ipl-logo

Barbara Kingsolver Writing The Elephant Summary

1110 Words5 Pages

In Barbara Kingsolver's essay "Writing the Elephant," she offers a glimpse into her journal entries during a trip to Nepal. Among the vivid descriptions of her experiences, one notable aspect is her encounter with elephant rides. This essay goes into the similar effects of elephant rides and the causes of elephant rides, exploring their impact on local communities, tourism, and the spiritual significance of elephants. Elephant rides have long been a popular tourist attraction, particularly in countries like Thailand, where they offer visitors a unique opportunity to interact closely with these majestic animals. However, the proliferation of elephant rides has raised concerns about their ethical implications and impact on local communities. According to Donald Frazier's analysis in "In …show more content…

Moreover, the commodification of elephants as tourist attractions carries on harmful stereotypes and reduces efforts to protect and conserve these endangered animals. In addition, the debate surrounding elephant rides highlights the importance of ethical considerations in the tourism industry. While it may be tempting for tourists to join in on experiences like elephant rides, it is crucial to consider the welfare of the animals involved and the broader impacts on local communities. As awareness of the ethical issues surrounding elephant rides grows, there has been a shift towards more responsible and sustainable tourism practices. In response to this, some tour operators have started to offer alternative experiences that prioritize the well-being of elephants, such as observing them in their natural habitat or participating in conservation efforts. By supporting these ethical elephant tourism initiatives, tourists can contribute to the protection of these animals and promote the sustainable development of local

Show More
Related
340 Words | 2 Pages

In the 20th century novel, “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver, the two protagonists are Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz. These two have very opposing character traits. In chapter four, to introduce each character, Kingsolver changes the narrators voice from Taylor’s first person narrative, to an unknown third-person narrative. This shows Taylor’s upbeat personality versus Lou Ann’s more fearful and pessimistic views.

Read More
1627 Words | 7 Pages

“I pass legs sticking out of doorways, and signs advertising breadlines. I pass signs in windows that say ‘CLOSED’, and it’s clear they don’t mean for night. I pass signs in windows that say ‘NO MEN WANTED’ and signs in second-story windows that say ‘TRAINING FOR THE CLASS STRUGGLE’ I pass a sign in the grocery store that says ‘DON’T HAVE MONEY? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT? WE’LL TAKE ANYTHING!’”

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is the story of a man named Jacob Jankowski and the life he had which was mostly centered on the circus. Jacob is a ninety-three-year-old man who resides is a nursing home which he believed was because his children were too busy to take care of him. Jacob was old and grouchy and got into an argument with another patient. The patient was having a conversation with some of the other patients and said that he used to carry water for the elephants at a circus in when he was younger. Jacob called the man a liar and the conflict escalated from there.

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

In the years between 1849 and 1855, thousands of people dared to take on the perilous journey to California filled with hardship, death, and disease for their chance at a “golden opportunity.” For many years, the Gold Rush has been seen as a male dominated even in history with little regard for women. However, JoAnn Levy, in They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, attempts to debunk the assumption that the participants in the Gold Rush were exclusively male. As expressed by Levy, women played fast and loose with stereotypes of the time and assumed that if men could go, they could too.

Read More
2726 Words | 11 Pages

Review of Water for Elephants Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is likely the best book I have read this year. The book tells an exciting yet whimsical tale of a character named Jacob Jankowski. However, the book breaks conformation in its means of storytelling. The book outlines two different plots focusing on the beginning of Jacob's life, and the end. The narrator is Jacob the main character, but he could be an unreliable narrator due to the fact he is an old man and one narrative and very well could be stretching the details of his story.

Read More
382 Words | 2 Pages

In Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver. Cosima goes on a very winding, confusing journey similar to that of a river. Cosima is on a mission to find herself, to find a stable point in the "river" or her life where she can belong. Cosima's journey towards her renewal can only begin once she learns to face Grace without her sister by her side. After Cosima and her sister graduated, she tried to start a new.

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

Character development is a crucial element to a story, especially in Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Jacob Jankowski, a dynamic character, undergoes a significant change in his attitude throughout his time at the nursing home. Through the remembrance of old memories from his life at the circus, Jacob Jankowski develops a sense of happiness and rediscovers his independence. While stuck in the nursing home with a family who forgot about him, Jacob Jankowski felt like he did not belong. He was closed off from the rest of the people at the nursing home, including his friends whom he ditched after they sat with “an old coot,” (Gruen 10) one who supposedly carried water for elephants.

