![]() Despite the danger that he could have been easily squished by the much larger creatures, Timothy boldly tells them off, and the elephants react in disgust and cringe at a mouse. The little elephant walks away sadly, and Timothy, upset by the elephants' cruelty, walks into their midst. They mention that they do not blame her and that it was all the fault of Dumbo, with "ears only a mother could love." Timothy voices to himself that he finds the ears cute, and watches as Dumbo approaches the other elephants, who give him the cold shoulder. He eats out of a discarded bag of peanuts, looking with mild scorn at the other circus elephants while they gossip about Mrs. In the film, Timothy appears after Dumbo's mother is taken away and locked up in solitary confinement. Because of their relationship and the absence of a paternal figure in Dumbo's life, Timothy has been cited by animation historian John Canemaker, as one of Dumbo's surrogate father figures. After seeing the poor elephant abused and shunned by the other female elephants, Timothy does not only stand up for him but takes the young elephant under his wing and sticks by his side throughout the entire film, determined to make him happy again and not once giving up hope. It should be noted that all of Timothy's actions in the film are clearly driven by his sympathy for Dumbo. Not only does he acts as Dumbo's manager and motivator, but as his closest friend, and for a while, his only friend. And with the determination that Timothy's famous for, the duo manage to accomplish just that. He cares for Dumbo and truly wants him to succeed in life, save his mother, and prove to the world that he is not some abomination. Timothy acts as the much-needed protector in Dumbo's life, standing up for the saddened elephant when others attack him on account of his abnormally large ears. Throughout the film, however, Timothy's primary goal is to make Dumbo happy and help him rescue his mother, showing a sympathetic quality despite his rough, stereotypically Brooklyn personality. ![]() His lifelong handler, Matthew Scott, wrote that he would calm down Jumbo with alcohol (which is possibly the inspiration for the original drunk elephant scene in the Dumbo cartoon - Burton opted to skip it in 2019).In contrast to the soft and innocent nature of Dumbo, Timothy is brazen, fearless, and shrewd. His confinement and isolation from other elephants also may have caused his awful moods. Studying his bones (which are in storage at the American Museum of Natural History in New York), experts found evidence of extreme stress on his knees, which may have been caused by all those rides he was giving. Though, at the time, it was thought that this was due to a hormonal state called musth, elephant experts on the Attenborough show theorized that he could have been suffering from extreme pain in his teeth from malnutrition. At night, however, he began having outbursts so violent, he broke off his tusks and continually ground them down. At the zoo he was a famous attraction, and gave rides to children (even Queen Victoria's offspring) all day long. According to the BBC program Attenborough and the Giant Elephant, baby Jumbo likely witnessed his mother being killed for her tusks and hide before they shipped him to England. In case you don't remember from the first 20 minutes of the film, Dumbo's real name is Jumbo, just like the African elephant who came to the London zoo in 1865.
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