2 Blog #8

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
For this blog I’m going to write about pages 200-331, the ending of the book. There are a lot of shocking things in this passage. Firstly, August hits Marlena so Marlena leaves him for good. This surprised me because I thought Marlena would never be free and that her love with Jacob would always be forbidden. After she leaves August, Jacob learns that August is paranoid schizophrenic and that is the reason for his crazy mood swings. I don’t fully believe this excuse. It is realistic to think that people had the disorder and it went untreated in the 1930’s, but it seems like a very convenient excuse for his behavior. August chases after Marlena and will not stop pursuing her. I would be very scared of August if he were chasing after me because he is so unpredictable. During a performance all the animals get loose and the elephant kills August. I didn’t expect this because at the time it seemed like everything was going badly for Jacob and I thought things would continue on in this way. Meanwhile, the present day elderly Jacob seems to be getting sicker. He becomes senile and gets very scared. I would be scared too if I couldn’t remember things I just did. Jacob’s family is supposed to take him to the circus, but they forget. It’s very heartbreaking because it was the one thing he had to look forward to. Despite their absence, Jacob goes to the circus alone, something he’s not supposed to do. He meets the circus manager who agrees to let Jacob go along with the circus on the road. I didn’t like the ending very much. It didn’t tie up loose ends and it came out of nowhere. I also don’t like not knowing what exactly happens to Jacob at the new circus.