard to accept and understand. These times of change were also easily remembered by her since they shaped the way in which she saw the world. Also, the nostalgia that those memories usually bring is inmense and always brings memories back automatically. I personally believe that the things that really matter and that made us who we are, are not forgotten easily.

To Conclude....

In conclusion, I am really enjoying this book by Michael Morpurgo. I like his style of writing which is really descriptive and full of details; which in my opinion is the best way to draw the reader's attention and transport him/her to the story. I have to say that I enjoy reading historical fiction since it is a way of learning about different events that happened in history, but with some imagination added to it. I really love to study and read anything about past events, people , etc. I consider history as an  essential tool for us to understand our actual and modern world. My prediction for the following chapters is that Lizzy will definitely continue to tell Karli and her mom her story; for the story specifically, my prediction is that Dresden will be bombed at some point and they will have to face a difficult decision about what to do with Marlene. I am excited to keep reading the book and discovering more about Lizzy's story, which if I didn't tell you before is based on a real story that happened during World War II.