91 pages • 3 hours read
Katherine ApplegateThe One And Only Ivan
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Ivan
When The One and Only Ivan begins, the gorilla Ivan has spent 9,855 days—27 years—living alone in a cage in a mall, as part of a small circus. As author Katherine Applegate explains in an Author’s Note, Ivan is based on a real gorilla, also named Ivan, who spent 27 years in a “circus-themed mall” after he was captured from his home in Africa. After so many years in isolation and captivity, Ivan doesn’t see himself as the “Mighty Silverback” (2) he knows a mature male gorilla should be. Ivan remembers his strong father, who was “born” to “protect” his gorilla troop; as Ivan himself has “no one to protect” (10), he is unable to fulfill his rightful identity. As the novel continues, and a new animal enters Ivan’s world, he journeys to reclaim his true purpose—saving both himself and his animal friends—by the time The One and Only Ivan ends.
For the first half of The One and Only Ivan, Ivan doesn’t remember most of his early life in the wild. As he reveals partway through the novel, Ivan consciously chose to block out his memories after he and his twin sister Tag faced capture. Ivan describes his sister as “held […] like a vine” by the past, until her memories “strangl[ed]” her and she died, while Ivan himself “had to let [his] old life die” (129) to survive. Ivan’s new life began with Mack, the mall owner, who raised Ivan like a human child, taking him on car rides and to baseball games; when Ivan got too big and violent to handle, Mack moved him to a cage at the mall. Ivan can see the mall billboard from his cage, and he knows he is advertised as “The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback”—but he considers himself “just Ivan, only Ivan” (2), no longer a “wild gorilla” (4). Confined to a cage where humans observe him every day, Ivan has become an observer himself, and using a gorilla’s great “patience” (3), he’s even learned to understand human words.
Denied his true identity as protector of his gorilla troop, Ivan has had to construct a new identity through his relationships with other animals at the mall zoo—the older elephant Stella, and the stray dog Bob—and his human friend Julia, the daughter of the mall janitor. Ivan allows Bob to sleep on his stomach every night, indicating his deep need for connection with another creature, and he listens to Stella’s stories and respects her wisdom, realizing she “knows more than [he] will ever know” (27). Most of all, however, Ivan finds identity through his art—a trait he shares with Julia, who draws pictures while her father works.
Ivan believes he’s “always been an artist” (19), and one of his few memories of his childhood in the wild is drawing pictures in mud on his mother’s back, a habit that led to his family naming him “Mud.” Julia reawakens Ivan’s artist’s soul during his new life in the mall: Ivan watches Julia drawing “pictures […] like pieces of a dream” (16), and when she gives him a crayon and paper through the hole in his cage, he begins drawing as well. The mall owner Mack quickly realizes he can sell Ivan’s paintings, but Ivan’s art is much more than a way to make money. It colors the entire way he sees the world, allowing him to look beyond the surface of things. As a child in the wild, he saw “shapes in the clouds, and sculptures I the tumbled stones” (19); at the mall, he sees “sundown colors” (108) in Magic Markers. However, Ivan does not consider himself capable of “imagining worlds that don’t yet exist” (20) in his drawings, the way Julia does—but as the novel continues, Ivan will be forced to envision new possibilities, and he will become an even greater artist.
Ivan’s identity begins to transform when a new animal, a young elephant named Ruby, arrives at the mall. Ruby asks Ivan many questions and forces him to remember his own past, including the horrors of being captured by humans and having his sister die beside him, followed by his new where he’s treated like a human child by Mack, and finally his many lonely years at the mall. At last, Ivan confronts the fact that he has been denied his freedom and the company of his own kind, to the point that he often “forget[s] what [he is] supposed to be” (143)—a human or a gorilla. Soon after reliving his past, Ivan stops thinking of his mall home as a “domain” (7) and begins to call it the “cage” (165) it truly is.