Read More
1420 Words | 6 Pages

“Three in ten American teen girls will be pregnant before the age of twenty which averages to around 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.” Out of those teen mothers only around half of those women graduate high school ("11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy") McKenzie. Throughout The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Taylor or Missy, is faced with becoming a statistic, even after she fought so hard not to be, and the reader sees the highs and lows of being a single mother. Teen pregnancy rates have changed since the 1980’s-when the book was based-to current day, but teen girls are still faced with common problems such as starting a new life, unmarried life, young and inexperienced mothers, contraception, no prenatal care, high school dropouts, and the outcome of their children. “In the United States, the pregnancy rate of teens between the ages of fifteen and nineteen was twenty-six births for every one thousand girls” ("Teenage Pregnancy: Medical Risks and Realities") McKenzie.

Read More
321 Words | 2 Pages

In the gripping novel Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen establishes the theme of old age crippling humans, causing both physical and emotional hardships. To begin with, Sara Gruen uses the character of Jacob to show the emotional hardships caused by aging. Jacob feels sad and alone in the nursing home, and even begins to lose who he really thinks he is: “Even when I look straight into the milky blue eyes, I can’t find myself anymore” (Gruen, 2007, p. 111). Jacob believes that age has completely changed him as a person, which is a drastic and frightening thought to have.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

“Water for Elephants” a story by Sara Gruen, about a man named Jacob telling his life story. The themes of this story are old age, love, and the two literary devices that reveal these themes include character and setting. The narrator Jacob Jankowski is a really old man that can barely walk. He’s stuck in a nursing home and talks about his life way back in the 1930s when many events occurred at a circus. The character of Jacob and the setting in the past and his love for a women named Marlena and her pet elephant Rosie illustrate the themes of old age and love.

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

“Housing animals in spaces that were as close to the animals’ habitats as the designers could make them was an important step in the struggle to save endangered species.” and “Willie’s rainforest home is just one example of the far-reaching changes that have taken place in zoos in recent years. Zoos no longer feel their primary mission is simply to collect and display as many different species of animals from around the world as they possibly can. They no longer believe that the more unusual animals a zoo has, the better it is. Instead, zoos are changing into conservation parks that cooperate to help save animals threatened with extinction.

Read More
948 Words | 4 Pages

Steve Irwin, the famous Crocodile Hunter, has saved over 100,000 animals in his life and has become a well-known figure around the world for his studies in wildlife, and his hit tv shows on Animal Planet. When people think of Irwin, they think of a smiling Australian who was always around some type of dangerous animal, and although that’s a perfect description, many people thought that that was all there was to him when in reality he had to face challenge after challenge to get to where he did. He was an animal activist and spent his life trying to protect what he loved by becoming an Animal Rescuer, and spent years trying to come up with ways to protect the animals, but even after his death, his discoveries in Ecotourism are still being used today. Most

Read More
98 Words | 1 Pages

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants describes self discovery of life, love, and the struggles of living in the middle of The Great Depression. She paints Jacob Jankowski's as a miserable elderly man in a nursing home telling the adventures of his youth in the circus; full of grief, abuse and love. There are two quotes, “When two people are meant to be together, they will be together. It’s fate.” and, “Life is the most spectacular show on earth.”

Read More
1554 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the short story (1), “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway is speaking about a seemingly unwanted pregnancy and a woman’s uneasiness with going through an abortion. However, Hemingway never explicitly says in this work of fiction (2) that it is about abortion or that the woman, Jig, is uncomfortable with it, but uses symbolism (3) to present this to the audience. At the time “Hills like White Elephants” was published, in 1927, abortion was illegal in most places and a very taboo subject that wasn’t to be openly discussed in public. Thus, Hemingway relied greatly upon the use of symbolism to get his message across for this reason as well as the third person narrator (4) that did not give insight into the character’s thoughts within this piece of literature (5) . He uses symbols such as the train station, white hills, the baggage, and the drinks to point towards the underlying internal conflict (6) of Jig’s decision that is being heavily influenced by the American man, who wants Jig to get the abortion.

Read More
1098 Words | 5 Pages

Hills Like White Elephant is a short story by Earnest Hemingway from 1927. The story is talking about a failing relationship between an American man and his girlfriend. This couple is at a critical point on their lives. At the bar in a train station in Spain, the girl, Jig, does not want to end up her pregnancy, but she is going to sacrifice the baby to satisfied him. Because he is critical of the exploitation of his girl’s feelings concerning the continuation of unbalanced relationship.

Read More

More about Barbara Kingsolver Writing The Elephant Summary

Open Document