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Summary Of Water For Elephants By Sara Gruen

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“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. One theme of this story like old age refers that during most of the story Jacob is a old man in a nursing home, and a lot of his desires are limited. “He thinks about fresh fruit with …show more content…

The Benzini Brothers' Circus that was opened back in the 1930s. Back then the circus was a bit different to the time now. For example, “I peer inside. The tent is enormous, as tall as the sky and supported by long, straight poles jutting at various angles. The canvas is taut and nearly translucent – sunlight filters through the material and seams, illuminating the largest candy stand of all. It's smack in the center of the menagerie, under rays of glorious light, surrounded by banners advertising sarsaparilla, Cracker Jack, and frozen custard.” (Jacob 113) Jacob loves the circus and thinks it’s a place of heightened, exaggerated …show more content…

For example, Jacob is in love and obsessed with Marlena and her pet elephant. Marlena is a beautiful girl that ran away from home during her teenage years. Unfortunately, she married a man that beats her up and is an animal abuser this man is known as August. During the story August is the one who abuses Rosie the elephant for no reason. To continue, Jacob is really in love with Marlena mostly because she reminds him of an old crush. "She looks so much like Catherine I catch my breath – the plane of her face, the cut of her hair, the slim thighs I've always imagined were under Catherine's staid skirts. […] When I turn back, the woman is looking at me. Her brow furrows, as though in recognition. […] After a few seconds she steals another glance" (Jacob 115-116). Both Marlena and Jacob have a love affair, for example they manage to have sex and Jacob finds out that Marlena actually loves him too. Later on she finally leaves that terrible man August just to protect herself from afflicting any more pain and suffering. Jacob also shows love to Rosie the elephant, for example "I hate that I've let them [Marlena and Rosie] both down" (Jacob 154) Also, Jacob trains Rosie the elephant, and respects both Marlena and Rosie more than

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Through these reasons it is obvious why Jacob starts to catch feeling for her. Jacob keeps being the honorable man he’s and keeps his love more of a secret once he finds out she’s married. Further on as the story progresses Jacob comes to realization that Marlena isn't living the happy love life as he feels she deserves. Once a mixture of greed and his love for life settle in he starts to lose some of his honor and this is where his first grave mistake settles. In due to the fact Marlina, being the wife to the head animal trainer and the one keeping Jacob alive in the circus.

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after a moment the elephant lifts her foot and holds it in front of her.’’ (Gruen 226-227). Rosie can’t understand English causing her to get abused when she is being spoken to by August, but when Greg speaks to her in Polish Jacob observes that she understands. This gives Jacob an idea on how to train Rosie without her being beat by August.

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She is tied down August, another example of him symbolizing confinement. Her love is a motivating force that gives her freedom in the end. Marlena’s beauty adds to the theme as well because she tempts Jacob to break confinement. He is in a trance when they are in bed together describing it as; “[h]er fingers flutter their way around my ear and down the back of my neck. I shudder.

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