“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
This week I read pages 105-130. The passage starts with Jacob in current times in the nursing home. Jacob is woken up by a nurse. I’m kind of confused if the story of the circus is Jacob’s dream or if it is just a separate story since it seems to go along with the dream, but it is a true story. The nurse tells Jacob that his family is coming that day to take him to the circus. I predict that Jacob’s family will forget to visit him and take him to the circus because it would add to Jacob’s image as a very lonely and sad man. The passage then goes back in time to when Jacob was working for the circus. August is getting meaner and meaner. It turns out he fed Marlena’s horse’s remains other animals. Marlena is mad at August, but August doesn’t understand why. This shows how uncompassionate he is. Also, this confirms my prediction that that’s what August would do with the horse. August gets into a fight with another worker named Pete. Later, August says that he found food for the hungry cats. I think he killed Pete and fed him to the cats. This has been suggested before in the book and after the incident with the horse, I don’t put it past August. Jacob also gets in a fight with August where August gets very mad and yells at Jacob. I predict this is a precursor to a big fight between them. In the end of the passage, the circus gets a new elephant, but they are told the elephant is useless. I predict this will be the root of the problem between August and Jacob since they will both have to deal with it.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
2 Blog #5
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
This week I read pages 90-105. August invites Jacob to have a fancy dinner with Marlena, the horse trainer Jacob likes, and himself. Marlena is in a relationship with August. Jacob has had past risky situations that August has put him into. While at dinner the three have cheerful conversation and eat gourmet food while dressed in luxurious clothes. August gets drunk and then starts dancing with Marlena. Suddenly, August hits Marlena and then passes out. Jacob is shocked, but Marlena says that is just August’s personality. She tells Jacob to be careful of August because he can be very cruel. This enforces the idea I had that Jacob will get into trouble. Now, I think August will try to hurt Jacob. Later, Jacob has to put down Marlena’s horse. Jacob is very concerned for Marlena and August sees Jacob’s concern. This is another reason for my prediction that August will hurt Jacob. August doesn’t want Jacob to take Marlena. This passage really showed how scary August is even though he seems kind because of his charm. I think he doesn’t actually care for Marlena. He just wants to use her. At the end of this passage, August says, speaking of the circus, “The whole thing’s an illusion, Jacob, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what people want from us. It’s what they expect.” I think this is foreshadowing that Jacob is going to start to see the “real” circus. He’s going to be exposed to more risky, dangerous, and not glamorous situations.
This week I read pages 90-105. August invites Jacob to have a fancy dinner with Marlena, the horse trainer Jacob likes, and himself. Marlena is in a relationship with August. Jacob has had past risky situations that August has put him into. While at dinner the three have cheerful conversation and eat gourmet food while dressed in luxurious clothes. August gets drunk and then starts dancing with Marlena. Suddenly, August hits Marlena and then passes out. Jacob is shocked, but Marlena says that is just August’s personality. She tells Jacob to be careful of August because he can be very cruel. This enforces the idea I had that Jacob will get into trouble. Now, I think August will try to hurt Jacob. Later, Jacob has to put down Marlena’s horse. Jacob is very concerned for Marlena and August sees Jacob’s concern. This is another reason for my prediction that August will hurt Jacob. August doesn’t want Jacob to take Marlena. This passage really showed how scary August is even though he seems kind because of his charm. I think he doesn’t actually care for Marlena. He just wants to use her. At the end of this passage, August says, speaking of the circus, “The whole thing’s an illusion, Jacob, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what people want from us. It’s what they expect.” I think this is foreshadowing that Jacob is going to start to see the “real” circus. He’s going to be exposed to more risky, dangerous, and not glamorous situations.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Two Annotated Ethics Sources
Is assisted suicide ethical for the terminally ill?
Lavi, Shai. “How Dying Became a ‘Life Crisis.’” Daedalus 137 (2008): 57. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 6 Dec. 2008.