More than memories of his own heritage, Ivan’s loyalty to both his longtime elephant friend Stella, and the new arrival Ruby, forces him to transform. Ivan is struck by how Stella immediately cares for and protects Ruby, along with the cruel way Mack forces Ruby to practice tricks till she’s exhausted. Stella has an infected foot and dies soon after Ruby’s arrival, and she—and Ivan—fear that Ruby will meet the same fate Stella did, spending her entire life confined and performing for humans. Just before her death, Stella asks Ivan to protect Ruby and find her “a safe place” (113) where she can thrive. Ivan gives Stella his “word as a silverback” (113) that he will rescue Ruby—a decision that will force him to rediscover his true gorilla identity as the protector of those he cares about.
To save Ruby, Ivan turns to the other principal aspect of his identity: his art. Over many nights, he draws parts of a scene, puzzle pieces on paper that, when pieced together, form a picture of Ruby at a zoo, a safe place where she can live with others of her own kind. For the first time, Ivan depicts not the real objects he sees in front of him, but “what I see in my head. Things that don’t exist” (188). He becomes the kind of artist he wished to be at the opening of the novel, one who can envision new possibilities and make them real. In Ivan’s case, these possibilities become reality when Julia pieces together Ivan’s picture and pastes it to the mall billboard—an act that eventually leads to people protesting the treatment of Ivan and Ruby, and the decision to transfer the animals to a zoo.
When Ruby and Ivan arrive at the zoo, Ivan has finally fulfilled his promise to Stella; however, he still has to find his own place within the zoo’s gorilla troop, in order to fully claim his new identity. The zoo’s other gorillas include only females and a juvenile male, and Ivan knows his natural role is that of protector and leader of the troop, but he’s “not ready to be a silverback,” still considering himself “just Ivan, only Ivan” (274). Ivan must spend time in the gorilla’s habitat, gradually becoming more social—particularly with one female, Kinyani—telling the others of his past, playing tag, and “pretending” (280) to be a silverback before he becomes confident enough to be a true leader. Fittingly, Ivan again turns to art to find his footing, as he paints with mud on the zoo wall, then spies Ruby in a nearby enclosure, and receives a visit from Julia, George, and Bob. On the novel’s final page, when Bob tells the gorilla he is “the One and Only Ivan” (300), Ivan is finally ready to believe the words. After saying goodbye to the humans and animals from his former life, Ivan returns to what he now considers his “family,” his “life,” his “home”—and his identity as caring protector of his troop, “Mighty Silverback” (300).
Stella
Stella, an older elephant who was born in the wild but spent many years in a human circus before ending up at the mall with Ivan, is the voice of experience and wisdom in The One and Only Ivan. Ivan considers Stella “a mountain” beside the other, younger animals at the mall; the elephant has “eyes like black stars and knows more than [Ivan] will ever know” (27). In contrast to Ivan, Stella remembers “every detail” (27) of her long years on earth and shares them with others—she knows that even when memories are painful, they are necessary, for “they help tell us who we are” (53). Stella’s words, along with Ruby’s questions, eventually force Ivan to confront his own past and begin to move beyond painful experiences and reclaim his true purpose.
As for Stella herself, her memories provide her with a wisdom that allows her to care for the young elephant Ruby. From her time with cruel circus trainers, Stella knows how brutal humans can be, and that she can’t allow Ruby to suffer a fate similar to her own; Stella is also aware of and shares with Ivan the existence of “good zoos,” places where “humans make amends” (64). Her knowledge will eventually allow Ruby, and Ivan as well, to find refuge in one of these “good zoos.”
Just as Ruby’s arrival incites Ivan to change and grow, it transforms Stella as well. Stella instinctively protects and mothers the young elephant from the moment she appears, when Stella coaxes Ruby off the truck she arrives in. Ivan has never seen Stella appear “so happy” (82), caring for Ruby with “their trunks twirled together like jungle vines” (82), and Ivan realizes that Stella, like himself, has been denied her natural purpose of protecting and caring for others of her own species. Stella is sick and cannot live long enough to protect Ruby; however, the older elephant’s last act before dying is to ensure Ruby receives the good life she deserves. Stella’s final words to Ivan express her hope that Ruby “could have a life that’s […] different from mine” (112), and with the inspiration of Stella’s love, loyalty and wisdom, Ivan is able to make the elephant’s dying wish come true.
