Giving the right message?

by Jésica Torres

´When an elephant walks’ intends, as the author says, to show children that everyone gets scared. But is the story message as simple as that? Or it hides more complex matters as regards society and human relationship? Even a strong and big animal like an elephant may be afraid of something. However, I think that the writer goes beyond her original focus and says more than that. The story, in fact, shows how society stigmatizes and judges people because of their appearance and how fear prevents us from being helpful.

It’s widely known that the strongest animals are the ones that survive in the jungle and this conception is somewhat reflected in the story. Big and strong animals fright smaller ones. No matter they are carnivorous or not, their life may be in danger or not, they just get scared because of the big size or the physical appearance of these animals. The bear gets scared when he sees an elephant walking, the crocodile gets scared when he sees the bear running, the racoon gets scared when she sees the wild hot dashing, the mouse gets scared when he sees the racoon running and the elephant, at last, gets scared when he sees the ugly little mouse running away. The story does not encourage children not to feel scared because of other person’s size or appearance; an elephant would never hurt a bear, as a bear wouldn’t be a threat to a crocodile. However, the bear as well as the crocodile get scared when they notice that the other animals are bigger than them. The same happens with the elephant and the mouse; how is it that an elephant gets scared of such a small and insignificant animal? Easy to answer! Mice are so ugly animals that you should be scared of them. Not because they may be dangerous, but because of their repulsive appearance.

How fear works against solidarity is another issue that this story portrays. None of the animals ask the other why they are scared or if they need help. They just run away because they feel frightened. Individualism and not solidarity is then transmitted to children. All the animals run away when they see that the other may be in danger. They don´t care if the other needs help and they don´t even ask the reason of the scaring. They don´t offer their help and no one, of course, helps them. They all want to save themselves without worrying about the others.

We have all once got scared of something, that’s true, but we have to ask ourselves if we are giving children the right message. Do we want children to be afraid of someone because of his/her appearance and not to react generously, or do we want kids to be capable of overcoming their fears and managing difficult situations?