Journey

Journey is an important theme in the novel “Small as an Elephant” by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. In literature, journeys are often far more than mere travel or physical destination, but are about what is learned and experienced along the way by one or more individual characters. Such is the case of Jack and his journey.

When the novel begins, Jack’s world consists of his mother –and his mother is gone. Nothing makes sense without her, including her disappearance. Jack struggles to find her unsuccessfully, ultimately realizing that he needs to get home before anyone else realizes what is going on and calls the Department of Social Services (DSS). Jack is terrified of being taken away from his mother, so he decides to return to Jamaica Plain. The journey, here, is ostensibly simple: Jack wants to get home to find a way to remain with his...