A GORILLA IN THE GUEST ROOM

Gerald Durrell
The story ‘A Gorilla And The Guest Room’, written by renowned animal conservationist Gerald
Durrell, opens with the author receiving a letter. The story also chronicles the author’s viewpoints
regarding the conservation of wildlife. At the very beginning of the story, we see that writer of the
letter requested the author to take a chimpanzee that the former possessed. The letter goes on to
elucidate how the monkey had caused physical harm to the mother of the writer of the letter by
jumping on her as a result the mother had been in bed 3 times.
In the story we see that the author realised that zoos should seize to be a mere show place for animals
but in fact it should start to contribute something towards the conservation off wildlife. The author also
felt that there was an essential need to weed out all the common animals and replace them with rare
and endangered species. The author wondered where to start when he received a phone call from an
animal dealer offering the author a baby gorilla.
Being an avid animal conservationist the author showcased his apprehension regarding the fact that
gorillas could go extinct within the next 20 years. He gave the following reasons for his viewpoint:
1. The political turmoil in Africa could cause the extinction of the species within the next 20
years. He felt that new emergent governments would not focus on the fate of the wildlife in their
country as they would be generally far too busy proving themselves to the world. And history
was testament to this fact which has been proved time and time again that how rapidly a species
could be exterminated even a numerous one.
The author had certain doubts regarding the animal dealer. He believed that most animal dealers could,
with difficulty, distinguish between a bird, a reptile and a mammal and that was the extent of their
zoological knowledge. He therefore felt that he was more likely to receive a chimpanzee rather than a
gorilla.
Mr Durrell, ask the animal dealer how much he wanted for the gorilla and he got an answer from the
dealer saying that he wanted a total of 1200 pounds. On hearing that, Durrell imagined the face of his
bank manager, nevertheless he ignored it and told the dealer in a confident voice that he would meet
him at the London airport and if that the gorilla was in a good condition he would take it.
The reaction of his wife Jackie, the author’s wife is elucidated as under:
1. Jackie viewed him with a basilisk eye and asked him what he was going to have.
2. Jackie accused him of being mad and sarcastically told him that he had an overdraft the size of the
national debt. She was quite incredulous and doubtful on his ability to collect 1200 pounds.
3. She went on to say that her husband was out of his mind and questioned him on how he was going
to get the said amount.
4. She asked him to think of what the bank manager would say when he would hear the amount and at
the end she told her husband that he must be stock staring mad.
In contrast to his wife, the author’s mother was quite enthusiastic about the gorilla and she commented
by saying that gorillas are such ‘dear little things’. The author tried to convince his wife by saying
that now the policy of the zoo was to conserve rare species and that this was a very rare but
wonderful opportunity.
The author informed his wife that he would get the money from other sources. He went on to say that:
1. The island was infested with rich people who did nothing all day long except to revolve from
one cocktail party to the other like a pair of Japanese waltzing mice. He also went on to say that
 it was about time that the rich people should start making a contribution towards animal
conservation.

2. He called his associate whose name was hope and asked her to provide him with the list of all
the richest people on the island. At first hope was rather skeptical of his idea of getting the
richest people on the island to contribute towards the cause of getting a baby gorilla she went
on to call him ‘dottie’.

