Love is a very powerful emotion which is achieved by overcoming many hurdles and acting with courage. This bravery can be shown towards anything and anyone, including humans and animals. In Sara Gruen’s Water For Elephants, courage is a key aspect for characters that portray their love for other individuals and the animals. The characters, Jacob and Marlena love each other bravely, despite knowing the consequences for their actions. Not only does Marlena love Jacob, she also portrays affection for her horses as she protects them heroically. However, she is not the only one that admires the animals. Jacob is also fond of the animals in the circus and portrays it with valour.
Throughout the book, Gruen portrays that Jacob and Marlena have a deep affection towards each another, for which they act with courage. Initially, Jacob loves Marlena immensely but has yet to admit it. However, Marlena’s husband, August, is starting to have doubts about the relationship that his wife and Jacob share. Due to this reason August is overwhelmed with anger and abuses both, Marlena and Jacob. As much as he can, Jacob tries to fight back and protect Marlena. As he struggles to pull himself away from the two men holding him back, he pleads, “For Christ’s sake, let me go! He’s nuts! He’ll kill her!” (Gruen.247). At this point Jacob does not care for his own well being. He knows that August is crazy and may even kill Marlena for just a simple misunderstanding. He courageously puts his life at stake despite knowing the fact that his actions are going to cost him. Through his behaviour it is easy to see Jacob’s love for Marlena. This evidently shows how Jacob has to act with bravery to fight for the love of his life. Next, after being abused by August, M...
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...ers that portray their love for other individuals and the animals. The characters, Jacob and Marlena love each other bravely, despite knowing the consequences for their actions. Not only does Marlena love Jacob, she also portrays affection for her horses as she protects them heroically. However, she is not the only one that admires the animals. Jacob is also fond of the animals in the circus and portrays it with valour.
The characters, Jacob and Marlena, portray affection for one another using courage as a key trait. Along with Jacob, Marlena loves her horses with bravery as well. However, she is not the only one protecting the animals, Jacob also loves the them and uses his heroism to defend them. In Sara Gruen’s Water For Elephants, bravery is a significant factor for characters that show their affection towards the ones they admire, and the animals they protect.
The relationship between Jacob and August was quite hazy. It seemed as though Jacob had befriended August for the wrong reason; to steal his wife. However, there was definitely more to it than just that. It became obvious that Jacob treated people how they would treat him. In this case, August was not too fond of Jacob, especially after he suspected Jacob of having an affair with his wife, Marlena. The cruelty of August’s personality had shown an increased amount of disloyalty. He gained pleasure in convincing Jacob to enter a cage with a lion: “He’s just a widdle kitty cat.” (85) This evilness and betrayal of Jacob’s trust was an evident case of disloyalty from August. This caused Jacob to stay distant from August and also become more cautious of August’s actions. Once again, the reader is quickly able to see that Jacob would result to repayment. Jacob learns not to trust August and unknowingly returns the same disloyal actions by slowly taking away Marlena, August’s wife. If August had been a true friend to Jacob, the reader could definitely doubt this situati...
With the exception of some small problems with Sarah’s strong will, MacLachlan makes the relationship between Sarah and Jacob seem easy. However in the movie, Jacob also has a hard time letting Sarah get close to him because of his love for his dead wife, Katherine. For example, in the movie when they fight about putting Katherine’s possessions in the house and going to visit the grave Sarah says “I cannot make a difference until you make peace with Katherine’s death”. Jacob does not make that peace until Sarah goes to help Maggie deliver her baby. The delivery brings back memories of Katherine’s death since she died giving birth to Caleb. It is here that Jacob realizes “I never stopped long enough to tell her that I missed her”. Once Jacob realizes this he has room to love Sarah.
One of the main characters that suffers is Rosie, the circus’ elephant, her owner abuses her because he thinks she is a poorly trained animal. In reality Rosie doesn’t understand English. “August marches off, I turn back to Rosie. She stares at me, a look of unspeakable sadness on her face. Her amber eyes are filled with tears” (Gruen 268). Rosie is abused and has no method of escaping from her oppression. Emotional pain is shown in Water for Elephants through negative events in Jacob’s life. “I sink to the floor, overcome with grief and guilt. I throw a book at the wall” (Gruen 299). Jacob suffers as he tries to control his emotions. He suffers as he tries to overcome the loss of his companions, Walter and Camel. The two characters died as a result of being thrown off of the moving circus train because they could no longer afford to pay their wages. This also shows the pain involved in trying to earn a living during the Great Depression era. Furthermore, pain and suffering is tied into being confined, as one is suffering due to their confined
In Water for Elephants, the story is told through Jacob Jankowski at two different parts in his life: twenty-three year old Jacob who is out there exploring the world and, ninety-three year old Jacob who feels like he is wasting away his life in a nursing home. Water for Elephants is Gruen’s third book, it became one of the New York Times best sellers, it’s also available in forty-four different languages and it’s now a motion picture (Sara Gruen). Throughout the novel the reader is brought through both Jacob’s happy memories and ones that he wishes he could forget which shows its impact on the reader, a sense of catharsis and its social significance.
Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" revolves around a young black girl’s struggle to come to terms with the role that economic injustice, and the larger social injustice that it constitutes, plays in her life. Sylvia, the story’s protagonist, initially is reluctant to acknowledge that she is a victim of poverty. Far from being oblivious of the disparity between the rich and the poor, however, one might say that on some subconscious level, she is in fact aware of the inequity that permeates society and which contributes to her inexorably disadvantaged economic situation. That she relates poverty to shame—"But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody" (Bambara 604)—offers an indication as to why she is so hard-pressed to concede her substandard socioeconomic standing in the larger scheme of things. Sylvia is forced to finally address the true state of her place in society, however, when she observes firsthand the stark contrast between the rich and the poor at a fancy toy store in Manhattan. Initially furious about the blinding disparity, her emotionally charged reaction ultimately culminates in her acceptance of the real state of things, and this acceptance in turn cultivates her resolve to take action against the socioeconomic inequality that verily afflicts her, ensuring that "ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin" (606). "The Lesson" posits that far from being insurmountable, economic and social injustice can be risen above, but it is necessary that we first acknowledge the role that it plays in our lives, and then determine to take action against it; indifference, and the inaction that it breeds, can only serve to perpetuate such injustices.
In Thomas Wolfe's The Child by Tiger (reprinted in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] Page 625). The story as told through the eyes of a child will show many different ways to view Dick Prosser, the main character, as a man. The child Spangler shows how the children feel about Prosser, how he resembles a cat and how he turns from a good person to bad.
Love is often misconstrued as an overwhelming force that characters have very little control over, but only because it is often mistaken for the sum of infatuation and greed. Love and greed tread a blurred line, with grey areas such as lust. In simplest terms, love is selfless and greed is selfish. From the agglomeration of mythological tales, people deduce that love overpowers characters, even that it drives them mad. However, they would be wrong as they would not have analyzed the instances in depth to discern whether or not the said instance revolves around true love. Alone, true love help characters to act with sound reasoning and logic, as shown by the tales of Zeus with his lovers Io and Europa in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
...he shows us her character, not by how she gives herself respect, but by the continued respect that she gives to others: even her tormenters. Her secret shame was kept inside, and it was an impossible burden to bear. She was brave.
Love has been expressed since the beginning of time; since Adam and Eve. Each culture expresses its love in its own special way. Though out history, though, it’s aspect has always been the same. Love has been a major characteristic of literature also. One of the most famous works in literary history is, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This story deals with the love of a man and a woman who’s families have been sworn enemies. There love surpassed the hatred in which the families endured for generations. In the end they both ended up killing their selves, for one could not live without the other. This story is a perfect example of true love.
In one, a specimen-creating brute robs a pelican child’s life and her guardian trying to bring her back to life. In the other, a prince learns the value of his frog-turned-princess and sets out on a quest to find her. Joy Williams’s Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child and Alexander Afanasev’s The Frog Princess are both critical facets of the fairy tale genre. While initially it may seem that Williams preserved no elements from Afanasev’s tale, upon a closer glance, it is evident that the two tales’ similarities outnumber their differences. By incorporating a generous portion of the original story into his, Williams’s version brings forth an innovative arrangement of classic and new. As a result, William’s tale introduces features to the tale that mirror everyday life lessons while simultaneously maintaining qualities that are reflective of the definitional aspects of the fairy tale genre.
He sees how much an animal means to an individual, whether it be a cow to a farmer or a little poodle to an old lady. Each and every case is a brand new one. He feels for each and every animal, whether it is a bird or a horse.
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
The power of love controlled Romeo and Juliet's actions. They were so head over heels in love for each other that they were willing to do anything for their partner even if it meant to the extreme of things. Outside of “Romeo and Juliet”, a wise man named Hercules said “People do crazy things when they are in love…” This is perfectly said and true especially in showing Romeo and Juliet’s actions. Romeo and Juliet had only known each other for a day but their love had already taken over them. When Romeo and Juliet were confessing their love for each other during the balcony scene, Romeo said, “With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls,/For stony limits cannot hold love out, /And what love can do, that dares love attempt./Therefore, thy kinsman are no stop to me."(Act II, Scene 2, Lines 71-74) Romeo is saying love will make a man try anything and even a stone wall couldn't keep him out. Love had the authority to make Romeo fearlessly climb the walls risking getting caught. Love seized Juliet’s actions. Juliet was so in love that she was willing to drink the potion and appear to be dead all to be with the banished Romeo in the end. “God knows we shall meet again./ I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins… (ACT IV, Scene 3, Lines 15-16) Juliet was scared about doing this because she didn't know if it would work right or turn h...
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.
Imagine a world without dreams; would it not be empty and meaningless? Have you ever wondered how your life in the end will turn out to be? Have you at any time really taken control of you own life or do you simply not care? No one can live without dreams and aspirations, goals to reach. You have to strive for something in life; otherwise your life is at risk of becoming monotonous and uneventful. Having no dreams tends to isolate you. It is not unlike living in a box, an empty box, where everything feels the same. William, the main character in “Elephant”, deals with this problem every day.