49 pages • 1 hour read
The Elephant In The Room
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Chapters 11-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
Gio pays $41,000 to buy Veda from Chester Briot. Along with Veda, he also gets Mr. Pickles the bear, food, and other supplies. When Veda steps onto Gio's property, she seems to enjoy the new surroundings.
Chester is happy to sell Veda because he never had the proper permits for her and did not regularly take her to the veterinarian. Saying goodbye, Veda tosses dirt at Chester. Rodrigo, Veda's caretaker, offers Gio a bullhook, but Gio refuses.
After selling Veda, Chester starts having health issues. He wonders if Veda throwing dirt at him caused them and thinks about it daily.
Chapter 12 Summary
Veda sticks close to Gio, almost like a puppy. When Gio sees Mr. Pickles, he is shocked that the bear's claws and teeth were removed, and the circus used a cattle prod to control him. Gio decides to let Mr. Pickles out, and the bear makes a big mess in the barn before dashing into the farmhouse.
Chapter 13 Summary
Mr. Pickles raids Gio's refrigerator until he accidentally turns on the radio. The opera music scares the bear, making him dash away. Despite Gio's efforts to find him, Mr. Pickles is lost. Gio feeds Veda, finding comfort in her presence. Later, Gio settles in the barn loft for the night. Unexpectedly, Mr. Pickles returns and falls asleep in his cage.
Chapter 14 Summary
Veda remembers her old life with sadness. She did not like being in the circus—constantly moving around and how they used tools like hooks and electric cattle prods to make her perform. Every night, for all 21 years of her life, Veda misses her mother deeply.
Chapter 15 Summary
Mr. Pickles experiences the world primarily through smells. Just like Veda, the bear enjoys being released from circus life.
Chapter 16 Summary
Sila feels guilty about her mother's deportation, believing she caused it. She remembers the incident that triggered everything. Her mother, Oya, received her paycheck along with a male colleague's. Despite doing the same job for the same hours, the hotel paid the man more. Oya confronted the hotel's manager about this unfairness, but a few days later, the hotel fired Oya under the pretext of staff cuts. As Oya waited for her husband after being let go, another woman came to interview for her position. Soon after, the family received a notice that Oya's immigration status was being reviewed due to an anonymous tip, leading to Oya's deportation.
Late at night, Sila finds her old report cards and reads the kind notes left by her second-grade teacher, Lillian Gardino. Sila tries to skip school the next day, faking an illness, but her father insists she goes.
Chapter 17 Summary
Gio finds a new home for Mr. Pickles at a bear sanctuary.
As Veda munches on bushes and whole trees, Gio worries about how much she eats. Veda discovers an underground spring and digs it up, making her own pond. Gio decides to make the pond bigger with the help of a backhoe.
The truck parts finally arrive, and Alp plans to help Gio fix the truck on Saturday. Gio hints that he has a surprise planned for Sila, making her curious about what it could be.
Chapter 18 Summary
When Alp and Sila reach Gio's farm, they find him waiting outside the gate with the truck. Gio prefers Alp to fix the truck outside for safety. He mentions building a second gate but keeps the rest a mystery. Gio then takes them on a golf cart ride to show them the new pond, where Sila spots Veda, the elephant. Sila is overjoyed to see Veda and is surprised to learn that Gio bought her. As they leave, Gio invites Sila to visit anytime and bring a friend along.
Chapter 19 Summary
Sila wears a sweater her mother knitted for her, even though it is too warm and makes her uncomfortable. During the pairing session, the facilitator notices and asks Sila if she is too hot. Sila feels overwhelmed and shares that her mother made the sweater, causing Mateo to speak up for the first time and explain its cultural and emotional importance.
As they walk home together, Sila expresses gratitude to Mateo. Although Sila tries to chat with Mateo, he stays quiet. When they reach Mateo's house, he starts explaining different things about gravity to Sila.