3. The author also put forward his thoughts and said that these people should be glad to contribute
towards buying such a rare creature. He also said that if breeding colonies of animals such as
gorillas were not established in captivity, then such species would go extinct.
4. Hope informed the author that he should not put too much faith on their generosity nevertheless
she asked him to give her half an hour after which she would call him back with a list.
After receiving a list of about fifty people and their telephone numbers over the telephone from
Hope, Gerald Durrell began calling the names on the list one by one, by lunchtime he had collected
about 200 pounds and showcasing his optimistic attitude he believed that he had only 1000 pounds
more to go before the gorilla was his. He then called the next person on the list by the name of
Major Domo and the latter promise to give him the remaining 1000 pounds. On hearing this the
author was highly ecstatic and went running out into the zoo proclaiming that they were going to
have a baby gorilla.
Finally, the day arrived and the author flew over to London to collect the ape and he was quite
apprehensive about the authenticity of getting a gorilla. Along with the animal dealer he walked
into a room in the animal shelter of the Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To
Animals. His heart sank as he saw a couple of baby chimpanzees sitting on a table meditatively
chewing on bananas. It was at this time that the animal dealer proceeded towards the rear of the
room opened a crate in the corner and stood back as N’Pongo walked into the author’s life.
N’ Pongo, the baby gorilla, can be described as under:
1. He stood about 18 inches high and was quite the most handsome and healthy looking
baby gorilla that the author had ever seen.
2. The author was amazed at how heavy the baby gorilla was for his size.
3. The author realized that he was solid bone and muscle and the gorilla did not possess a
spare ounce of fat on his body.
4. He had light chocolate coloured fur which was thick and soft.
5. The skin on his feet, hands and face was soft and glossy as patent leather.
6. His eyes were small, deep set and they twinkled like chips of coal.
7. His eyes had a mischievous and calculating look.

The author’s initial introduction with the gorilla can be understood as follows:

1. The baby gorilla strolled stockily across the room towards the author and held up his
arms to be lifted.
2. While lying in the authors arms, the baby gorilla studied him carefully with an unwinking
stare and raised a fat gentle four finger to investigate his beard.
 3. When the author tickled the gorilla’s ribs the latter wriggled about in the author’s arms
giggling hoarsely with his eyes shining with amusement.
4. The author also realized that N’ Pongo was not badly behaved at all. He came to this
conclusion when he handed the baby gorilla a banana which of course the gorilla accepted
with bearlike growling’s of pleasure and it very daintily as compared to the chimpanzees
in the room who stuffed their mouths as full as they could.
5. N’ Pongo good nature could further be seen when the author took him out of his crate
while heading back to the zoo and the gorilla start quietly on the authors lap and took a
great interest in the cows that were passing by. The gorilla from time to time turned
around to peer up into the face of the author.

Since N’ Pongo’s cage was not prepared, the author decided to let the baby gorilla spend a couple of
days in the guest room. N’ Pongo’s grave, courteous manners and his rather sad expression won
over the hearts of the author’s wife as well as his mother. It was not before long that N’ Pongo lay
back in a sofa while the author’s wife and mother as well as the staff of the zoo plied him with
delicacies. The staff even went to the extent of going up stairs one by one to pay homage to the
gorilla as if he were some black potentate.
It is at this time the author draws the reader’s attention to a chimpanzee by the name of Chumlee who
had been a previous occupant of the guest room. The chimpanzee had of course not been well behaved
and the author felt that if the gorilla was badly behaved then he could easily turn the guest room into
something that would closely resemble a bombsite in an incredibly short period of time.
The author then proceeded to watch N’ Pongo like a hawk and he noticed the following things:

1. When bored, the N’ Pongo walked around the room to examine anything of interest. He
walked around resembling a small bag black professor in a museum pausing every now
and then to look at a picture or to stroke and ornament. N’ Pongo did all this with the
utmost care and there was never any danger of him breaking anything.

2. N’ Pongo exemplary behaviour made the author believe that perhaps N’Pongo had been
brought up in a house. The only deviance in his behaviour was when he wet the floor
which the author covered up by saying that the gorilla was not expected to know that that
behaviour was something wrong and it wasn’t before long that the author’s mother was
doing her best to try and persuade Gerald Durrell to keep the gorilla in the room
permanently. Basing his experience with the chimpanzee, he decided to turn a deaf ear to
her pleas.

In spite of his good behaviour, the guest room bore certain evidences of the gorilla’s presence.Those
evidences are as follows:
1. On one wall was something that resembled a map of Japan drawn by one of the more inebriated
ancient mariners. This was nicely drawn in scarlet and the author justified it by saying that
perhaps N’ Pongo, who was served some tin raspberries, had in his enthusiasm of the new
addition to his diet, traced his fingers all over the wall.
 2. The guest room also board traces of paraffin in almost every nook and cranny of the room and
in spite of cleaning the room repeatedly the author was forced to apologize to guess many
months after the gorilla left the room because of the different stains and spots that were present.
The author even went on to describe the floor of the room as the floor of a 16th century ale
house.

