An Elephant in the Garden

As an airman in the Royal Air Force, Peter carries a British compass. A major symbol in the novel, Peter’s compass figures prominently in Lizzie’s life both as a young survivor of the bombing of Dresden and as an 82-year-old resident at the nursing home in Canada. For Lizzie, the compass symbolizes her and Peter’s history together and their enduring love and devotion. Lizzie saw the compass for the first time shortly after she, Mutti, and Karli found Peter after he had been shot down during the raid on Dresden. By the following day, Lizzie knew she would love him until she died.

Showing the compass to Karl and his mother for the first time, Lizzie says, “This is a compass to help you find your way. But this is not just any old compass […] it has shown me the way all through my life” (97). Here Lizzie alludes to the symbolic guidance the compass provided her in times of despair. Peter gave the compass to Lizzie in Germany when they reached the lines of the American army and were forced to say goodbye: “That was when he pressed this compass into my hand […] I clung to him and cried […] He whispered in my ear that he would write, that he would come back for me and find me” (186).