Where It All Goes Down
A Circus-Themed Shopping Mall in a Gray Northwestern Town
Welcome to the Big Top, by which we mean the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. It's a non-traveling circus, housed in the local mall of a gray northwestern town. If this sounds more dull and dreary than razzle dazzle, well, then you're on the right track. And guess what? This is where Ivan lives.
Though it might sound like a teenage dream to live inside the mall, consider this: Ivan's only real view of the outside world is a sliver of the "vast and treeless parking lot" (the exit 8. 34), and the store near Ivan's cage sells old things that smell "dusty and damp and long forgotten" (littlest big top.56). Ask yourself just how long could you stand looking at blinking lights and smelling burnt sugar before you started itching for a little sunset barbecue at the lake, or at the very least a more pleasant soundtrack to live by. Now imagine you're a gorilla.
When Stella tells stories of "leafy canopies hidden by mist and the busy songs of flowing water (stella.124), you get the funny feeling that what she longs for doesn't include popcorn, sawdust, and screaming kids. When Ivan describes the jungle scene painted on his wall, he tell us there is "a waterfall without water, flowers without scent, and trees without roots" (the exit 8.32). How does that make you feel? Trapped and depressed are a few words that come to mind, along with unnatural.
By the end, everything in Ivan's life has been moved outside thanks to being relocated to the zoo, and Ivan and his buds can finally feel the breeze on their skin and breath a little better. For more on the zoo, be sure to check out the "Symbols" section.