Quarter 2 OR Week 3 Post B

The characters in Water for Elephants are a lot like the many members (animals included) of a circus. They are as different as each performer is another. Jacob, clearly new to the circus, comes from a sheltered world. He attended Cornell University in hopes of achieving a veterinarian degree but ended up jumping a circus train after the death of his parents. He believes in the general good of people, but after less than a week with the circus, he's views have changed. Sure he's met nice people like Camel, who helped get him a job on the show, and Diamond Joe, who gave Jacob some advice on how to survive circus life. But there were others like Kinko who showed Jacob no kindness whatsoever. "'That's Kinko to you, pal. Only my friends call my Walter'"(82). Not to mention August, who appears kind at first, "' Nonsense,' he says. 'You're the show's vet. Come with me'"(76), but at others, clearly doesn't like Jacob as much as he acts like he does, "'August's a funny one, and I don't mean funny ha-ha. You be careful'"(87). The other circus workers know about August's quirks. Jacob realizes a little too late, after the lion incident, that August isn't someone to mess with. Of course, there is also the ringmaster, Uncle Al. Uncle Al is what I would call a wacko. We haven't learned much about him except that he loves circus freaks. Personally, he kind of creeps me out, and I think Jacob would agree with me when I say he's not a man to cross. Lastly, there's Marlena. She's a performer and she clearly loves the animals she performs with. But she's also married to August, who, as I mentioned before, is a little crazy, so it's hard to tell how much of an influence he's had on her. As for now, she seems normal and a very nice person. But at such an early stage in the book, it's hard to tell about anyone, even Jacob himself could be a madman and I wouldn't know if from what I've read so far. The characters may be hard to find in real life, but they're interesting to read about. Different, and a little odd. But as they say, to each his own.