Analysis Of Elephant By Polly Clark

Every so often there comes a time when one is struck by a complete lack of inspiration - a time abandoned by hopes and dreams. The short story “Elephant” by Polly Clark tells the story of William, a writer going through this phase. The short story is written in medias res with a third person limited point of view bound to the protagonist, William. “Elephant” is written chronologically, containing only one flashback and spans a short time span, presumably no more than a few hours. We are almost immediately introduced to the setting; a quiet house on an early afternoon with a neat lawn. The curtains are drawn in William’s room as he is unable to write if he has a view of the garden. It is overgrown and mundane, reminding him of his current life situation, in which he writes short biographies of pop singers using facts from the internet. William would rather write about film stars from the golden age of cinema, but he is limited by his attitude, “... if you care too much for your subject your little book might not be able to accommodate all you really wanted to say. To have a lot to say, and then to be unable …show more content…
4, l. 120 - 122). In the end William contemplates the endings he had written in his previous biographies, all of them seemingly easy, except the ending of Christine. But then he remembers the blue elephant, the excitement and happiness. William steps out of his boundaries and ceases to write a biography and instead writes what he actually wants to. As he ends Christine’s story, William wants to end his own story of biography writing, and as a parting gift he gives her a piece of himself - his blue elephant. This is a symbol of him wanting to secure Christine’s future by making sure that she never forgets what he had forgotten. That she never forgets what makes her