The One And Only Ivan

When The One and Only Ivan begins, the gorilla Ivan has spent 9,855 days—27 years—living alone in a cage in a mall, as part of a small circus. As author Katherine Applegate explains in an Author’s Note, Ivan is based on a real gorilla, also named Ivan, who spent 27 years in a “circus-themed mall” after he was captured from his home in Africa. After so many years in isolation and captivity, Ivan doesn’t see himself as the “Mighty Silverback” (2) he knows a mature male gorilla should be. Ivan remembers his strong father, who was “born” to “protect” his gorilla troop; as Ivan himself has “no one to protect” (10), he is unable to fulfill his rightful identity. As the novel continues, and a new animal enters Ivan’s world, he journeys to reclaim his true purpose—saving both himself and his animal friends—by the time The One and Only Ivan ends.

For the first half of The One and Only Ivan, Ivan doesn’t remember most of his early life in the wild. As he reveals partway through the novel, Ivan consciously chose to block out his memories after he and his twin sister Tag faced capture. Ivan describes his sister as “held […] like a vine” by the past, until her memories “strangl[ed]” her and she died, while Ivan himself “had to let [his] old life die” (129) to survive.