3. The handle of the guest room also bore evidence of the gorilla’s presence in the room. Having
witnessed the author leaving the room using the handle, N’ Pongo tried his best to emulate the
author and as a result held the handle and with all his strength pulled it resulting in the
drooping of the handle.

The author, Gerald Durrell, also pointed out the difference in behaviour between a chimpanzee and his
beloved gorilla. The differences are elucidated as under:
1. The author went on to say that a baby chimpanzee, who was used to being brought out of its
cage, on being put back into the cage would behave like one of the more ‘loquacious heroines
of a Greek tragedy’ and will end up tearing its hair, rolling with range on the floor, screaming
at the top of its voice and running its heels on every available bit of wood work.
2. On the other hand, the author described N’ Pongo’s behaviour and said that N’ Pongo was
quite the opposite and although he would feel sad about being locked up again, yet he would
accept itThe author went on to say that N’ Pongo would try his best to divert one from this
course of action, but when he realised that it had become inevitable he would submit with good
grace and would only protest through a couple of sharp and faintly peevish screams.

N’PONGO’S INTERACTION WITH THE GUESTS:

Gerald Durrell, the author of the story went on to describe N’ Pongo’s interaction with the guests of
the zoo. He shared an anecdote with the readers telling of how is gorilla, when brought out onto the
lawn in front of the yew hedge would show off by lolling on the grass or with the wicked gleam in his
eye, would try to work out a way to play a practical joke on one member of the visitors. He went on to
tell of how N’ Pongo would pose for an honest visitor and at a crucial moment run forward grasp the
unfortunate persons leg and pull it from under him generally resulting in the visitor sustaining a
slipped disc along with an ‘excellent picture of a completely empty section of lawn’.
DURRELL’S PHILOSOPHY OF BIG AND WILD ANIMALS:
It was at this time, that Gerald Durrell decided to obtain a mate for N’ Pongo. He went on to say that
N’ Pongo had accepted human beings around him as his likely eccentric family. But the danger arose
when he became so powerful in terms of strength that if one had any intelligence they would not treat
them in the same intimate way. His substantiated his claim by saying that a Gorilla or chimpanzee or
an orangutan at age three was capable of pulling your legs out from under you or if the ape decided to
jump on you from a considerable height onto the back of your neck it would generally test your
stamina to the full and this was done not out of malice but because the ape found you to be the only
companion with whom he could play.
DURRELL’S JUSTIFICATION TO OBTAIN A MATE FOR N’ PONGO:
The author also mentioned that if the primate was a nice natured ape, then the animal would try to play
some games but when he was eleven or twelve years of age, it would result in a broken leg or a broken
neck of the human. He also felt that if this friendly exuberant animal is kept on alone and is deprived
of both the company of his own as well as that of human beings the gorilla would turn into a morose
and melancholy creature. Not wanting to see N’ Pongo degenerate into one of those magnificent but
sad and lonely anthropoids the author decided to obtain a mate for him.
DURRELL’S EFFORTS TO OBTAIN A MATE:
In order to do so, the author telephoned the dealer from whom he had procured N’ Pongo with the
proposition of obtaining a female Gorilla. The animal dealer went on to tell the author that owing to
the political situation in Africa the asking price for a female gorilla had gone up to fifteen hundred
pounds. The author was well aware of his financial situation and contemplated the possibility for about
two days and then came up with an excellent solution. He telephoned the animal dealer and told him
that if he could pay the full amount in instalments, then he would be able to procure the female gorilla
from N’ Pongo.
The author put up collecting boxes over which hung a notice saying ‘We have bought Nandi on the
instalment plan. Please help us to keep up the instalments. And within no time Nandi, the female
gorilla, came into the zoo.
Nandy can be described as under:
1. She like N’ Pongo, appeared to be in perfect condition.
2. How fur was glossy.
3. She was fat and her skin had a sheen like satin.
4. Her eyes were very expressive and that is what impressed the author the most. He made a
comparison between N’ Pongo’s eyes as well as Nandy’s. He went on to say that N’ Pongo’s
eyes was small, deep set, calculating and full of humor where as Nandy's eyes were large and
lustrous. Her eyes were the eyes of an animal that had little experience with human beings but
even in that little time she had no reason to trust or respect them.
5. When Nandy was released from the box, one could see right on top of a skull was a scar that
must have measured six to seven inches in length. The author believed that when she was being
caught a rather over enthusiastic and intrepid human being had probably given her a glancing
blow with a machete which has split her scalp like a razor slash. The author believed that it
would have been a glancing blow off her head otherwise her head would have been split into
two. With such an introduction to the human race, you couldn't blame Nandi for being a little
antisocial. The scar in her head reminded the author of unnecessary partings that so many
Africans carve in the hair with the aid of a razor.