Ruby
Ruby is a young, inquisitive, loving, and initially rebellious elephant who spurs Ivan and Stella to re-examine their own situations, and finally find the courage to change. Like Ivan and Stella, Ruby was born in the wild but captured by humans, separated from her family, and forced into a life very different from the one she was meant to live. Ivan and Stella see that if Ruby can’t escape the prison of the mall circus, she will lead the same lonely, repressed life that they have; while they haven’t been able to fight back for their own sakes, they do so for Ruby.
Ruby’s first appearance in the novel shows her feisty nature, as she refuses to leave the truck she’s brought in and makes a sound like “a little trumpet” (70). Only Stella is able to coax Ruby out of the cage, and Ruby’s immediate bond with the older elephant, whom she calls Aunt Stella, reveals her affectionate personality. Ruby also quickly charms Ivan, despite her irritating litany of questions. She praises his art and tells Stella, “I really like Ivan” (95). Ruby is distraught after Stella’s death, and when Mack tries to train her to perform new tricks, Ruby initially rebels: When Mack threatens the baby elephant with a claw-stick, she bellows with “the most beautiful mad” Ivan has “ever heard” (152) and hits Mack with her trunk. However, Ruby has nightmares about the claw-stick and stops fighting, instead “do[ing] whatever Mack asks” (174). Ivan sees that if Ruby continues to live in the mall, she will lose her strong, energetic personality just as she has already lost her freedom.
However, when Ivan’s artwork draws protestors to the mall, Ruby is able to escape a dismal fate. While Ruby is sad to leave her animal friends and tells Ivan she’ll “remember everyone […] especially you” (257), she willingly enters the zoo workers’ cage and is transported to the same zoo as Ivan, where she can live with other elephants in a large natural enclosure. Ivan’s last vision of Ruby is of her with other elephants “by her side,” moving through tall grass with an elephant’s “lumbering grace” (295). Because of Stella’s and Ivan’s love and courage, Ruby can live—and thrive—the way a young elephant should.
Bob
Bob is a tiny stray dog with “no permanent address” (34), but he spends every night with Ivan, sneaking in through the hole in Ivan’s cage and sleeping on the gorilla’s belly. Out of all the animal characters in the novel, Bob is part of the species that is typically domesticated and closest to humans; ironically, however, Bob is the most determined of all the animals to remain free and independent. He proclaims, “I am a wild beast […] untamed and undaunted” (37). Because humans abandoned Bob and his siblings on the freeway as puppies and Bob was the only one to survive, Bob is deeply distrustful of humans and provides one of the strongest voices against human behavior throughout the novel. He isn’t surprised to learn that humans killed Ruby’s parents, and in general, he avoids people because “their scent upsets his digestion” (48).
Despite Bob’s insistence on his independent nature, he clearly cares for the other animals in the mall and encourages Ivan whenever he doubts his ability to save Ruby. When the other animals prepare to move into the zoo, Bob pretends he’s unconcerned about losing his friends and home, repeating, “Have you forgotten? I’m a wild beast, Ivan […] untamed, undaunted” (251). Still, he licks Ivan’s chin just before the gorilla leaves. In the final pages of the novel, Ivan discovers that Julia has adopted Bob—Bob has snuck into the zoo in Julia’s backpack. While the dog doesn’t admit he wants a home, he says Julia’s mom likes spending time with him, so he’s “doing everybody a favor” (299). Bob, while still maintaining his gruff, cynical exterior, has found a happy, secure home just as the other animals have—and he’s discovered that animals can trust some humans.
Julia
Julia is the 10-year-old daughter of the mall janitor George, and she spends her nights with the animals while George works. Like Ivan, Julia is an artist, not only because she’s always drawing, but because of the way she views the world: Ivan observes Julia drawing Bob, looking at the dog “the way an artist looks at the world when she’s trying to understand it” (47). After drawing him, Julia feels she truly knows the dog and gives him his name, Bob; Julia looks just as carefully and deeply at the rest of the mall animals, a trait that sets her apart from most humans. Her drawings of Ivan capture his “elegan[ce]” (44) and “sad[ness]” (45), and she is also able to draw possibilities beyond reality, “worlds that don’t yet exist” (20)—an ability that inspires Ivan to strive to do the same throughout the novel. Julia was the person who gave Ivan his first crayon and paper, allowing the gorilla to develop his artistic identity that becomes so important in the novel.
