Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Start discussion here for When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe.

From the publisher


INTRODUCTION

The title of this powerful first novel by Tess Uriza Holthe refers to the precarious situation of its main characters—the Karangalan family and their neighbors and friends—as they huddle in a cellar on the outskirts of Manila in February 1945. In the words of thirteen-year-old Alejandro, one of the novel’s three narrators, “Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens. I think of baby chicks I can hold in the palm of my hand, flapping wings that are not yet grown, and I am frightened” (p. 3).

Holthe, who was born in the United States, provides a grippingly realistic and compelling account of the last days of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In writing When the Elephants Dance, she relied partly on research but also largely on the stories she heard as a child from her lola (grandmother) and father, who, like Alejandro, was captured by Japanese soldiers outside Manila, tortured, and released. These childhood stories made a deep impression on the author. Through them she succeeds in conveying the horror of war as well as the hope and healing that family can provide, and in the process educates us on the history of the Philippines, the resilience of its people, and the United States’ role there.

Throughout, Holthe keeps the reader close to the experience of war: “Another loud explosion, much closer this time. I feel our house shake above us. I can hear the wood and the bamboo splintering. Everyone screams” (pp. 69-70). Not only is the boy Alejandro mistaken for a guerilla and hung by his thumbs, but his seventeen-year-old sister Isabelle, narrator the second part of the novel, is brutally raped by a group of Japanese soldiers. The arbitrary cruelties of wartime are graphically rendered in the form of eyewitness reports told in the present tense: “Back to Manila. A caravan of walking skeletons. After an hour some of the women begin to fall. The men keep walking. When someone does not get up, the soldiers prod them with the points of their blades. Those without kin are not helped by the others. Those who fall are stabbed. They do not cry out, and no one speaks. It has become dog eat dog” (p. 229).

Exposed to this barrage of atrocities, the main characters persistently cling to certain ideals, such as honor, family, religion, and patriotism. Though the assertion of these values helps the reader stomach the realism of history and war, Holthe does not reduce such high-minded principles to simple, clear-cut notions of right and wrong. In her hands, ideals are complex and difficult to realize: What is one’s true identity? Where do our loyalties belong? For example, Domingo Matapang, the third narrator, is the leader of an underground resistance movement. His wife and two children are in the cellar hiding with the Karangalans, and his mistress is in the hills with his ragtag group of rebels. But Isabelle, who admires Domingo, is rescued instead by Feliciano, a Filipino who collaborates with the Japanese soldiers. Moreover, in the shelter with the Karangalans are Yukino Yoshi and her daughter, Mica, who are Japanese, but also Filipino citizens.

Another type of realism found in the novel is the magical realism that pervades the mythlike tales that the refugees in the cellar tell each other in an effort both to escape and to understand their present reality. By telling a story, the miserly Aling Ana reaches out to save Isabelle from an engulfing bitterness, Mang Pedro makes Domingo aware of his family’s needs, and the old Spaniard, Tay Fredrico, breathes life into the possibility of leaving one’s family behind for the love of country. These diverting and enriching stories, little self-contained gems woven into the fabric of the novel, are beautiful and strange; their fantastic imagery—of sham potions, a church that sinks below the ground, ghosts, enchanted forests, and white trumpet lilies in the moonlight—animates the core of the novel.

One of the novel’s great strengths is its artful intertwining of the realms of myth and history. Tay Fredrico’s fairy-tale love story, “Portrait of an Aristocrat,” set in 1870, when the Philippines were under Spanish colonial rule, deals with a sixteenth-century curse, corruption in the church, and racism. “A Cure for Happiness” also exposes hypocrisy in the church, criticizing organized religion while upholding the mysteries of love and faith. The beautiful healer Esmeralda is the illegitimate daughter of a nun who refuses to acknowledge her. The whole town is enwrapped in hypocrisy, as the townspeople turn on the woman, to whom they are secretly beholden. Esmeralda’s lover is betrothed to another woman for propriety’s sake, and the church itself sinks into the ground during his wedding ceremony.

When the Elephants Dance ends with the Japanese surrender to General Douglas MacArthur’s troops, as the surviving main characters begin to rebuild their lives. If the novel has illustrated the capacity of stories to help us survive hardship and interpret reality, it also, by concluding with a new beginning, points to their regenerative power. And just as the characters in the novel use stories to help them understand their lives, we as readers can carry the lessons in When the Elephants Dancefar beyond World War II and the Philippines to understand our own.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How do the lives of the individual characters reflect the proverb that supplies the book’s title?

Why are the first and last chapters of the book narrated by Alejandro?

The main characters’ family name, Karangalan, means “honor” or “one of honor” (p. 139). What is honor in the context of the book?

Why won’t Alejandro tell the Japanese soldiers about Domingo even after he thinks that Domingo is dead?