The author is a teacher at Tel Aviv University where he teaches law and sociology. He wrote a book on euthanasia that won the 2006 Distinguished Book Award from the American Sociological Association. This article appeared in Daedalus, a journal published by MIT and the official journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He writes about the progression of the medical treatment of death over time and explores the reason for the change in the treatment of death. Lavi writes that death and the pain and way in which people die has not changed over time; only people’s desire for control over death has changed. In the past doctors would even abandon patients when they thought the patients were beyond help. Now, people seek to have lots of control over medical practices as technology advances. Euthanasia comes from people seeking control over their deaths. The author comes to question what role a doctor has in treating the patient and if the doctor’s role is to treat the patient as the patient wishes or to give the patient constant hope.
Welch, William M. “Debate Rages in Calif. Over Physician-Assisted Suicide.” USA Today 10 Apr. 2007:n.p. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 6 Dec. 2008.
Welch is a reporter for USA Today. This article questions doctors’ involvement in assisted suicides, but not as much as some of the others. He not only reports on the recent event of debating about assisted suicide in California, but also on the background of both sides of the debate. He writes that Oregon is the only state to allow assisted suicide. Oregon only allows assisted suicide for people with less than six months to live. One concern he suggests is that people will kill themselves for reasons other than pain. People will kill themselves because they are depressed and it is hard to tell what the reason for assisted suicide is. He also says assisted suicide is questionable because of doctors’ ethics. It is against doctors’ ethics and some believe it is overall unethical for doctors to prescribe medicine for the sole purpose of killing a patient.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec98/suicide_11-24.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec99/suicide_10-27.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/october99/assisted_suicide3.html
Lavi, Shai. “How Dying Became a ‘Life Crisis.’” Daedalus 137 (2008): 57. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 6 Dec. 2008
The author is a teacher at Tel Aviv University where he teaches law and sociology. He wrote a book on euthanasia that won the 2006 Distinguished Book Award from the American Sociological Association. This article appeared in Daedalus, a journal published by MIT and the official journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He writes about the progression of the medical treatment of death over time and explores the reason for the change in the treatment of death. Lavi writes that death and the pain and way in which people die has not changed over time; only people’s desire for control over death has changed. In the past doctors would even abandon patients when they thought the patients were beyond help. Now, people seek to have lots of control over medical practices as technology advances. Euthanasia comes from people seeking control over their deaths. The author comes to question what role a doctor has in treating the patient and if the doctor’s role is to treat the patient as the patient wishes or to give the patient constant hope.
Welch, William M. “Debate Rages in Calif. Over Physician-Assisted Suicide.” USA Today 10 Apr. 2007:n.p. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 6 Dec. 2008
Welch is a reporter for USA Today. This article questions doctors’ involvement in assisted suicides, but not as much as some of the others. He not only reports on the recent event of debating about assisted suicide in California, but also on the background of both sides of the debate. He writes that Oregon is the only state to allow assisted suicide. Oregon only allows assisted suicide for people with less than six months to live. One concern he suggests is that people will kill themselves for reasons other than pain. People will kill themselves because they are depressed and it is hard to tell what the reason for assisted suicide is. He also says assisted suicide is questionable because of doctors’ ethics. It is against doctors’ ethics and some believe it is overall unethical for doctors to prescribe medicine for the sole purpose of killing a patient.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec98/suicide_11-24.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec99/suicide_10-27.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/october99/assisted_suicide3.html
Sunday, November 30, 2008
2 Blog #4
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
This week I read pages 50-90. In this passage Jacob has a discussion with Camel, another circus worker. Camel is old and says that the only thing keeping him going is alcohol. Camel says that the circus is a bad place for aging people and that he doesn’t know what will happen to him when he is unable to work. This is very different from jobs in current times. Most people are able to retire comfortably and rely on social security to help them in retirement, but Camel wasn’t able to do this. I think Camel is trying to reveal the rough lifestyle of the circus to Jacob. Camel helps Jacob get a meeting with the circus boss, Uncle Al, so Jacob can hopefully get a better job. Uncle Al isn’t very kind to Jacob. In their discussion, Jacob says he would like to work with animals. Uncle Al replies, “’You want to carry water for elephants, I suppose?’”. This is obviously the quote that the title of the book comes from. I interpret this as Uncle Al being very sarcastic. He doesn’t believe that Jacob is actually going to be a good worker with animals. Uncle Al thinks that Jacob just fantasized about coming to the circus and dreamed of carrying water for the elephants which isn’t realistic because the circus doesn’t have any elephants and it would be impossible to carry the massive amounts of water needed to feed an elephant. The circus is becoming less idealistic as the book goes on.
