The Giraffe Mauro Senesi

In the story “The Giraffe” by Mauro Senesi the giraffe is given human like characteristics such as feeling cold, getting frightened and crying. When first brought into the town the giraffe is an unusual sight for everyone. There are people that appreciate the giraffe like the boys and some freak out when they see the “beast”. The giraffe starts to feel cold when the story progresses into night time. “When all the shutters had been closed with a bang, a tremor seemed to pass down the animal 's long legs.” According to Rolandino the giraffe is feeling cold which illustrated the human characteristic that is given to the giraffe in the story. Humans usually feel cold as well, but the people in the town have shelters to provide them with comfort

The townspeople dislike the giraffe which evidently depicts their self-obsessed behaviour. The author is able to successfully illustrate the self-obsessed behaviour of humans by using a giraffe, a harmless animal that would never hurt anyone. Thus, Senesi was successful as the giraffe is an innocent character compared to the humans because they are the ones wanting to commit murder. Senesi’s message would not have been depicted with such accuracy if a human was used instead of a giraffe. “Whereas the old women crossed themselves as if it were a wild beast, our giraffe” (Senesi 29). The old women’s hostile behaviour in the story illustrates the self-centered humans in the city. “Even the Mayor was there and furious because of his lovely little trees” (Senesi 30). The mayor only cares about his trees and not about the giraffe because he is also a selfish being. The people of the town are not able to adapt to the giraffe, similarly the giraffe isn’t able to adapt to the environment that the humans are living in. Perhaps the giraffe would’ve lived for a longer period if the people took responsibility to take care of it instead of killing it. The innocent behaviour and human characteristics of the giraffe indicated that the act of killing the giraffe would have been a merciless action.