N’ PONGO AND NANDY’S FIRST INTERACTION:

For security purposes, Nandy was kept in a separate cage for twenty four hours and the cage was
placed next to N’ Pongo’s to enable her to see her future husband but she showed as little interest in
him as she showed the humans. She had such a wobegone and frightened face that one longed to be
able to pick her up and comfort her but as she had been hurt too deeply this was the last thing that she
would have appreciated. The author felt that it would roughly take about six months to gain her
confidence even with N’ Pongo’s pro human behaviour as an example.
Finally the day of introduction came with the author and his team standing by with buckets of water,
brushes, nets and long sticks just in case the two gorillas started to fight instead of behaving like the
characters in the romantic setting of a women’s magazine.
The shutters to Nandy's cage were opened and she sidled her way from her small cage into the
comparatively palatial quarters of N’ Pongo. She sat with her back to the wall her eyes darting to and
fro with a curiously suspicious look on her face. N’ Pongo sat on a branch watching her with an
expression of uninterested mistrust that he normally reserved for the suspicious new item in his diet.
Waiting on the other side of the fence the author realized that Nandy was only half N’ Pongo‘s size.
The author described the scene of immobility as if all of them belonged to the more bizarre of Madame
Tussaud’s exhibits. Then N’ Pongo reacted and stretched out a black hand with fingers like great
sausages, clasped the wire and rolled himself carefully onto the ground. He then tried to act
disinterested by examining a handful of sawdust as though it was the first time he had come across it.
Then in her casual swaggering manner he sauntered in a semicircle which took him closer to Nandy.
Then with the utmost speed and without even looking at her he reached out his long powerful arm,
gripped a handful of her hair and pulled it. He hurriedly ran across the perimeter of the cage as though
nothing had happened and Nandy who has been described by the author as a little slow on the uptake
was shocked but by the time she reacted by the bearing of her teeth and her grunt of indignation N’
Pongo was nearly six feet away from her.
The first bout being won by N’ Pongo. the author felt that it would be important to bring up the second
line of defence. The second line of defence was food therefore two large dishes full of a succulent
selection of fruits was handed to the two gorillas. There was a moment of tension when N’ Pongo
sauntered up to Nandy’s bowl of fruit with the intention of investigating it as he probably felt that her
bowl contained additional delicacies. With Nandy still smarting under the indignity of having a hair
pulled greeted N’ Pongo with such a show of belligerence that the good natured and cowardly and
pongo retreated to his own pile of food and for the next half hour they both ate contentedly at opposite
ends of the cage.
The story then goes on to tell of how N’ Pongo and Nandy who at that time looked like a thwarted
suffragette established protocol in the cage. The things they worked out are in listed as under:
1. Should Nandy be allowed to swing on the rope when N’ Pongo was sitting on the crossbeam?
2. Should N’ Pongo be allowed to pinch Nandy’s carrots even though they were smaller than his
own.
By the end of it all, Nandy was found snuggling up to N’ Pongo and the latter was not at all averse to
the invasion of his bedroom.
The two gorillas were so different in character yet they adored one another. There relationship has
been described as under
1. N’ Pongo was the great giggling clown of the pair.
2. Nandy was much quieter, more introspective and watchful

