The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Murphy?
Murphy is a rabbit housed at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Performance Center, the fluorescent-lit, fading roadside attraction that serves as the novel's central setting. He belongs to what might be called the mall's "small animal" tier — alongside Snickers the dog, Henrietta the chicken, and other creatures whose commercial value lies in their novelty rather than their spectacle. Ivan, the silverback gorilla and narrator, observes the full community of mall animals with a painter's attentiveness, and Murphy registers in that observational field as a creature of quietness and smallness. He is domestic where Ivan is wild, fragile where Stella is imposing, and stationary where Bob is free-roaming. That contrast serves to emphasize Applegate's point: the mall's captivity is indiscriminate, catching rabbit and gorilla alike in the same fluorescent trap.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Murphy's arc and motivation?
Murphy does not undergo a personal transformation, and Applegate does not give him a private goal to pursue. His "arc," such as it is, belongs to the collective arc of the mall's animal community — the slow, grinding endurance of confinement and the fragile hope that Ruby's rescue eventually represents. Murphy's motivation, as the novel allows us to interpret, is simply survival and belonging: finding small comforts in the company of other animals, existing with the quiet dignity that Ivan's narration repeatedly honors in even the humblest of creatures. Applegate uses this very lack of dramatic personal stakes to make a pointed argument: one need not be a magnificent gorilla or a wise elephant to deserve a better life. Murphy's ordinariness is his moral significance.
03·Key moments
What are Murphy's key moments?
Because Murphy has no attributed dialogue and appears in no named scene of his own, his key moments are environmental rather than plot-driven. He is part of the backdrop Ivan describes when establishing the texture of daily mall life — the sounds, smells, and social rhythms of animals living in proximity under artificial light. When Ivan surveys his domain at the novel's opening, cataloguing what he can see and hear, Murphy exists within that catalogue, a living detail that establishes the breadth of the mall's captive population. Similarly, when Ruby arrives and the mood among the animals shifts — anxiety for her welfare, rekindled awareness of their own confinement — Murphy is implicitly part of that collective emotional response. His most significant "moment" may be his absence from the novel's resolution: Ruby is rescued, Ivan is relocated to a zoo with open spaces, but smaller animals like Murphy remain behind, a quiet, uncomfortable fact Applegate does not overlook.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Murphy's most important relationships?
Ivan functions as Murphy's narrator and, symbolically, his advocate. Ivan's promise to Stella — that he will find Ruby a better life — expands, in moral logic, to encompass every creature in the mall. Murphy benefits from Ivan's growing conscience without ever directly interacting with it in a named scene.
Stella provides the community's emotional gravity. Her storytelling and steadying presence create the social glue that makes confinement survivable, and Murphy exists within that sheltered community as one of its most vulnerable members. Her death is a loss felt across the whole animal ensemble Murphy inhabits.
Bob offers the sharpest contrast to Murphy's situation. Bob moves freely, sleeps where he chooses, and defines himself through independence. Murphy, domesticated and caged, represents everything Bob has refused to become, sharpening the novel's meditation on freedom and belonging.
Mack is Murphy's keeper in the most transactional sense. The financial desperation that drives Mack's decisions — cutting costs, resisting veterinary care for Stella, acquiring Ruby — determines Murphy's daily conditions entirely. Murphy has no recourse against this power imbalance.
Snickers and Henrietta are Murphy's nearest peers in the novel's social hierarchy: small, domestic, unglamorous. Together they form a quiet chorus that prevents the story from feeling as though only charismatic megafauna deserve moral consideration.
05·Connected characters
How is Murphy connected to the other characters?
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about Murphy
Who is Murphy in The One and Only Ivan?
Murphy is a rabbit living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Performance Center, where Ivan, Stella, and the other mall animals are held. He belongs to the mall's "small animal" tier, alongside Snickers the dog and Henrietta the chicken. Though he plays a minor role in the plot, Murphy's presence broadens the moral argument of the novel: captivity traps both rabbit and gorilla in the same fluorescent-lit commercial system.
What is Murphy's relationship with Ivan in The One and Only Ivan?
Ivan acts as Murphy's narrator and implicit advocate. Ivan's promise to Stella—to find Ruby a better life—extends, in moral logic, to every creature in the mall, including Murphy. Ivan's attentive, painter-like observations of daily life at the mall introduce Murphy to the reader, making Ivan the character whose growing conscience most shapes Murphy's world, despite their lack of direct interaction.
How does Murphy's relationship with Bob contrast with Murphy's situation?
Bob the stray dog enjoys freedom, sleeping where he chooses and defining himself through independence, while Murphy is domesticated and caged with no such options. The characters occupy opposite ends of the captivity spectrum inside the mall. Applegate uses this contrast to enhance the novel's meditation on freedom and belonging, suggesting that domestication does not equate to freedom or consent.
Does Murphy get rescued at the end of The One and Only Ivan?
Murphy is not rescued by the novel's conclusion. Ruby is relocated to a better life and Ivan is moved to a zoo with open spaces, but smaller animals like Murphy remain at the mall. Applegate does not overlook this uncomfortable fact, and Murphy's absence from the resolution complicates any overly optimistic interpretation of Ivan's advocacy—serving as a quiet reminder that the happy ending is incomplete.
Why does Murphy matter if he has no dialogue or named scenes?
Murphy's moral significance lies in his ordinariness. Applegate highlights his lack of dramatic personal stakes to argue that one need not be a magnificent gorilla or a wise elephant to deserve a better life. His voicelessness also serves as characterization: in a world where Mack holds all the power, small creatures like Murphy cannot express their own suffering, making Ivan's act of noticing and narrating them an ethical gesture.
How does Murphy relate to Stella in The One and Only Ivan?
Stella provides the emotional gravity that holds the mall's animal community together through storytelling and steady wisdom, and Murphy exists within that sheltered community as one of its most vulnerable members. He benefits from the social glue Stella creates, making her loss — her death partway through the novel — a blow felt across the entire animal ensemble that Murphy inhabits, deepening the atmosphere of grief and confinement.
What does Murphy represent thematically in The One and Only Ivan?
Murphy symbolizes the indiscriminate reach of captivity and the moral weight of the unglamorous. His presence challenges the assumption that only wild or charismatic animals suffer in confinement; he is a domestic rabbit, yet no less trapped. Alongside Snickers and Henrietta, he forms a quiet chorus that ensures the novel's critique applies to all creatures behind bars, insisting that every being deserves consideration regardless of size or spectacle.
Who keeps Murphy at the mall, and how does that relationship affect him?
Mack, the mall's operator, is the owner and keeper of Murphy in a transactional sense. Mack's growing financial desperation—cutting costs, resisting veterinary care for Stella, acquiring Ruby as a new attraction—directly influences the daily conditions that Murphy and the other animals face. Murphy lacks recourse against this power imbalance, making Mack's decisions the invisible but controlling force over his existence.
07·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
The narrator's moral gaze: Ivan notices Murphy. What does the act of noticing