A London Landmark by E.V. Lucas
E.V. Lucas's "Without Souls" is narrated by the largest elephant at the Zoo, a female who has lived in Regent's Park since arriving from Ceylon in 1876. She recounts having spent six years in Ceylon before her long residence at the Gardens, making her, in her own estimation, a traveller unlike the hippopotamus, which was born at the Zoo in 1872 and has never known anywhere else. The elephant explains her habit of continually nodding her head: she does it while counting how many visitors correctly refer to her as "she" or "her," despite a notice on her enclosure plainly stating her sex. She observes that out of every hundred visitors, fewer than three get her pronoun right, and reflects wryly on this general failure of observation or education among the public, noting that she and her fellow animals, unlike people, have no pockets and so are spared the pickpocketing warned against elsewhere in the Gardens (with the exception of the kangaroo). She describes having taught herself to read over time by picking up newspapers dropped by visitors or borrowed from her keeper, starting with the pickpocket notices and the sign forbidding smoking in her house, and gradually mastering reading altogether. Through this she keeps up with current events, mentioning that she overheard talk of the Suffragettes on a recent Sunday, remarking that there was no such talk in 1876. She recalls that Winston was only two years old in 1876 and used to be brought to see her as a small child with a small head, and that she gave him rides on her back, noting with some wonder that he is the only one of her childhood visitors she can remember rising to high office. The narrator reflects on the many kinds of people who come to see her: naturalists, lovers, uncles with nephews, and men attempting jokes at her expense. She says she enjoys Bank Holidays best, when simple people are easy to astonish, and likes Sundays least, when cleverer visitors come, particularly schoolmasters, who lecture about her at length, ask many questions, and never tip her keeper. She notes the frequent, tiresome curiosity about her weight, and repeats a stock joke about not wanting to have her tread on someone's corn, along with jokes about "packing up" her trunk, which she says are repeated so often as to bore her thoroughly.
By E.V. Lucas · First published 1914 · Genre: Humorous Satire, Social Commentary, Sketch · 946 words
First lines
Without Souls
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A London Landmark is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated 1914 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: E.V. Lucas
- Date: 1914 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Humorous Satire, Social Commentary, Sketch, Essay, Whimsy
- Length: 946 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for A London Landmark by E.V. Lucas
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Similar titles
- The Thousand Threepenny Bits by E. V. Lucas
- The Fatigue Of Fleet Street by G. K. Chesterton
- The Strayed Prohibitionist by Agnes Repplier
- A Sunday Night by Thomas Burke
- The Tyranny Of The Lares by Gelett Burgess
- Dining Out Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray
Genres
- Humorous Satire — The work employs wit and irony throughout, satirizing human behavior, particularly the repeated failure of zoo visitors to read gender signage and their relentless repetition of tired jokes about the elephant's trunk and weight.
- Social Commentary — The narrative critiques British society through the elephant's observations, including commentary on education failures, class distinctions between Bank Holiday and Sunday visitors, and contemporary issues like the Suffragette movement.
- Sketch — The work functions as a character sketch or humorous sketch in the tradition of early 20th-century literary journalism, using a single voice to portray both character and social environment.
- Essay — The piece exhibits essayistic qualities with philosophical observations on time, memory, human nature, and the elephant's reflections on decades of observation from 1876 onward.
Tags
London · British history · Architecture · Essay · Cultural commentary · Urban landscape · Historical narrative · Building · Landmark · British culture · Victorian era · Travel writing