N’ PONGO AND NANDY’S RELATIONSHIP:

The author goes on to describe the interaction between the two gorillas. He said that N’ Pongo’s
bullying and teasing of her was done without any malice and just out of a pure sense of fun.
The author goes on to describe another anecdote from the lives of his gorillas. He said that sometimes
N’ Pongo would trouble his wife so much that she would lose her temper and with flashing eyes and
open mouth she would chase him around the cage while he ran in front of her all the while giggling
hysterically.
The author also said that if she managed to catch him, she would belabour him with her fists while N’
Pongo lay on the ground curled up in a ball but because of his strong build, Nandy may as well have
tried to hurt a lump of cement for she was unsuccessful in causing N’ Pongo any harm. After hitting
him, Nandy would stalk off to the other end of the cage while N’ Pongo would sit up, brush the
sawdust from himself, beat his chest or stomach in triumph and sit there with his arms folded and eyes
glittering working out another trick to annoy his wife.
THE HEALTH OF THE TWO GORILLAS:
Being an animal conservationist, the author also believed that at acquiring such rare and valuable
animals was something of an achievement and therefore he was living in a constant state of anxiety
over the health and well being of his animals. Even if one of his gorillas sneezed as a result of getting
sawdust in his nose the author would go into over drive thinking that the gorilla had developed
pneumonia or something worse.

THE NECESSITY OF A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM:

The functioning of his gorilla’s bowels became a daily topic of discussion. To achieve the effective
management of his animal’s health come on the author installed in the zoo a magnificent
communication apparatus. At various salient points throughout the grounds, small black boxes were
screwed onto the walls through which the staff could speak with one another as it would take a
considerable length of time to locate the person at the moment he was required even though the zoo
was very small. The author also had one of these boxes installed in his flat so that he would be well
aware of any crisis if it should arise.

EMBARRASSMENT CAUSED BY THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM:

The author goes on to give an account off this communication apparatus causing him a lot of
embarrassment. He recounts an incident in which he was in the middle of an erudite and futile
conversation when the black box gave a warning crackle and before he could leap up and switch it off,
a sepulchral and disembodied voice said:
‘Mr Durrell, the gorillas have got diarrhoea again.’
N’ Pongo Illness:
As the story proceeds, we see that the author had arranged to spend three weeks in the South of France
which was supposed to be a sort of working holiday as he was to be accompanied by a BBC producer
whom he had hoped to convince of the necessity of making a film about life in the Carmague.
Arrangements had been made as follows:
1. Hotels had been booked and a number of people ranging from bullfighters two
Ornithologists had been alerted of their coming.
2. Four days before the author and his team were to depart, N’ Pongo started to look off
colour.

N’ Pongo’s condition can be described as under:

1. His giggling exuberance disappeared.

2. He had his arms wrapped around himself staring into space.
3. He only took enough food and milk to keep himself alive.
4. The only symptom was acute diarrhoea.
5. N’ Pongo lost weight with horrifying rapidity.
 6. As a result of stopping to eat altogether on the second day, the author could not
administer any antibiotic.
7. N’ Pongo face seemed to shrink and shrivel and his powerful body grew gaunt.
8. His proud rotund paunch became a ghastly declivity and the forking of his ribs was
visible.
9. The most alarming symptom for the author was that the diarrhoea of the gorilla was
heavily tinged with blood and as a result the author almost gave up hope.
10. The author wanted his gorilla to eat at least something so that the latter would have the
stamina to withstand whatever disease he was suffering from as well as to rouse him out
of the terrible melancholia into which he was slipping as most gorillas do when they are
ill.

