Grief, Sadness, and the Bones of Elephants

The essay Greif, Sadness, and the Bones of Elephants by Masson and McCArthy is about animal's feeling that is very similar to humans'. They have four sections in their essay named 'Mourning Lost Love', 'Loneliness', 'Imprisonment', and 'Depression and Learned Helplesness'. In these four sections, the author discuss how animals have relevant feelings of that humans feel. They say that when animals love someone, no matter if it's their mate, children, or just any other animals from another species, they build a bond that has strong feelings and is unbreakable. Masson and McCarthy prove their claim by supporting their thesis by many animal stories where animals are shown proving their true feelings of their loved ones.

These stories, included in the essay by Masson and McCarthy, were of Falcons, Elephants, sea creatures, lions, horses, Tigers, and many other animals. These animals are used in the essay to prove that animals, no matter what species they are, can fall in love with another living creature. The authors relate the animals' love to human's love, emotion and affection to prove that we are all the same inside (and by that I mean that our feelings relate to one another) no matter how different we may appear on the outside.

I really liked this essay and somehow made a really strong connection to the animals and their relationship. I always knew that all living creatures had feelings and such, but I never thought that it was so strong that they could tell of their loved ones even by their bones, like the elephants can. I was really touched by this essay and was encouraged to love the animals even more now.