The White Bone
Encyclopedia
The White Bone is a Canadian
novel
written by Barbara Gowdy
and published by HarperCollins
in 1999
. Sometimes compared to Richard Adams's Watership Down
, it is an adult fantasy story about animals—in this case, African elephants--in a realistic natural setting but given the ability to speak to one another throughout the book. Subsequently, the elephants are given anthropomorphized personalities and have created their own religion
, folklore
, and customs, all based on the author's research on elephant behavior.
The novel includes a map of the section of African landscape that the story occurs in, as well as several family trees of the elephant characters and a glossary of terms used in elephant speech (unlike in Watership Down, the characters do not speak their own language, but use certain words to define objects not found in their language, such as "big grass" for bamboo
and "delirium" for estrus).
powers and can occasionally see into the future. Thrown into a drought
, with human poachers
becoming increasingly common, Mud and her family must find the legendary "Safe Place" where drought and poachers do not come. The "White Bone," a rib of a newborn elephant, is rumored to be lying somewhere in the savannah and is said to point in the direction of the Safe Place. After a slaughter which leaves most of Mud's adoptive family dead and her best friend, Date Bed, missing, Mud and the remaining She-S elephants set off to find the White Bone and Date Bed.
The novel is rather nihilistic
, as it is unlikely that any of the characters ever reach the Safe Place, with a few possible exceptions. Hence, it is considered a powerful social commentary
on the plight of endangered animals, showing their situation to be somewhat hopeless. Another main theme of the novel is the importance of family
ties, and the fact that Mud, as an adopted member of the She-S family, feels alienated from the other elephants throughout.
Another theme of the novel acknowledges the old saying, "An elephant never forgets." The novel implies that elephants will eventually go senile, but as most are killed before their prime, the saying is usually true. The elephants are capable of remembering every minute detail of their lives, unlike humans, who tend to remember important events most strongly.
A young female elephant. Mud was abandoned by her birth family, the She-M's, as an infant, and was taken in by a somewhat reluctant She-S family. Although she is able to have visions of future events, and current events taking place elsewhere, she is rather sullen and antisocial and is only readily accepted by several members of the She-S's. Recently impregnated for the first time, Mud is shown trying to come to terms with her pregnancy in the middle of a drought and her feelings of alienation in her adoptive family throughout. As the story progresses, she finds herself needing to become hard-hearted and willing to make sacrifices as she becomes more and more concerned with finding the Safe Place, while her companions remain focused on finding a missing elephant, Date Bed, and lose willpower, becoming emaciated and hopeless. Her emotional abandonment of Date Bed is one of the turning points in the novel.
Date Bed
A young female elephant. Date Bed is Mud's best friend and a member of the She-S family. She is the family's "mind talker," and is able to read the minds of not only elephants but of animals of other species. She is pleasant, eloquent, and soft-spoken, and aware of the fact that she loves a male elephant, Tall Time, in a way that is unnatural for her species; however, she is sexually immature and has never mated. When she becomes separated from her family during a slaughter, she spends much of the book trying to find them again, as well as the White Bone.
Tall Time
A male elephant. Tall Time is a tall and lanky loner elephant who mentally collects and categorises all known omens and superstitions. He goes off on his own to find the Lost Ones, a troupe of Forest elephants, in order to gain information from them on omens and the White Bone. He is the father of Mud's baby, and loves Mud to an unnatural extent, wanting to start a herd with her although this custom is unheard of amongst elephants.
She-Snorts
A female elephant. She-Snorts is an alluring, droll, sensual elephant, with the most powerful sense of smell in the family, and the mother of Date Bed. Not used to being given responsibilities, she finds herself the matriarch of her family herd after all of her older family members are killed in a slaughter. As the novel progresses, she becomes more grave and severe, and more single-mindedly focused on finding her daughter. Pregnant with another calf, she bargains with Me-Me the cheetah
to show them the way to the Safe Place in exchange for the calf she will soon give birth to; this becomes an important plot element of the book.
She-Soothes
A female elephant. She-Soothes is a physically tough but kind-hearted elephant, and as the nurse cow of the family, she is an effective healer. Although optimistic, she is not sentimental and uses the phrase, "What's done is done!" after any tragedy. This phrase becomes a way for herself and Mud to ward off grief as the story progresses. She is the mother of the partially crippled infant, Bent, and is fiercely protective of him. She likes the sound of her name so much that she refers to herself in the third person
.
