Claim on Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya

               I believe that the way the author in this story portrays setting in the beginning and end of the story "Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsuchiya, links to how the zoo keepers are feeling at each part of the story. In the beginning of the story Yukio explains how the cherry blossoms are blooming in a beautiful zoo during spring time. It was peaceful and overall a cheerful place for both the animals at the zoo and the zoo keepers. As the story progresses the setting becomes utterly different than before. The author talks of a war coming to Tokyo, Japan which is were the zoo is. "Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day and night, like falling rain" this quote is definitely distressing and for the most part lugubrious. This connects the emotions of the zoo keepers because not very much later in the story it states, "'The elephants are dead! They're dead!' screamed the elephant trainer as he ran into the office. He buried his head in his hands and cried, beating the desk top with his fist." this also shows deep sorrow like the first quote. In conclusion I think that the setting was written to slightly connect to the zoo keepers emotions.