While Julia’s mother is not present in the novel, readers know she is sick and can’t work; Julia seems to have an understanding of pain and suffering beyond her years which, combined with her artist’s eye, allows her to truly see the mall animals’ suffering. She not only sees, but acts, begging her dad to make sure Stella gets help for her infected foot and wondering if she should alert authorities when Mack threatens Ruby with a claw-stick. Most of all, Julia, as an artist and a compassionate human, is the only one who can interpret Ivan’s painted message and understand that the gorilla has depicted Ruby at a zoo. Julia tells her father she understands Ivan “because I’m an artist, and he’s an artist” (217)—thus, the girl plays a direct role in allowing Ivan and Ruby to lead a more fulfilling life. In fact, Julia also calls the news station and alerts them to Ivan’s artwork, jump-starting the public attention that leads to Ivan and Ruby’s zoo placement. At the end of the novel, Julia even convinces her dad to let her adopt Bob, and she walks extra dogs so that she can pay for his food. In her final words of the novel, Julia thanks her father for helping her to save her beloved animals, again emphasizing her caring, big-hearted nature. Julia is, as Ruby would say, a “good” (105) human.
George
Julia’s father George, the mall janitor whose wife is very ill, is another “good” (105) human like his daughter—even if he is more concerned than Julia with the practical aspects of life, such as keeping his job and providing for his family. George is clearly a loving and responsible father, always urging Julia to do her homework rather than allowing her to help him with his work, and he cares for the mall animals as well—he brings treats for Stella, his “favorite” (88), and when Stella dies Ivan notices that George’s “cheeks are wet” (117). Because George is afraid of getting fired and being unable to support his sick wife and child, he is not as proactive as Julia in rescuing the mall animals: When Julia wants to call the authorities after Mack threatens Ruby during training, George convinces her not to. However, when it comes down to the possibility of “Ruby end[ing] up like Stella” (219), George finally agrees with his daughter and helps her paste Ivan’s painting on the mall billboard. While he does lose his mall job, George gets a new job at the zoo, and even allows his daughter to adopt the mall dog Bob—showing that he is just as caring and compassionate as his daughter.
Mack
Mack is, according to Ivan, the “boss” (6) of the Big Top Mall, where he trains the animals and runs the circus. Mack is also the closest thing Ivan has to a parent after he’s taken from his African home. Mack and his wife at the time, Helen, “raised [Ivan] like a human baby” (130), and from Ivan’s memories, it seems that Mack did truly care for Ivan like a child. Mack loved to drive to the window of a fast-food restaurant with Ivan in the car, and ask the cashiers, “Could I have extra ketchup for my kid?” (131). Mack took Ivan to baseball games and the movies, and when Helen left him, Ivan even slept with Mack in his bed. However, as much as Mack might have cared for Ivan, he never attempted to provide the animal with what a gorilla, rather than a human, needs. When Ivan became too big and ill-behaved to handle, Mack moved him to a mall cage.
Mack bought other animals for the mall as well, including elephants like Ruby and Stella who were captured from their homes and mistreated in zoos; while Mack himself might not treat the animals as badly as poachers or abusive zoo owners do, he clearly cares more for money than the animals’ welfare. He puts off Stella’s medical treatment until she dies and threatens Ruby with a claw-stick to make her perform. In addition, as the novel continues, Mack becomes more unhinged as he worries about his financial situation—Ivan observes Mack having red eyes and a “sharp smell” (147), as if he’s been drinking. Unfortunately, Mack’s problems make him act out against his animals rather than increasing his compassion.
The night before Ivan leaves for the zoo, Mack visits him and takes out a photo of young Ivan and Mack in his convertible. Mack reminisces about their shared past and tells Ivan, “I’m going to miss you” (255)—but then he walks away without looking back. While Mack does have a caring side, in the end, he is motivated by his own greed and unhappiness rather than concern for the animals he owns. In the larger scheme of the novel, Mack becomes an example of a human who is neither all good nor bad—not a rescuer of animals like Julia and the zoo workers, but not a heartless murderer like the humans who killed Ivan’s and Ruby’s families. Rather, Mack is just another complicated, contradictory human—the type Bob says he will “never” (105) understand.
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