Character Analysis
A Boy and His Elephant
Little Toomai's chapter might be called "Toomai of the Elephants," but the elephants are arguably more important than Little Toomai is. Little Toomai's story can be summed up easily: Boy shows skill, boy gets noticed by adults, boy loves his elephant, elephant lets boy see secret elephant ritual, boy is made hero. The end.
But just like the humans do to the elephants in general in the story, this plot neglects Kala Nag's importance. The noble elephant's story is one of freedom and confinement. He's basically an indentured servant sans dentures (they file his teeth down), and he's served the Indian Government for forty-seven years. Forty-seven years.
Kala Nag has submitted to this kind of treatment, and even though Kala Nag could easily squish the Toomais Little and Big, and stomp a few others along the way, what would that get him? Hunted and killed, that's what. So even though Kala Nag can slip his bonds without being noticed in the middle of the night, he knows better than to escape. He only celebrates the secret elephant dance, and returns to his captors to live a life that is safe, but isn't free.