Leaving Time
“Leaving Time” by Jodi Picoult is a gripping novel that intertwines mystery, grief, and the bond between humans and elephants. The story follows Jenna Metcalf, a 13-year-old girl searching for her mother, Alice, a renowned elephant researcher who disappeared a decade earlier under mysterious circumstances. With the help of a skeptical psychic and a disgraced detective, Jenna uncovers buried secrets about her mother’s work and the tragic events at an elephant sanctuary. The novel explores themes of memory, loss, and maternal love, while weaving in fascinating insights into elephant behavior and emotions. Picoult blends emotional depth with suspense, culminating in a surprising twist that redefines the narrative.
Chapter 14: Alice
byPicoult, Jodi
The chapter begins with Alice recounting a story told to her by Owen the bush vet about researchers attempting to collar a female elephant. After darting the elephant, the herd formed two concentric circles around her, with the outer circle facing outward protectively. The inner circle, hidden from view, was heard rustling and snapping branches. When the herd eventually stepped away, the darted elephant was found covered in soil and branches, a behavior typically seen in elephants masking the scent of birth or death, though this instance defied conventional explanations.
Alice reflects on the enigmatic behavior of elephants covering their dead or injured companions. She questions whether this act is meant to mask the scent of death, noting that elephants’ keen sense of smell would likely distinguish between a darted and deceased elephant. She shares another anecdote about an Asian bull elephant in musth who killed his mahout, only for the female elephants to cover the body with dirt and branches. This suggests the behavior may be a response to unexpected or violent deaths, not limited to elephants themselves.
The narrative shifts to Alice’s personal experience in Botswana, where she fell asleep under a baobab tree after long hours of observation. Upon waking, she found herself partially buried under branches and dirt, as if the elephants had mistaken her for dead. This surreal encounter left her bewildered, as she had no memory of closing her eyes or any explanation for her deep sleep, except that she felt “more than herself” at the time.
The chapter concludes with Alice revealing the irony of the elephants’ actions: they assumed she was dead when, in fact, she was pregnant. This poignant twist underscores the elephants’ instinctual yet misunderstood behavior, while also highlighting Alice’s personal transformation. The chapter blends scientific observation with personal narrative, exploring the mysteries of elephant behavior and the profound connections between life and death.
FAQs
1. What behavior did the elephants display when the female was darted with M99, and what does this suggest about elephant social dynamics?
Answer:
When the female elephant was darted, the herd formed two concentric circles around her. The outer circle faced outward, creating a protective barrier, while the inner circle (partially obscured) covered her with branches and soil. This behavior suggests complex social bonds and protective instincts within elephant herds. The act of covering her—despite her not being dead—mirrors behaviors seen after birth (to mask blood scent) or death (to conceal the body). This implies elephants may have nuanced responses to vulnerable members, extending beyond simple biological triggers like blood or death smells.
2. How does Alice challenge the common explanations for why elephants cover corpses or darted individuals?
Answer:
Alice disputes the idea that elephants cover corpses solely to mask the smell of death, noting their highly sensitive noses would distinguish between a darted (living) elephant and a dead one. She also references the Asian bull elephant that killed its mahout: after the attack, the bull showed remorse, and female elephants covered the human body. This suggests the behavior may be tied to unexpected or violent events rather than just biological signals. Alice’s own experience of being covered while asleep (but alive) further complicates these explanations, hinting at deeper social or emotional motivations.
3. Analyze the significance of Alice’s personal experience under the baobab tree. How does it connect to the broader themes of the chapter?
Answer:
Alice’s unexpected nap and subsequent burial by elephants serve as a pivotal moment. Though she was alive, the elephants treated her as if dead, covering her with branches and soil. This mirrors earlier anecdotes about ambiguous elephant behavior but also introduces irony: Alice was “full of life” (pregnant) while being mistaken for deceased. The incident underscores themes of misinterpretation, the blurring of life/death boundaries, and elephants’ instinctual responses to vulnerability. It also reflects Alice’s emotional state—her exhaustion and grief over Thomas and Mmaabo—suggesting a subconscious surrender to her surroundings.
4. What does the story of the Asian bull elephant in musth reveal about elephant behavior and emotions?
Answer:
The Asian bull’s attack on its mahout during musth (a hormone-driven state of aggression) initially seems purely instinctual. However, its sudden stillness and apparent remorse afterward, coupled with the females’ burial of the mahout, complicate this. The behavior implies elephants may recognize violence as aberrant, even in musth, and respond ritualistically to death. This challenges simplistic views of elephants as purely instinct-driven and hints at moral awareness or social norms within herds, aligning with Alice’s observations of their complex, context-dependent actions.
5. How does Alice’s pregnancy revelation reframe her experience of being covered by elephants?
Answer:
The revelation that Alice was pregnant when the elephants buried her adds layers of irony and symbolism. While the elephants misread her sleep as death, she was actually nurturing new life. This juxtaposition highlights the elephants’ limited understanding but also their protective instincts toward vulnerability—whether real (a corpse) or perceived (Alice’s stillness). For Alice, it underscores her transition: her physical and emotional exhaustion (from work and grief) contrasts with the hidden vitality of her pregnancy, mirroring the chapter’s exploration of life, death, and misinterpretation.
Quotes
1. “Two concentric circles formed around the fallen female. The outer circle stood with their backsides to her, facing out at the vehicles, impassive. But there was an inner circle behind them that the researchers could not quite see, blocked as they were by the bulky bodies on the front line.”
This vivid description captures the mysterious and protective behavior of elephants when one of their own is vulnerable. It illustrates their complex social structures and collective responses to perceived threats.
2. “After birth, a calf is dusted by its mother to cover the smell of blood, which is a huge attraction for predators. But there was no blood on this female elephant. I’ve heard, too, that the reason elephants might cover a corpse is to mask the death smell—but again, I don’t believe it.”
This quote presents the narrator’s skepticism about conventional explanations for elephant behavior, suggesting deeper, more nuanced motivations behind their actions that humans may not fully understand.
3. “A researcher who came to the reserve via Thailand told a story of an Asian bull that was part of an elephant-back safari company. He had killed the mahout who had trained him and cared for him for fifteen years… Even more interesting were the female elephants, which covered the mahout with dirt and branches.”
This striking anecdote demonstrates how elephants extend their burial rituals beyond their own species, showing complex emotional responses to death and violence that challenge our understanding of animal behavior.
4. “I am not a light sleeper. I do not do stupid things, like get out of the Land Rover in spots that are heavily trafficked by elephants. I do not even remember closing my eyes. But when I awakened, my pad and pencil were somewhere on the ground and my mouth and eyes were gritty with dirt.”
This personal account reveals the narrator’s mysterious experience of being treated like a dead body by elephants, creating a powerful parallel to the earlier observations while hinting at her pregnancy.
5. “I’ve always found it ironic that the elephants which found me sleeping assumed I was dead, when in reality I was full of life. Approximately ten weeks along, to be exact.”
This concluding revelation ties together the chapter’s themes of life, death, and misunderstanding, while adding a deeply personal dimension to the scientific observations about elephant behavior.