She-Screams
A female elephant. She-Screams is a repulsive elephant, both in looks and in personality, and the main cause of tension in her family. She is banished from the family by She-Snorts for suggesting that Date Bed is dead and strongly hates Mud, but tries to gain acceptance after claiming to have inherited the wisdom from a family of slaughtered elephants she encountered while banished. Although she is highly unpleasant, Mud cannot help feeling some kinship for She-Screams, because both are out-of-place in the She-S family.
Torrent
An old male elephant. Torrent is the wisest and most knowledgeable and proud elephant in the novel, and is a friend of Tall Time's. He is known for being very soulful and valiant, although he starts to become senile from his old age.
Me-Me
A female cheetah
with a taste for baby elephant. Me-Me cannot communicate with the She-S's through words, so through body language she establishes that she can show the elephants where the Safe Place is, in exchange for She-Snorts's and Mud's unborn calves.
Bent
A baby male elephant, and the son of She-Soothes. Bent is the innocent voice of the group, but he is slightly crippled and becomes a liability as the story progresses, although he is fiercely defended by his family.
Hail Stones
A young male elephant, and the last surviving member of the She-D family, Hail Stones joins Mud and her companions on their search for the White Bone and Date Bed. He acts somewhat like Date Bed or a young Torrent, as he speaks eloquently and tries to comfort the She-S family even after the death of his entire family, without complaint. Mud finds herself drawn to him.
Swamp
A young male elephant. He is rather antisocial and sardonic, but is surprisingly motivated to help Hail Stones after the two become friends. However, he shows little attachment to the rest of his family, especially his mother, She-Screams.
She-Scares
A female elephant, and Mud's adoptive mother. She is one of the few elephants of the She-S family who accepts Mud.
The Lost Ones
A family of elephants, also known as the We-F's, who are Forest elephants. They are self-centered, and all possess visionary capabilities.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Barbara Gowdy
Barbara Gowdy
Barbara Gowdy, CM is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. Born in Windsor, Ontario, she is the long-time partner of poet Christopher Dewdney and resides in Toronto.-Literary career:...
and published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 1999
1999 in literature
The year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
. Sometimes compared to Richard Adams's Watership Down
Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
, it is an adult fantasy story about animals—in this case, African elephants--in a realistic natural setting but given the ability to speak to one another throughout the book. Subsequently, the elephants are given anthropomorphized personalities and have created their own religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, and customs, all based on the author's research on elephant behavior.
The novel includes a map of the section of African landscape that the story occurs in, as well as several family trees of the elephant characters and a glossary of terms used in elephant speech (unlike in Watership Down, the characters do not speak their own language, but use certain words to define objects not found in their language, such as "big grass" for bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and "delirium" for estrus).
Plot
The novel is told entirely from the points of view of its elephant characters. Much like real elephants, all female elephants (cows) and prepubescent males (bulls) live in matrilineal family groups, and mature male elephants are loners. The main characters in the novel are mostly from the "She-S" family, into which Mud, a young cow who is pregnant with her first calf, has been adopted. Mud is blessed with visionaryVisionary
Defined broadly, a visionary, is one who can envision the future. For some groups this can involve the supernatural or drugs.The visionary state is achieved via meditation, drugs, lucid dreams, daydreams, or art. One example is Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century artist/visionary and Catholic saint...
powers and can occasionally see into the future. Thrown into a drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
, with human poachers
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
becoming increasingly common, Mud and her family must find the legendary "Safe Place" where drought and poachers do not come. The "White Bone," a rib of a newborn elephant, is rumored to be lying somewhere in the savannah and is said to point in the direction of the Safe Place. After a slaughter which leaves most of Mud's adoptive family dead and her best friend, Date Bed, missing, Mud and the remaining She-S elephants set off to find the White Bone and Date Bed.
The novel is rather nihilistic
Nihilism
Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
, as it is unlikely that any of the characters ever reach the Safe Place, with a few possible exceptions. Hence, it is considered a powerful social commentary
Social commentary
Social commentary is the act of rebelling against an individual, or a group of people by rhetorical means, or commentary on social issues or society...
on the plight of endangered animals, showing their situation to be somewhat hopeless. Another main theme of the novel is the importance of family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
ties, and the fact that Mud, as an adopted member of the She-S family, feels alienated from the other elephants throughout.
Another theme of the novel acknowledges the old saying, "An elephant never forgets." The novel implies that elephants will eventually go senile, but as most are killed before their prime, the saying is usually true. The elephants are capable of remembering every minute detail of their lives, unlike humans, who tend to remember important events most strongly.