Why does Carlito call for his father when Esmeralda is being attacked (p. 62)?

Why does Tirso’s wedding to Catalina continue even after Gabriel has been killed?

Why does Roger hold a crucifix, but say “a different prayer, in the ancient language of the Morro people” to save his brother Roman from Mang Minno (p. 103)?

Why does Isabelle help Domingo even though she initially says to herself, “I will not help him” (p. 118)?

Why does Isabelle say that in many ways Feliciano “is similar to Domingo” (p. 162)?

Why does Ana agree to visit Corazón?

Who or what does Domingo love most—his family, Nina, or his country?

Why does Fredrico offer to paint Divina’s portrait?

Why does Domingo refuse to join forces with Lieutenant Holden?

Why does Domingo go back to save his family?

Why does Fredrico downplay Domingo’s heroism and suddenly affirm Mang Selso’s?

For Further Reflection

Do you agree with Mang Pedro or with Domingo on whether, in a defensive war, your family would be better served if you stayed with them or joined the resistance to fight?

How, if at all, is a successful storyteller different from a successful historian?

I read it a couple years ago. My brief thoughts then were:

"This is a cruelly brutal and yet somehow still spiritually uplifting novel set during the final liberation of the Philippines capital Manila in the latter stages of World War Two. It follows a group of local people who are desperately trying to avoid the systematic rape and murder being perpetrated by the retreating Japanese army but is interspersed with the recounting of old Filipino folk tales."

I read this novel last month and seeing that only one person has discussed it, I will put in my thoughts and answers to some of the questions.
How do the lives of the individual characters reflect the proverb that supplies the book’s title?
“When The Elephants Dance, the chickens must be careful” – that’s the complete proverb and the elephants refer to the Japanese and Americans, who are waging war on the Filipino islands.
Each individual character is affected by the war and yet they respond differently to it – Domingo is a guerilla leader, who is secretly collaborating with the Americans, Feliciano collaborates with the Japanese. Most characters, however do not want to take sides, because they know that it is dangerous and all they want is to be able with their family to survive the war and have peace.

Why are the first and last chapters of the book narrated by Alejandro?
I read in an interview that 13 year old Alejandro was inspired by the author’s father’s experience. So probably the author felt more strongly about this character. Also, a child character has a very innocent, yet clear view of the war.

Why won’t Alejandro tell the Japanese soldiers about Domingo even after he thinks that Domingo is dead?
Because Domingo was hiding out with his family, I think Alejandro was a afraid that the Japanese would visit their basement hideout. Furthermore, Domingo is like a hero to Alejandro, and when Domingo talked about the importance of fighting for the Philippines instead of surrendering, I think that made an impression on Alejandro.

Why does Isabelle help Domingo even though she initially says to herself, “I will not help him” (p. 118)?
In the end, she probably thought that she couldn’t just leave him lying there on the forest floor half-alive. It would take some time for her to return and find him and maybe during that time, he would die or be found by the Japanese. Also, Domingo’s wife lives with Isabelle’s family, so she wouldn’t be able to face his wife without bringing him along. Maybe she also believed that Domingo was important for the guerrilla followers that were fighting to get rid of the Japanese.

Why does Isabelle say that in many ways Feliciano “is similar to Domingo” (p. 162)?
To emphasize that regardless of whether they are collaborating with the American or the Japanese, both of them actually fighting for the peace of the Philippines.

Who or what does Domingo love most—his family, Nina, or his country?
That’s the million dollar question. I think Domingo loves what he couldn’t have the most. At first, he was obsessed with being a guerrilla fighter, abandoning his family. At that point, he seems to love his country most. When he returns to his family, he misses Ana and abandons his family a second time. However, I think his love for Ana was purely physical. In the end however, he realizes that he actually loved his family the most (view spoiler)[when Nina was already dead and his country free again (hide spoiler)].

Why does Fredrico offer to paint Divina’s portrait?
Frederico was not used to see a native woman with attitude. Divina was furious how Frederico treated her mother and she didn’t hold back her emotions. She gave him a piece of her mind, and he didn’t expect a native woman to talk in such a way (because Spaniards were superior to the natives). Her attitude attracted him and he wanted to paint her. She is also described to be incredibly beautiful.

Why does Domingo go back to save his family?
Nina offered to go with him to look for his family. She repeatedly made that offer and in the end, he realized that he was being irresponsible for abandoning them.


It’s quite difficult to find English language novels set in the Philippines, so I was quite excited to read this. But I was very disappointed. I thought the writing was very clumsy and it thoroughly showed that the author had never set foot in the Philippines. Geographically the story didn’t make any sense. And the folk tales that were told by the characters at different random times rendered the entire book disjointed. I wonder if someone else read this book?