This week I read pages 50-90. In this passage Jacob has a discussion with Camel, another circus worker. Camel is old and says that the only thing keeping him going is alcohol. Camel says that the circus is a bad place for aging people and that he doesn’t know what will happen to him when he is unable to work. This is very different from jobs in current times. Most people are able to retire comfortably and rely on social security to help them in retirement, but Camel wasn’t able to do this. I think Camel is trying to reveal the rough lifestyle of the circus to Jacob. Camel helps Jacob get a meeting with the circus boss, Uncle Al, so Jacob can hopefully get a better job. Uncle Al isn’t very kind to Jacob. In their discussion, Jacob says he would like to work with animals. Uncle Al replies, “’You want to carry water for elephants, I suppose?’”. This is obviously the quote that the title of the book comes from. I interpret this as Uncle Al being very sarcastic. He doesn’t believe that Jacob is actually going to be a good worker with animals. Uncle Al thinks that Jacob just fantasized about coming to the circus and dreamed of carrying water for the elephants which isn’t realistic because the circus doesn’t have any elephants and it would be impossible to carry the massive amounts of water needed to feed an elephant. The circus is becoming less idealistic as the book goes on.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
2 Blog #3
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
This week I read pages 30-48. Jacob gets off the train when it stops. One of the men who was riding on the circus train with him, Camel, found a job for Jacob. Camel teaches Jacob how to act at the circus. Camel gets Jacob a job opportunity and Jacob soon rises to an even better position after proving himself. Currently, Jacob is working as a crowd controller in various parts of the circus. I think this is odd because this has nothing to do with what I’ve learned of Jacob so far. Jacob was going to school to learn to be a veterinarian, but he is not even working with animals. Also, there has not been a single elephant yet, as the title suggests. When Jacob first entered the big top he saw a girl standing next to some horses. She was very pretty and reminded him of his girlfriend at college, Catherine. Jacob was captivated by her. I predict that he will get to know her in the coming pages and will have a relationship with her. When Jacob goes to the dining place he quickly sees the harsh attitude of other workers. Camel warns Jacob that he needs to better learn the ways of the circus quickly because other people are not friendly. I predict that Jacob’s lack of knowledge will get him into trouble. He won’t be trying to cause a disturbance, but he will. Perhaps the trouble will be linked to the new girl.
This week I read pages 30-48. Jacob gets off the train when it stops. One of the men who was riding on the circus train with him, Camel, found a job for Jacob. Camel teaches Jacob how to act at the circus. Camel gets Jacob a job opportunity and Jacob soon rises to an even better position after proving himself. Currently, Jacob is working as a crowd controller in various parts of the circus. I think this is odd because this has nothing to do with what I’ve learned of Jacob so far. Jacob was going to school to learn to be a veterinarian, but he is not even working with animals. Also, there has not been a single elephant yet, as the title suggests. When Jacob first entered the big top he saw a girl standing next to some horses. She was very pretty and reminded him of his girlfriend at college, Catherine. Jacob was captivated by her. I predict that he will get to know her in the coming pages and will have a relationship with her. When Jacob goes to the dining place he quickly sees the harsh attitude of other workers. Camel warns Jacob that he needs to better learn the ways of the circus quickly because other people are not friendly. I predict that Jacob’s lack of knowledge will get him into trouble. He won’t be trying to cause a disturbance, but he will. Perhaps the trouble will be linked to the new girl.
