Ruby In 'The One And Only Ivan'

Ruby in the Rough

Many individuals believe that their choices, thoughts, and actions are not influenced by other individuals. In reality, though, many aspects play into their choices, thoughts, and actions including children. When children are involved, an adult often chooses to follow the most morally correct way to behave, whether that be actions or choices. Katherine Applegate used children to show how deeply they influence the behaviors of adults in her book The One and Only Ivan. Ruby is a young elephant who moves into the mall joining Ivan, the gorilla, and Stella, the elephant, who have lived there for the majority of their lives. Her new approach to the situation of "the domain" helps influence Ivan's thoughts, choices, and actions regarding his living space. Julia is a young girl, her father George works in the
When Ruby first arrives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, Ivan is jealous of the attention that Ruby gets. The first time Julia comes to visit, she goes right to Stella and Ruby's domain instead of visiting Ivan. He is later annoyed by Ruby's questions and talking. He learns to deal with her questions by attempting to give her the answers to what she wants and telling her stories. When Stella falls ill, Ivan volunteers to watch over Ruby once she dies. "When I say the words they surprise me. 'You want me to take care of Ruby' " (Applegate 112). During this event Ivan begins to take responsibility for Ruby, promising to give her a better life than Stella had. The reader is able to detect this from the fact that he is surprised with what he is saying. This is not in his usual character to take charge and willingly offer to take care of someone else. Ivan saying this to Stella truly shows that through Ruby's influence, he has begun to take on a more mature role by acting as her guardian after Stella