Since the last time I journaled, I have completed Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. The novel concluded on page 331. In the second half of the book, the action really picked up and left me never wanting to put the book down. August, the elephant man of the circus, would beat Rosie, because she never listened. It was so hard for Jacob to watch August beat this innocent animal. Finally, one day Jacob discovered Rosie could not understand English, but rather knew the Polish language, which is why she never followed directions. Meanwhile, Jacob is falling for Marlena, August’s wife, and wants so badly to marry her. August beat Marlena one night when he was having one of his, “fits.” August is a paranoid schizophrenic, and often will have destructive
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I am surprised there were not more issues involving the animals than what they already had. Rosie was the circus’ main problem. She would never listen, and at three different shows she stole all of the lemonade and cost them much of their profit. Rosie was continuously and ruthlessly beaten for not listening, and this just about killed Jacob to watch. One night he went to visit Rosie to fix up all of her wounds from her recent beating. He was speaking in Polish to himself, like he occasionally does, and she looked at him in a differently. He tried speaking a command to her in Polish, and Rosie listened perfectly. ‘ “Rosie, nogę!” I say. She blinks again and opens her mouth in a smile. “Nogę, Rosie!” She fans her ears and sighs’ (Gruen 217). Jacob realized the animal was not dumb; she just did not understand English. This discovery led to a successful elephant act in the next couple of shows. Rosie from then on out was an obedient and intelligent elephant. August, being the main elephant man of the circus, now had to learn Polish. This set the whole elephant act back a few weeks, because he did not pick up the Polish language in one week. August was trying his best to learn, but Uncle Al, the main circus director, was getting fed up with the wait. August stayed up until wee hours of the night learning …show more content…
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially because elephants are my favorite animals. I definitely can say I enjoyed the book more than the movie, because the book had a better storyline and got into every detail along the way. I felt empty when I finished this book because I wanted to keep reading further, although it had a spectacular ending. I would give myself a 10/10 because I went into great detail and explained the most important parts that arose at the end of the
I am surprised there were not more issues involving the animals than what they already had. Rosie was the circus’ main problem. She would never listen, and at three different shows she stole all of the lemonade and cost them much of their profit. Rosie was continuously and ruthlessly beaten for not listening, and this just about killed Jacob to watch. One night he went to visit Rosie to fix up all of her wounds from her recent beating. He was speaking in Polish to himself, like he occasionally does, and she looked at him in a differently. He tried speaking a command to her in Polish, and Rosie listened perfectly. ‘ “Rosie, nogę!” I say. She blinks again and opens her mouth in a smile. “Nogę, Rosie!” She fans her ears and sighs’ (Gruen 217). Jacob realized the animal was not dumb; she just did not understand English. This discovery led to a successful elephant act in the next couple of shows. Rosie from then on out was an obedient and intelligent elephant. August, being the main elephant man of the circus, now had to learn Polish. This set the whole elephant act back a few weeks, because he did not pick up the Polish language in one week. August was trying his best to learn, but Uncle Al, the main circus director, was getting fed up with the wait. August stayed up until wee hours of the night learning …show more content…
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially because elephants are my favorite animals. I definitely can say I enjoyed the book more than the movie, because the book had a better storyline and got into every detail along the way. I felt empty when I finished this book because I wanted to keep reading further, although it had a spectacular ending. I would give myself a 10/10 because I went into great detail and explained the most important parts that arose at the end of the