To entice his gorilla into eating, Gerald Durrell and his wife Jackie went down to the market to buy
and assortment of fruits for him. The market has been described as :
A. It was located in Saint Helier.
B. The market was dotted with multi coloured stalls that surrounded the charming Victoria
fountain.
C. The Victoria fountain had a plaster cherubim with its palms and maidenhair fern and
had in the water plump scarlet goldfish.
To achieve his goal, of making N’ Pongo eat something, the author bought of variety of out of season
delicacies that cost him a small fortune and as he was loading they exotic fruits and vegetables he
suddenly noticed a white watermelon. It occurred to the author that the bright pink coloured, scrunchy
water interior with its glossy bag seeds might be something that would appeal to his gorilla but as far
as the author remembered the gorilla had never eaten any watermelon before.
The author and his staff, gave their utmost to encourage and persuade N’ Pongo to eat a little food. The
authors associate Jeremy persuaded him to drink a little skimmed milk by the subterfuge of rubbing a
disprin on the gums of the gorilla. The gorilla didn’t like the taste like the of the medicine and
therefore he took a couple of gulps of the milk to wash out his mouth.
The author then offered the exotic fruit and vegetables that he had got from the marketplace but his
gorilla who was sick viewed them with a pathetic glance. After that, the author describes how he cut a
slice of watermelon and for the first time his gorilla displayed signs of interest. The author went on to
say that has gorilla prodded the slice with his finger and leaned forward to smell it and the next minute
the gorilla had picked up the slice of watermelon with his hand and started to eat. The author took that
as a good sign as they would then be able to administer the antibiotic to him. There was an expert
consensus that the gorilla was suffering from a form of colitis.
To plunge the antibiotic into his body, the author decided to put Nandy into a separate cage as her
presence would have caused the team to make mistakes.
To administer the injection, the author tried a different strategy. While the gorilla sat on the floor of the
mammal house staring at them with dull sunk in eyes Jeremy sat next to him with a supply of
watermelon to try and maintain his interest while on the other hand the author was ready with a syringe
for the injection. When N’ Pongo got distracted, the author pushed the needle into his thigh and
pressed the plunger home. N’ Pongo gave no indication of even having noticed the needle entering his
flesh.
After the administering of the injection, the author said that in pongo showed no marked change in his
illness and this left the author in a quandary as he had only twenty four hours before he had to leave
for France. The author did not want to cancel his trip as it would put a tremendous amount of people to
a lot of trouble for nothing and on the other hand, he could not leave N’ Pongo until he was satisfied
regarding the outcome of the gorilla’s illness, that is whether the gorilla would be on the mend all
would be beyond salvation.
Just as the author was due to leave N’ Pongo started to recover. He drank his COMPLAN and started
eating a variety of fruits. The author also noticed, by the evening, that the gorilla showed considerable
signs of improvement and that he eaten quite a bit of food and therefore the author decided to go on his
trip to France. As the author drove down to the airport and caught the plane to Dinard, he kept making
long distance calls to Jersey to keep himself informed of N’ Pongo’s progress. He noticed that every
time he telephoned the reports got better and better until the point where he was informed that N’
Pongo had drunk:
1. A pint of Complan.
2. Three slices of watermelon.
3. Two bananas.
4. 1 apricot.
5. Three apples.
6. The whites of eight eggs.

At the end of the story, we see that by the time the author returned from France N’ Pongo resembled
his former self. He had grown back to being massive, black and rotund. Even N’ Pongo eyes have been
described as glittering mischievously as the gorilla tried to inveigle the author close enough to the cage
so that he could pull the buttons off of the author’s court.
The author goes on to talk and share his thoughts right at the end of the story. He said that it was
absolutely delightful to have creatures such as the two gorillas and it was of vital importance that they
should be kept and bred in captivity so that they would survive but that in itself was a two edged sword
as on one hand was the anxiety one suffered when the animals became ill and that made a person
wonder about the very reason as to why they started the entire project in the first place.
The following are the themes of the story:
1. The Conservation of Nature.
2. The Inhumane Treatment Meted Out To Animals.
3. The Love For Animals.