The Magician's Elephant

Peter uncovers several truths and makes difficult decisions in these chapters that help him grow in self-understanding and maturity. DiCamillo offers a critical vision of war, suggesting it is inimical to the values of family and belonging, a theme that informs the novel. Adele and the elephant each find their hopes threatened by negativity and despair. Finally, the role of Thomas the beggar increases in importance as he touches the lives of more characters.

Vilna Lutz lies to Peter ostensibly to protect Peter from pain, arguing that even if Peter had known about Adele, he would have been powerless to act. Peter is no longer powerless. Vilna Lutz’s lie turns Peter’s feelings against the old man and solidifies Peter’s feelings about soldiery and war. By lying, Vilna Lutz shows he is, in fact, dishonorable. The shining ideal of the “soldier brave and true” that he has tried to instill in Peter, and which Peter has heretofore worked to achieve, is false. Peter experiences a loss of childhood innocence with this understanding, propelling him toward maturity. Peter’s memories of Adele and his father help him realize that familial love and the sense of belonging it confers is more important than the cold glories of soldiery and the divisions it creates. War causes separation, death, and pain. Peter declares that war is “foolishness.” With this announcement, Peter shows that he is now forming his own opinions, a sign that he is coming of age.

Vilna Lutz protests dismissively that, as a soldier, he knows nothing of “mothering,” which only reinforces the point that in his view, being a soldier is the most important work a man can do; it is why Vilna Lutz works to indoctrinate Peter. This comment also illustrates the painful lack in Peter’s life of a loving family: Vilna Lutz has not been an empathetic guardian. Peter’s father, in contrast, was a soldier but also a loving, caring parent, showing that Vilna Lutz could have been a kinder guardian.

Peter’s truth about Adele is confirmed, increasing Peter’s self-confidence and hopes and spurring him to action. The new “terrible truth”—the elephant’s sadness—that Peter discovers takes precedence even over his search for Adele. Peter’s promises to his mother and the elephant cause Peter inner turmoil because he feels he cannot fulfill these responsibilities. Despite this anguish, Peter does not sink into the inactivity of despair but expresses hope in the possibility of magic, and he takes action, reinforcing the theme of Believing in and Achieving the Impossible.

Adele’s hopes are challenged by the negativity of the older orphan, Lisette. While Adele holds the dream elephant’s words close to her heart, Lisette’s disbelief and derision sting. Lisette embodies the opposite of hope and faith: bitter acceptance of an unchangeable situation. Lacking hope herself, Lisette strives to crush Adele’s. Adele is quieted but not silenced, and she continues to repeat the words, prayerlike, to herself. In contrast, the elephant no longer repeats her name to herself. Ironically, though the citizens of Baltese pin their wishes and dreams on the elephant, the elephant herself has lost hope. She no longer tries to mentally maintain her sense of belonging, her connection to her family. The elephant has lost hope, and she despairs until Peter makes her feel truly known, reigniting a spark of hope.

Thomas the beggar weaves together the various stories of main characters. Although readers know Thomas’s name and that of his black dog, Iddo, from Chapter 8, other characters, and the narrator, refer to him simply as “the beggar.” Thomas’s ability to turn mundane words or phrases into beautiful song places him at important junctures in characters’ lives and gives him the role of a messenger of hope. Thomas is the beggar from Chapter 1 who sings about the darkness and repeats the fortuneteller’s words to Peter. In this section, Thomas brings comfort to Peter but also sings of Adele and the elephant, triggering Peter’s childhood memory. Thomas is not the hoped-for elephant at the orphanage’s kitchen door, but he sings of the elephant and the wonderful news Leo once mentioned. Thomas’s songs using other characters’ speech return the words to other characters in the form of hope and wonder.