Analysis Of An Elephant Crackup?

Largely known as the biggest animal on the planet, elephant is always considered human’ friendliest wild friend. We have coexisted from the beginning of time, working, sharing this increasingly overcrowded land. In the crazy and fast pacing world of animals and the endless fight over the places in the food chain , elephant is still supposed to be the calmest because, according to some children’s book, those problems are too small compared to the size of the animal. However, it seems that this theory is only true in the childhood fantasy. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert drills on the downfall of elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants, and presents an educated and almost unexpected

For example, they “somewhat loosely bound and yet intricately interconnected”(Siebert 355), we have our seemingly perfect social system where people have their roles and privacy; and and social network, which connects people regardless of distance. “When an elephant dies, its family members engage in intense mourning and burial rituals, conducting week-long vigils over the body, carefully covering it with earth and bush”(Siebert 355). Sound familiar? We too bury our passed loved ones and have events to say goodbye to them. We used voice, tone and gesture to communicate with each other, they “employ a range of vocalizations, from low-frequency rumbles to higher-pitched screams and trumpets, along with a variety of visual signals”(Siebert 355-356). So now,with all these resemblances, the connection between humanity and elephants is too apparent to just be a coincidence. This is the time where a question is raised: If we are so similar, could the things that are happening to the elephants also be happening right now or in a near future to humans? Will we all just turn into beastly creatures one day and kill other species, along with our own and go into extinction? That sounds like a scary thing to imagine, but we are not too far away from that point. We have been killing each other and hunt down animals for thousands of year. So what is the thing that still help us remain sane and existing? Looking at the case of elephants, we have much to thank to the elder women in our lives. It is believed and scientifically proved in Charles Siebert’s essay that the extraneous violence of elephants is largely attributed to the disappearing of the herd’s matriarch and experienced female. We too, would have the same reactions with the absence of these women, which is demonstrated in the living example of the Citadel in Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel”. The male students in