Characters
Mud (She-Spurns)A young female elephant. Mud was abandoned by her birth family, the She-M's, as an infant, and was taken in by a somewhat reluctant She-S family. Although she is able to have visions of future events, and current events taking place elsewhere, she is rather sullen and antisocial and is only readily accepted by several members of the She-S's. Recently impregnated for the first time, Mud is shown trying to come to terms with her pregnancy in the middle of a drought and her feelings of alienation in her adoptive family throughout. As the story progresses, she finds herself needing to become hard-hearted and willing to make sacrifices as she becomes more and more concerned with finding the Safe Place, while her companions remain focused on finding a missing elephant, Date Bed, and lose willpower, becoming emaciated and hopeless. Her emotional abandonment of Date Bed is one of the turning points in the novel.
Date Bed
A young female elephant. Date Bed is Mud's best friend and a member of the She-S family. She is the family's "mind talker," and is able to read the minds of not only elephants but of animals of other species. She is pleasant, eloquent, and soft-spoken, and aware of the fact that she loves a male elephant, Tall Time, in a way that is unnatural for her species; however, she is sexually immature and has never mated. When she becomes separated from her family during a slaughter, she spends much of the book trying to find them again, as well as the White Bone.
Tall Time
A male elephant. Tall Time is a tall and lanky loner elephant who mentally collects and categorises all known omens and superstitions. He goes off on his own to find the Lost Ones, a troupe of Forest elephants, in order to gain information from them on omens and the White Bone. He is the father of Mud's baby, and loves Mud to an unnatural extent, wanting to start a herd with her although this custom is unheard of amongst elephants.
She-Snorts
A female elephant. She-Snorts is an alluring, droll, sensual elephant, with the most powerful sense of smell in the family, and the mother of Date Bed. Not used to being given responsibilities, she finds herself the matriarch of her family herd after all of her older family members are killed in a slaughter. As the novel progresses, she becomes more grave and severe, and more single-mindedly focused on finding her daughter. Pregnant with another calf, she bargains with Me-Me the cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
to show them the way to the Safe Place in exchange for the calf she will soon give birth to; this becomes an important plot element of the book.
She-Soothes
A female elephant. She-Soothes is a physically tough but kind-hearted elephant, and as the nurse cow of the family, she is an effective healer. Although optimistic, she is not sentimental and uses the phrase, "What's done is done!" after any tragedy. This phrase becomes a way for herself and Mud to ward off grief as the story progresses. She is the mother of the partially crippled infant, Bent, and is fiercely protective of him. She likes the sound of her name so much that she refers to herself in the third person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
.
She-Screams
A female elephant. She-Screams is a repulsive elephant, both in looks and in personality, and the main cause of tension in her family. She is banished from the family by She-Snorts for suggesting that Date Bed is dead and strongly hates Mud, but tries to gain acceptance after claiming to have inherited the wisdom from a family of slaughtered elephants she encountered while banished. Although she is highly unpleasant, Mud cannot help feeling some kinship for She-Screams, because both are out-of-place in the She-S family.
Torrent
An old male elephant. Torrent is the wisest and most knowledgeable and proud elephant in the novel, and is a friend of Tall Time's. He is known for being very soulful and valiant, although he starts to become senile from his old age.
Me-Me
A female cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
with a taste for baby elephant. Me-Me cannot communicate with the She-S's through words, so through body language she establishes that she can show the elephants where the Safe Place is, in exchange for She-Snorts's and Mud's unborn calves.
Bent
A baby male elephant, and the son of She-Soothes. Bent is the innocent voice of the group, but he is slightly crippled and becomes a liability as the story progresses, although he is fiercely defended by his family.
Hail Stones
A young male elephant, and the last surviving member of the She-D family, Hail Stones joins Mud and her companions on their search for the White Bone and Date Bed. He acts somewhat like Date Bed or a young Torrent, as he speaks eloquently and tries to comfort the She-S family even after the death of his entire family, without complaint. Mud finds herself drawn to him.
Swamp
A young male elephant. He is rather antisocial and sardonic, but is surprisingly motivated to help Hail Stones after the two become friends. However, he shows little attachment to the rest of his family, especially his mother, She-Screams.
She-Scares
A female elephant, and Mud's adoptive mother. She is one of the few elephants of the She-S family who accepts Mud.
The Lost Ones
A family of elephants, also known as the We-F's, who are Forest elephants. They are self-centered, and all possess visionary capabilities.