Haruki Murakami’s “The Elephant Vanishes” is written in first person point of view; the perspective we are given is of a man who works at a magazine company who is interested in the elephant. From his point of view, we are not able to find out exactly what happened to the elephant or his keeper, but the narrator explains to a woman he meets what he thought he noticed when the elephant escaped:
“” something about the balance between them.
“The balance?”
“In size. of their bodies. The elephants and the keepers. The balance it seem to have changed somewhat. I have a feeling that to some extent the difference between them has shrunk.””(464.Murakami’s)
While the story does not confirm this of happening, this is the closest we get to find out what happened to the keeper and his elephant.Leaving the reader to wonder whether this is true or not. This shows that the perspective that a story is written in not only can leave plot holes but can create confusion within the story.