Too Much Love? “Water for Elephants” is a film based off the novel written by Sarah Grusen. The movie follows people through their life struggles. It has three main characters; Jacob, August, and Marlena, who struggle with figuring out who they want to be. This story starts out with an older man wandering around the grounds of the circus after the show was over. Everyone came to the conclusion that he had been separated from his nursing home group that had attended the circus earlier that day. The man claims to have been a part of one of the most infamous circus groups ever known.
He sits down and begins to tell his story. His story starts out with Jacob finding out that his parents were killed in a car accident. This left him with no money and no place to live. Many events take place that lead him to working as a vet, under an unstable boss. His boss, August, has a tendency to have violent outbreaks toward people and animals when things don’t go the way he had planned them. Many of the other workers had said that August was very possessive over his wife Marlena. You really grasp this concept when you see the scene where August beats the elephant after an act where Marlena was hurt. This makes you realize that Jacob falling in love with Marlena is not a good idea for anyone. August loves her so much that he will not let anything or anyone come between them, not matter what he has to do. There were many scenes from TV shows, sitcoms, and movies that I thought about writing about but this certain one stuck in my head. Every time I thought about a different scene, I always went back to this one. This scene is very dramatic and heart wrenching, but to me it has so much meaning behind it. Most viewers were disgusted by it because they didn’t understand why anyone would do that to an animal. August did it because he loves Marlena and she was put into great danger. He doesn’t realize that he was the one that had put her into danger by making Rosie the elephant perform before she was ready. August would just get a thought in his head and act on it. He never once stopped to think about what would be the result of his actions. Many people would say that he was wrong for what he did but whether it was good or bad for him to protect his wife the way he did is merely based on everyone’s opinion. Most of this film takes place during the Great Depression. The Great Depression was why Jacob was left with nothing. Everyone was hit with hard times during this era and most people were left with nothing. During this time most people thought that investing in something big would be the only way you could make it. August’s circus is now a proud owner of Rosie the elephant. The Great Depression made everyone do crazy things. The way things took place in this story made you really visualize the way things were during that period. “For “Water for Elephants,” which was the first historical thing I've written, I did all the research ahead of time. I needed to feel that I knew the subject matter in and out.”- Sarah Grusen
When Jacob is appointed the vet of the circus he notices that Silver, their star attraction is severely hurt and cannot perform anymore. August tells him to patch Silver up so that she can keep performing. Jacob cannot watch Silver be in pain so he decides to euthanize her. This makes August very angry and threatens to throw Jacob off the train and tells him that if he wants to keep his job then he will obey all of his future orders. Once Silver was gone August comes up with Rosie the elephant as her replacement. This scene involves August getting so wrapped up into making money that he doesn’t care what happens to others. He puts Marlena in danger by making Rosie perform before she is ready. Rosie ends up freaking out during the performance and August takes revenge on Rosie because Marlena was hurt during the whole thing. August doesn’t treat Marlena very well but says that he loves her and would do anything for her but he ends up hurting her when it comes to decisions with his circus. August is so excited about having Rosie as their star attraction he assigns Jacob as the Bull Handler. Rosie was just so stubborn when it came to taking orders and you find out after this scene it’s because Rosie understands Polish commands. August beat her because she won’t respond to the things that he wanted her to do. Before Rosie was ready to perform August threw her into a show and she ended up getting spooked by the audience. She had Marlena riding on her back and once she got scared she reared up and ran out of the tent. Luckily Marlena was able to grab a pole and made the whole act seem like it was supposed to happen. Jacob went to find Rosie and once he did he brought her back to camp and let August know that she was safe and was back in her car. August was raged with the fact that Rosie had put Marlena in danger. He took the hook into Rosie’s car and just kept repeatedly beating her. Once he walked out, Jacob was able to see the damage that he had done to Rosie and it angered him. He took the hook that was used to beat Rosie and went to August’s tent. They talked a bit and August tells Jacob, “Ha. You look like me. Jacob looks in the mirror and indeed - with Rosie's blood on his open shirt, bull hook in hand - he looks like a violent man.” Jacob then leaves and takes the hook and wedges it under the train breaking it. -Script
Jacob is boy who had a bright future as a vet but then he was hit with the devastating news that his parents had been killed in a car accident. Then he is told that he was left with nothing because his dad was in so much debt that the bank took the house. Jacob doesn’t see the point of going back to school so he runs off and jumps onto a Benzini Borthers circus train where he meets August the circus owner, head animal trainer, and Marlena’s husband. August is a very violent man, and he is also very possessive of the things that he has. He meets Jacob and allows him to stay as the circus vet but these two are completely two different people. Jacob is caring and notices how others feel. Whereas August just sees the things he wants and doesn’t care what else goes on. This makes Jacob the protagonist and August as the antagonist. There is also Marlena, which is August’s wife and the woman that Jacob falls in love with during his time with the circus. She is a very beautiful, damaged woman. Marlena didn’t see herself doing any better than August because of the way she grew up. So she stayed with August even though she didn’t agree with the things that he did. All three of these characters are round characters because they know the things that they have to do in order to change. Jacob knows that he needs to leave the circus, go back and finish school, and become the vet he always wanted to be. August knows that he is unstable, every time he does something wrong he realizes afterwards and feels bad about it but never changes. Marlena knows that leaving August and the circus would be the best for her but that is all she knows and doesn’t want to leave everything she has.
Jacob doesn’t agree with things that are being done around the circus but he stays because he is in love with Marlena and wants to get her out of that lifestyle. August is very proud of the things he has and the things he does and when those things don’t go right then he acts out. He beat Rosie because he loves Marlena and was scared when he watched everything happen. Any man would do that for the woman that he loves, if he sees their life in jeopardy. In August’s mind he was doing the right thing by taking revenge on something that endangered his wife. He also was not thinking clearly and some people would say that he was doing the right thing by protecting his wife but those same people would probably tell you that he went too far. I chose this scene because it may have seemed like a terrible, meaningless scene to others but there are just so many emotions, and feelings behind the actions that took place. This scene is very important because it should make you stop and think about the extremes that people went to during the time of the Great Depression. It also shows you that you should do the things that you want to do in life and the things that are right to you. Don’t let something hold you back from your achievements because you will just end up miserable and turn into something that you don’t want to be.

Work Cited
Lagravenese, Richard. "Water for Elephants Script at IMSDb." The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). 16 Apr. 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
"Water for Elephants (2011) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
"Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen." ReadingGroupGuides.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.