Significance of Tigers

Several tigers play important roles in the narrative. The most important is the one that escapes from an urban zoo and makes its way to the forested hills above the town of Galina where Natalia's grandfather spends his childhood. Another important tiger is the one that makes its home in the zoo that Natalia and her grandfather visit when Natalia is a child. Another is the tiger ("the aging son of one of [Natalia's] childhood tigers") that gnaws its paws off in desperation during the bombing raids of the civil war. Still another is Shere Khan, the tiger character in The Jungle Book who is, for the young grandfather, the model / archetype of the idea of "tiger." For further consideration of the role of all these tigers in the narrative, see "Topics for Discussion - What characteristics of the various tigers ..."