Water for Elephent

Description

Water for Elephants” is a novel by Sara Gruen. Written in 2006, this historical novel would take place through the Great Depression of the 1930s in America. It is based on Jacob Jankowski, a young man who runs away to a traveling circus and discovers a world that flows both with wonder and cruelty. The themes of the novel are love, loyalty, survival, and the perfectly blurred lines between right and wrong.

Plot Summary:
The novel unfolds through a double narrative structure, which interchanges the life of the old Jacob in a nursing home with his recollections of the period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Circus when he was still a young man, in his early twenties.

The story of Jacob Jankowski is, above all, an incredible journey of loss, one that overshadows the emotional destruction caused by the sudden car accident in which his parents died. With his life shattered and penniless, the veterinary student at Cornell University in New York, Jacob Jankowski, is compelled to abstain from sitting his final exams and boards a train in desperation. He soon finds himself on the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a struggling traveling circus.

Jacob is hired as the circus veterinarian and becomes a part of the inner workings of the circus. He now sees a whole range of colorful and dangerous characters: August, the animal trainer who beats the animals mercilessly, and Marlena, August’s beautiful and compassionate wife, who performs with the horses.

Love and Conflict: Jacob falls in love with Marlena, risking everything because of August’s jealousy and brutality. Through his journey, Jacob befriends Rosie, an elephant brought into the circus, as she had been considered untrainable but proves far more intelligent than everyone in this story could have envisioned. Eventually, she plays a crucial role in saving the circus as well as the blossoming relationship between Jacob and Marlena.

And through the circus’s brutality as well as its wonder, Jacob sees August become crueler, but to the animals only, and now to Marlena and anyone else around him, as they build towards an explosive dramatic finale of love, betrayal, and violence that changes everything.

Jacob’s Present: Jacob is a “senile old man” living in a nursing home in the present of the novel, remembering his youth and life with the circus. His memories of the circus serve as a means for him to avoid loneliness and despair at the end of life. The theme in question is that of aging, memory, and loss, played out by contrast between his rosy past and his lonely old age .
2. Themes :
Love and Loyalty: At its center, “Water for Elephants” is a love story between Jacob and Marlena, and their fight to be together in the face of danger. Loyal Jacob’s loyalty to Marlena; equally to Rosie, and to the circus animals, against the lack of loyalty by some of the circus people.

Survival and Morality: The circus can be termed as a survival world, violence where survival is at the cost of morality. Jacob wrestles questions within himself relating to right or wrong, faces exploitation, cruelty, and corruption. Each actor and worker of the circus finds a way to survive in a hostile world that sometimes presents uncertainty.

Animal Abuse: One of the strongest themes the treatment of animals brought forth was animal abuse, which was powerfully manifest in the circus. Veterinarian Jacob must indeed have been sensitive to the whole episode regarding how August and others treated the animals within the circus. His love for Rosie the elephant mainly points out the ethics attached to the use of animals within the entertainment industry.

Themes of the Passages of Time and Aging: In the novel, when Jacob reminisces about his life at an old age, some aging as well as nostalgia about the past should surface. His life in the nursing home was insignificant, dull, as well as full of boring dullness compared to his life in his youthful days; this enhances the theme in time and how it changes men along with their times.

3. Character Development
The novel centers its plot around its protagonist, Jacob Jankowski, who transforms from being a disgruntled college dropout to a compassionate veterinarian in the circus. His moral dilemmas and his personal growth/development are at the center of the story. Young Jacob is full of idealism and passion while the older Jacob is nostalgic and repents for the choices he made in his life.

Marlena: Marlena is the headlining performer of this circus who has always performed with the horses. While trapped in an abusive relationship with August, she free-spiritedly lights up in her newfound relationship with Jacob. Marlena embodies grace and strength within herself as she does her best to stay happy despite all the negative circumstances around her.

August: August is one of the most complex characters in the book. On the face of it, he is charming and charismatic, but what frequently peeks from behind those bright and charming eyes is violence and a propensity to dominate and abuse. The tension is almost palpable throughout the book due to his variable behavior, making him increasingly dangerous to both Jacob and Marlena. He is especially cruel to the animals, especially Rosie, which it seems reflects something of his unstable nature.

Rosie the Elephant: She is one of the very central characters of the novel, embodying innocence and fortitude. Initially, she seems to be a liability, as she does not seem to fit the model of the rest of the circus as she couldn’t seem to train, but finally proved intelligent and vivacious to the operation of the circus. She became closely associated with Jacob, and her existence symbolized hope in this harsh, brutal world of a circus.

Historical and Cultural Background:
The novel depicts the Great Depression, that time when the American economy was severely affected with a lot of instability, and the circus reflects these struggles, as its constant traveling and fight for survival. Quite a number of characters are products of the depression; in turn, the circus is a temporary refuge for the workers and the audience alike, although it rife with its own hardship.

The life in the circus is particularly detailed, using Gruen’s own work into historic circuses. Glitz and grime abound, from show-stopping performances in the big tops to submerged labor struggles behind the scenes both for workers and for animals.

5. Symbolism:
The circus is a microcosm of the world of the Great Depression, always concerning survival-a struggle by everybody for their place under the sun. Wonderful and cruel, it keeps away from bitter realities of life through its performing spectacle.

Rosie portrays innocence and strength and the relationships that humans share with animals. When August mistreats her, and she comes out victorious, she gives a lesson in the novel on the ethics of animal treatment and the characteristic of tenacity towards cruelty.
End
“Water for Elephants” is a gorgeous novel that weaves together historical fiction, romance, drama, and a deep concern with the human as well as the relationship between humanity and animals. Vivid storytelling by Sara Gruen draws readers into the world of the circus, but above all, her struggles connected with love, loyalty, and survival touch each heart.

Themes on themes: aging and time passing, and the cruelty that lies hidden in the best of all lives bring this novel emotional depth, and “Water for Elephants” is a beautiful moving story to think about long after the book has been closed.