Chapter 20 Summary
Gio and Veda settle into a routine on the farm. Sila suggests visiting Gio over the weekend and bringing Mateo along, and Alp agrees.
Although Mateo has been quiet during their pairing sessions for weeks, Sila asks if he wants to see an elephant. Mateo responds that he needs to check with his mom, then returns to his usual silence. Sila feels frustrated but is relieved when they walk home together, and Mateo invites her inside for the first time.
In Mateo's house, he excitedly greets his dog, Waffles, with many questions. However, when his mom calls for him, Mateo falls silent again.
Chapters 11-20 Analysis
In this part of the story, Sloan highlights the importance of respecting animals. Veda and Mr. Pickles are examples of the mistreatment often endured by animals in circuses and other industries that exploit animals for entertainment. Sloan emphasizes respecting animals by giving them a voice in the narrative. Sloan uses a limited third-person narration throughout the narrative, mainly focusing on the perspectives of Sila and Gio. In this section, however, Veda and Mr. Pickles reveal their thoughts and feelings. Through these chapters, Sloan contrasts the different natures of Veda and Mr. Pickles but underscores their shared relief at being liberated from the circus. Both feel that "being set free from a traveling circus was heaven on earth" (91). Their joy at being liberated by Gio highlights the theme of Solidarity and Advocacy in the Face of Injustice.
Both Veda and Mr. Pickles endured abuse during their time in the circus. The circus members exposed the animals to exhausting conditions and mistreatment, including the use of painful tools like the electric cattle prod and the bullhook. Many places have banned these tools due to concerns about their cruelty. Veda, in particular, recalls the agony of being forced to perform painful acts under the threat of these instruments. Veda remembers her life in the circus, where the trainers taught her to perform and get into positions "of agony that caused white hot pain […] through her entire body. But she would do it. She had no choice. They had a hook. And they had the electric shock stinger. They used them" (88). Additionally, Veda's separation from her mother and solitary confinement in a cage highlights the distress inflicted upon social animals like elephants. Every night, the elephant thinks of her mother, indicating that Veda, like many of the characters in this novel, struggles with her isolation; like Sila, Overcoming Isolation Through Family and Community Bonds will be an important part of Veda’s story. In short, the humans who should have been caring for Veda mostly ignored her welfare in pursuit of profits.
Like Veda, Mr. Pickles also experienced harsh treatment at the circus. The circus provides Gio with a note detailing that Mr. Pickles had his claws removed when he was young and four teeth pulled, including his largest ones. Bears walk on their tiptoes, so declawing them is excruciatingly painful and can lead to arthritis and joint problems as they age. Similarly, defanging is another painful procedure, affecting the animal's ability to eat boned meat and necessitating supplements to compensate for the loss. While the circus members release Veda onto Gio's property, Mr. Pickles is kept confined in a cage, with the circus asserting that the bear is ill-tempered. They provide Gio with an electric cattle prod to control him. Mr. Pickles' fur shows signs of patchiness, suggesting he spent most of his time confined. All of these factors likely contribute to Mr. Pickles' poor behavior. Although captive bears can consume dog food, it must be supplemented with produce, nuts, and seeds, a necessity that Mr. Pickles was denied. Like Veda, Mr. Pickles' treatment illustrates that the circus treated their animals like commodities rather than living beings.
Chester confesses this neglect for his animals in his private thoughts, admitting to the struggle of disposing of Veda. He "never received an exotic animal permit. He didn't do regular (and required by law) veterinarian check-ups. He had never been caught breaking the rules because the circus was always on the move" (70). Chester's primary concern is profiting and ridding himself of Veda, showing little regard for whether Gio's farm suits an elephant. Without Gio's consent, Chester also left Mr. Pickles, a bear, with him. While the author enacts some form of retribution on the circus owner, inflicting nightmares about being confined in a cage and cursing him with ill health, in reality, such offenses are typically met with fines.
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By Holly Goldberg Sloan