Monday, November 17, 2008
2 Blog #2
"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
This week I read pages 14-30. The book started in the time period where Jacob was in a nursing home, but is now in an extended flashback of when Jacob was in college. Jacob was attending college when he was informed that both of his parents had died in a car crash. He immediately felt sick and had to leave college in the midst of finals to cope with his parents’ deaths. This reminds me of the book I read last quarter called “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. In “Life of Pi”, Pi also began with a happy life. He liked studying the zoo animals around him and different religions. Similarly, Jacob was happy studying at a very good college, Cornell. Their happy lives were both interrupted when they lost their parents. Pi lost his parents when his family was traveling on a boat. The boat sank and Pi’s parents drowned. Jacob lost his parents in a car accident. These events relate to the Monomyth we have been studying in class. Both Pi and Jacob had ideal circumstances surrounding their childhood. Pi was content studying animals and Jacob was content studying at Cornell. Also both characters left on a journey. Pi left his home in India on a boat. He was stranded in the middle of the ocean in a lifeboat after the ship sank. After Jacob discovered his parents’ deaths he left Cornell. He walked far away from the college, unsure of where he was going. He arrived at some train tracks. He saw a train going by and jumped onto it. Both boys crossed the point of no return because Pi couldn’t jump out of the lifeboat and Jacob couldn’t jump out of the train.
This week I read pages 14-30. The book started in the time period where Jacob was in a nursing home, but is now in an extended flashback of when Jacob was in college. Jacob was attending college when he was informed that both of his parents had died in a car crash. He immediately felt sick and had to leave college in the midst of finals to cope with his parents’ deaths. This reminds me of the book I read last quarter called “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. In “Life of Pi”, Pi also began with a happy life. He liked studying the zoo animals around him and different religions. Similarly, Jacob was happy studying at a very good college, Cornell. Their happy lives were both interrupted when they lost their parents. Pi lost his parents when his family was traveling on a boat. The boat sank and Pi’s parents drowned. Jacob lost his parents in a car accident. These events relate to the Monomyth we have been studying in class. Both Pi and Jacob had ideal circumstances surrounding their childhood. Pi was content studying animals and Jacob was content studying at Cornell. Also both characters left on a journey. Pi left his home in India on a boat. He was stranded in the middle of the ocean in a lifeboat after the ship sank. After Jacob discovered his parents’ deaths he left Cornell. He walked far away from the college, unsure of where he was going. He arrived at some train tracks. He saw a train going by and jumped onto it. Both boys crossed the point of no return because Pi couldn’t jump out of the lifeboat and Jacob couldn’t jump out of the train.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
2 Blog #1
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
This week I began reading “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. I read from pages one through thirteen. In the passage, the main character Jacob is introduced. He is an old man who lives in a nursing home. He seems very grumpy. For example, he does not like it when a new man at the nursing home tries to sit with him at lunch. The man tries to make conversation. The man sees that the circus is coming to town and setting up next to the nursing home. He says that he used to work for the circus carrying water for the elephants. Jacob calls him a liar and says that he couldn’t have carried water for the elephants because elephants drink too much water to carry. Also, Jacob is unhappy with the nursing home. He always longs for better food. I think that Jacob will be a very interesting character because he is full of grumpy attitude. The book begins with a flashback. It is a flashback of Jacob working for the circus when he was younger. The flashback is of a time when all the animals escaped from the circus. There were panthers and yaks running freely everywhere. The flashback does not state specifically what Jacob’s job was in the circus. I predict that his job will have to do with animals because the title has an animal, an elephant, in it and also because the flashback he had concerned animals. In addition, Jacob seemed to have some knowledge of circus animals when he fought with the man in the nursing home.
This week I began reading “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. I read from pages one through thirteen. In the passage, the main character Jacob is introduced. He is an old man who lives in a nursing home. He seems very grumpy. For example, he does not like it when a new man at the nursing home tries to sit with him at lunch. The man tries to make conversation. The man sees that the circus is coming to town and setting up next to the nursing home. He says that he used to work for the circus carrying water for the elephants. Jacob calls him a liar and says that he couldn’t have carried water for the elephants because elephants drink too much water to carry. Also, Jacob is unhappy with the nursing home. He always longs for better food. I think that Jacob will be a very interesting character because he is full of grumpy attitude. The book begins with a flashback. It is a flashback of Jacob working for the circus when he was younger. The flashback is of a time when all the animals escaped from the circus. There were panthers and yaks running freely everywhere. The flashback does not state specifically what Jacob’s job was in the circus. I predict that his job will have to do with animals because the title has an animal, an elephant, in it and also because the flashback he had concerned animals. In addition, Jacob seemed to have some knowledge of circus animals when he fought with the man in the nursing home.
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