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Water For Elephants Character Analysis

788 Words4 Pages

Kylie Bloom
01/06/23
Ms.Crawford
English 11

Jacob Jankowski Character Analysis

In Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants, Jacob Jankowski navigates rejection vs. belonging in order to find who he wants to be. Jacob’s behavior is a reflection of how he is fitting in throughout the novel. The change in comfortability is noticeable as he seems to relax and become confident as he warms up to his new surroundings.

After joining the circus, Jacob overcomes his angst through building meaningful relationships. When Jacob first arrives on the train, he is feeling distraught and lost after his parents' recent death. However, he later meets Camel who seems to be the first circus member to show compassion towards Jacob. Camel helps Jacob become …show more content…

Jacob has known since the beginning that August is a man that many fear. Although August is cruel, what makes him such a villain is that he has two sides of him. August knows how to impress, he’s charming if you're on his good side, but it's a different story when he’s in a bad mood. Jacob is one of the only people who can recognize the two sides of August, others just say he’s a paranoid schizophrenic. Jacob expresses this when he says : “The others can believe what they like, but I don’t believe for a second that this is the real August and the other is an aberration.” (293). August tends to put on his best self when around others, fancy clothes, showing compassion and inviting Jacob for dinner, it’s not him! August puts on this persona because he himself knows how barbaric he is. It all starts to take a turn between the two of them when Jacob admits his interest in Marlena is affecting the way he sees August. Listening to the things Marlena has to say about August, Jacob realizes how brutal August really is. August started off as a friend toward Jacob, but now they seem more like enemies. Fighting over the same woman, arguing about how to treat animals and down right attacking one another when things go wrong. Jacob realizes August never

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