The concept of 'modernity' is central to many disciplines, but what is
modernity to animals? Susan Nance answers this question through a
radical reinterpretation of the life of Jumbo the elephant. In the
1880s, consumers, the media, zoos, circuses and taxidermists, and
(unknowingly) Jumbo himself, transformed the elephant from an orphan of
the global ivory trade and zoo captive into a distracting international
celebrity. Citizens on two continents imaged Jumbo as a sentient
individual and pet, but were aghast when he died in an industrial
accident and his remains were absorbed by the taxidermic and animal
rendering industries reserved for anonymous animals. The case of Jumbo
exposed the 'human dilemma' of modern living, wherein people celebrated
individual animals to cope or distract themselves from the wholesale
slaughter of animals required by modern consumerism.