When the Elephants Dance is Filipino-American writer Tess Uriza Holthe’s first novel. Published in 2002, it is based on Holthe’s father’s experiences growing up in the Philippines during World War II. The novel centers around a group of friends and neighbors seeking shelter in a cellar and sharing traditional moralistic Filipino legends that illustrate their resilience and the importance of stories for survival. The title is taken from a saying offered by one of the characters: “When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.” The “elephants” of the novel are the warring Japanese and Americans, using the Philippines as a battleground. The “chickens” are the civilian Filipinos endangered by their actions. This study guide is based on the 2003 Penguin paperback edition.

Plot Summary

It is early 1945, the waning months of World War II. The Philippines has been devasted by three years of Japanese occupation. American forces have begun a long and difficult land war to free the islands. That military campaign is complicated by loosely organized guerilla forces of Filipinos determined to wrest the island, after centuries of unchecked colonization, from all foreign occupation. 

A group of neighbors who have gone into hiding, trapped in a cellar by the war raging around them. It is dangerous to stay out in the open, and these people only dare to venture outside to search for food and supplies. With little to do, they turn to storytelling to pass the time. Holthe divides the book into three parts: the first narrated by an adolescent boy, Alejandro Karangalan, the second from the perspective of Alejandro’s older sister Isabelle Karangalan, and the third by intrepid guerilla leader Domingo Matapang. Woven into these three sections are myths, legends, and fables of the Philippines, as told by the village elders that hide with them. The narrative framework is akin to The Canterbury Tales.

In the first part, Alejandro is detained by Japanese soldiers who believe the boy might know something about the killing that morning of a Japanese officer. The boy is tortured but heroically refuses to say anything (he suspects Domingo, whose family is among those in the cellar, might have had something to do with it). When the one responsible for the killing confesses, Alejandro is released. He returns to the cellar, only to be told that Isabelle has gone missing. To calm everyone, Alejandro’s father, Carlito, tells an involved story about his infatuation years earlier for a beautiful woman, Esmeralda, rumored to have magic powers. The man Esmeralda loves is promised in marriage to another woman who is evil and manipulative. The day of the wedding, Esmeralda attends, but a powerful earthquake sinks the church into the ground. Esmeralda is never seen again. Thus, the story ends. The next morning, three more from the cellar, including Carlito, go out in search of food.

Isabelle narrates the second part of the novel. While she is out scavenging for food, she helps Domingo after he is wounded by the Japanese. She promises to help him return to the guerilla camp in the hills. Along the way, Isabelle is separated from Domingo and is detained by the Japanese. She is taken to an interrogation center where she is gang raped. Feliciano, a childhood friend who has become a collaborator with the Japanese occupational forces, rescues her and returns her to the family. There, however, Domingo attacks Feliciano as a traitor to the Filipino people. Isabelle is haunted by the rape. She was a virgin and fears she can never let go of the trauma. To console her, one of the neighbor women tells her the story of when she was younger and struggled for years to forgive her adopted sister over a man. Only after her sister’s death when the woman is haunted by her ghost does she find her way to forgive and forget. The story calms Isabelle.

Domingo relates the third part of the narrative. He is torn between Lorna, his wife, and his children who are among the refugees in the cellar and Nina, his mistress who is with the guerillas in the hills. He and Feliciano, working together, locate and return the missing members of the Karangalan family to the cellar. Domingo, driven by his allegiance to the cause, decides he must return to the hills. When he is gone, the Japanese raid the cellar hiding place and arrest everyone. They burn down the house and take all the refugees to a warehouse in Manila already full of other detainees. Domingo is determined to return to the city to free his family. Along the way, however, he and Nina are ambushed by Japanese soldiers. Nina is mortally wounded. Domingo, with no other choice, shoots her. Even as the American troops move in to Manila, the Japanese set fire to the warehouse, but American soldiers, alerted by Domingo, unlock the warehouse and free everyone. 

Alejandro narrates the fourth part of the novel. In the chaos of the following days, friends and family return to their devastated neighborhoods. They celebrate the end of the occupation and commit themselves to living as free and proud Filipinos.