Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen is a historical novel set against the backdrop of a struggling traveling circus during the Great Depression. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of Jacob Jankowski, a ninety-three-year-old man reflecting on his youthful experiences with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After the tragic loss of his parents and the subsequent loss of his inheritance, Jacob impulsively joins the circus, where he becomes a veterinarian and forms complex relationships with several characters, including the beautiful equestrian performer Marlena Rosenbluth and her cruel husband, August.
As Jacob navigates the harsh realities of circus life, he encounters a diverse cast of characters, including Camel, an alcoholic employee, and Rosie, a performing elephant with a unique intelligence. The story explores themes of love, compassion, and the dark underbelly of entertainment, culminating in a series of dramatic events that lead to the downfall of the circus and the liberation of its characters. Ultimately, Jacob’s journey is one of resilience and finding a sense of belonging, as he reconnects with the world he once loved, culminating in a bittersweet return to the circus in his twilight years. The novel richly depicts the complexities of human relationships and the bond between humans and animals, set in a vivid historical context.
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Subject Terms
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada
First published: 2006
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical fiction
Time of plot: 1931 and 2001
Locales: Norwich and Ithaca, New York; Northeastern and Midwestern United States
Principal Characters
Jacob Jankowski, an elderly and retired veterinarian
Rosemary,an African American nurse at his retirement home
Marlena Rosenbluth,a twenty-one-year-old circus performer
August Rosenbluth, Marlena’s husband, superintendent of animals, head of the circus menagerie
Alan J "Uncle Al" Bunkel,circus owner and ringmaster
Camel,an alcoholic circus employee
Walter,a little person, performs as the circus clown Kinko
Barbara, a stripper and sometimes prostitute with the circus
Grzegorz "Greg" Grabowski,a Polish public relations man for the circus
Rosie,a fifty-year-old female performing elephant
Charlie O’Brien, manager of the modern-day circus
The Story
In 2001, frail, ninety-three-year old Jacob Jankowski is living out his days at a retirement home. When a circus begins setting up nearby, he flashes back seventy years to a time when he worked for a shabby traveling circus.
In 1931, Jacob, who was twenty-three and finishing coursework at Cornell University, was preparing to join his father’s veterinary practice in Norwich, New York. He is unexpectedly called out of class and learns that his parents have died in an automobile accident. Shortly afterward, he discovers he will not receive an inheritance because his father worked on a barter system rather than charge a fee during the Great Depression. The family home was also heavily mortgaged so that Jacob could attend college.
Distraught, Jacob wanders away and on an impulse hops on a moving train. The boxcar he crawls into is one of many that are hauling employees, animals, and equipment from the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a ramshackle traveling circus. One man on the boxcar is Camel, an older, alcoholic circus worker who acts as Jacob’s protector and guide. The bedraggled circus features sideshow freaks and a menagerie that incorporates a variety of exotic animals. In a separate tent, Barbara, a stripper and prostitute, performs for male patrons.
Camel introduces Jacob to Uncle Al, circus owner and ringmaster, a blustery man to whom many workers are hostile, because he regularly cheats them. Within days, Jacob is an employee, toiling at menial tasks. Because he knows animals, Jacob is called upon to examine Silver Star, the favorite horse of young equestrian performer Marlena Rosenbluth. Marlena is twenty-one, pale, freckled, and brunette. The horse has a painful and incurable condition, and Jacob is forced to put it out of its misery. His veterinary knowledge allows Jacob to move up in the circus hierarchy: he is more than just a worker, but less than a performer. He bunks in a stock car with Walter, a brooding man with dwarfism who performs as the clown Kinko. After Jacob cures Walter’s dog Queenie of diarrhea, he and Walter become friends.
With his new status, Jacob is invited to dinner with the Rosenbluths. August Rosenbluth, though friendly and extroverted, reveals a vicious streak, much of it directed at his wife of whom he is exceedingly jealous. As head of the circus menagerie, August often takes out his anger on the animals, and Jacob is determined to become the beasts’ protector. Through frequent contact, Jacob and Marlena slowly draw closer.
The circus menagerie grows with the addition of Rosie, a large elephant acquired from a competing circus that failed. Frustrated by the circus’s inhumane treatment of the animals during a heat wave, Jacob gets drunk, and stripper Barbara relieves him of his virginity while he is inebriated.
While Marlena is training with Rosie for a circus act, Jacob learns from fellow Pole Greg Grabowski that the elephant is actually intelligent but only responds to commands spoken in Polish. Before she can be trained, however, the willful Rosie escapes and causes damage, which earns her physical punishment from August, and the elephant inadvertently injures Marlena. Eventually the woman and the animal perform together, and their act is a popular hit with audiences.
Camel, meanwhile, has become partially paralyzed from bad liquor, so Jacob and Walter take him into their boxcar home to care for him and to prevent him from being physically ejected from the circus. One night, while he is inebriated, August assaults Jacob, thinking he has slept with his wife. The two men fight, and both are bruised and bloodied. Despite August’s pleading, Marlena leaves him to stay at a local hotel. Uncle Al, blackmailing him with threats to kick Camel and Walter off the train, convinces Jacob to persuade Marlena to return for the good of the circus. When Jacob encounters Marlena at the hotel, they embrace, ultimately sleep together, and profess their love for one another.
Jacob and Marlena return to the circus separately but continue meeting in secret over the weeks that follow; Marlena tells Jacob she is pregnant. The circus is meantime disintegrating. Patrons are unhappy because several acts , including Rosie, are missing, and circus workers are unhappy at not being paid. Camel, Walter, and several other men are thrown off the moving train, and Walter is killed. Conditions come to a head when during a performance the animals stampede. Rosie kills August, her abuser, and Uncle Al is strangled and trampled in the melee. In the aftermath, Jacob acquires Rosie, and Marlena gets to keep her horses. The pair eventually marry, become parents to five children over time, and Jacob enjoys a long professional career as a veterinarian before Marlena’s death.
The story returns to the present of 2001 when Jacob decides to visit the circus that is setting up nearby. Sympathetic manager Charlie O’Brien listens to Jacob’s story from 1931, and he takes Jacob on as a ticket-seller so he can complete his life in surroundings he knows and loves.
Bibliography
Chaudhuri, Una, and Holly Hughes, eds. Animal Acts: Performing Species Today. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2014. Print.
Davis, Janet M. The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2006. Print.
Dickstein, Morris. Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
Jando, Dominique, Linda Granfield, and Noel Daniel, eds. The Circus, 1870s–1950s. New York: Metro, 2012. Print.
Marangon, Barbara File. Detour on an Elephant: A Year Dancing with the Greatest Show on Earth. Sarasota: Ogham, 2014. Print.
Nance, Susan. Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business of the American Circus. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. Print.