Top 10

TOP 10:
1). Jacob: This is the main charactor of the book. The whole story is based on his experiences in the circus. In the beginning of the book it is a mistake that he end up on a circus but by the end of the book all he wants to be is back with the circus. Its a lifestyle that he had adapted to.
2). August and Marlena: These two charactors are the charactors that Jacob gets the most envovled with. He loves Marlena but she and August are married. August is not a nice person and Marlena loves him and Jacob until August gets mad and beats her. She ends up leaving him right before he dies.
3). Rosie: This last charactor is very important to the book because she is the reason that Jacob stays around besides Marlena. He is the veteranarian on the circus and he feels like it is his duty to keep her safe from August. She is the elephant that is in Marlena's act.
4). Setting: The setting of this story is the circus. Jacob is a veteranarian and he is always in the managerie watching and taking care of the animals. He is always on a train and is in his car with Walter and his dog queenie. The big place is the towns that the circus sets up in and does show in at night then pack up and move out later that night.
5). Plot: The plot of this story is the love affair between Marlena and Jacob after August beats Marlena. Since the beginning when he first got to the circus he had always liked her and he didn't think that August deserved her.
6). The Big Top: This place is very important because that is where the circus's shows take place. Marlena rides her horses and did a routine with Rosie in the big top. The big top is where the stampede happens and August gets killed. Some of the main events happened when they were in a show at the big top.
7). The Nursing Home: This is an important place because they go back and forth from Jacob's time at the circus to when he was old in the nursing home. He explain how he spent his time sitting in his bed or in his wheelchair. His time in the nursing home makes him think about the time he spent in the circus.
8). The Train: Jacob spends alot of time on the train. Since they are always moving to new towns to try to make money. He shares a room with Walter and later in the book Camel. Walter becomes one of his good friends and Jacob is devistated when he is killed. He is not as close with Camel but still devestated when he is killed as well.
9). Menagerie: This is where Jacob spends most of his time when he is taking care of the animals. He cares for those animals more than he could even imagine. HE loved them so much he couldn't stand it when August would hit Rosie with the bull hook. He developed special bonds with the animals because he was in there all the time.
10). Present/Past: In the book the writer skips back and forth from the present to the past. When the author is talking in the past she explains Jacob when he is in the circus and what he was up when working as a veteranarian. When she is talking about him in the present she is talking about what it is like for him living in a nursing home and how he wishes he was back working with the circus again.

Week 7: Part 2

In the last section of the book right after Jacob is hit in the head Walter findsd him and puts him on the train so he doesn't get left behind. That night when everyone else is sleeping Jacob gets up (even though he is very dizzy) and goes across the top of the with a knife to kill August. But when he gets there he can't go through with it. He goes back to his car and finds that Camel and Walter are gone. In the morning he finds out that they were redlighted and it was ment for him. They both were killed. The next morning there is a show and Grady grabes Jacob and tells him about what had happened and talking about Jacobs situation when the band in the big top starts to play stars and strips forever. Grady jumps up and starts running to the big top because that song is the disaster march and that means something terrible is happening inthe big top. When they all get there they find a stampede of animals. Jacob searches the room for Marlena and finds her with August and Rosie. He looks and sees Rosie take the stake over August's head bringing it down right on the top of his head killing him. Marlena screams once she sees what has happened. After the stampede Uncle Al runs away and The Nesci Brothers Circus comes into town and start taking and buying the their animals but when they try to take Rosie or Marlena's horses they fight for them. They ended up having three kids and work with the Ringling Brother's Circus. Then in Jacobs nintys he leaves the nursing home and goes to the circus in town and he begs the manager to let him come along because he is not needed in this place. So he runs away with the Circus.

Week 7: Part 1

Vacab:
1). Prostrate(Pg 297): to cast (oneself) face down on the ground in humility, submission, or adoration.
2). Lithe(Pg 308): Readily bent, supple
Figurative Language:
1). "My whole body feels like lead."-This is a similie because the sentance uses like to compare what he is feeling to an object.
2). "My legs spread, my knees bent, my arms moving jerkily to the side, like the tightrope walker's"- This is a similie because he is descibing the way his body looks using like.
3). "She lifts the stake as though it weighs nothing and splits his head in a single clean movement-ponk- like cracking a hardboiled egg."-This is an example of a similie because it was explaining how easy it was for Rosie to split his head using like
Quote:
"Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant women, bereaved dog, elephant, eleven horsesto take care of." This quote shows what Marlena and Jacob had to deal with when leaving the circus.
Sentance:
The theme of this book is the love that Marlena and Jacob shared throughout the book from when they first met all the way to the end.

Week 6: Part 2

In the beginning of this section right after Marlena does a really good show with the horses. Jacob and Marlena were planing a suprise party for August but he comes in and thinks she was cheating on him. He gets really mad and starts yelling at both of them and August and Jacob end up in a fist fight. August also hits Marlena and thats the reason he fights Jacob. They all go away from the fight looking really beat up. The next night Jacob takes Marlena to a hotel because she is scared to be around August. Jacob goes back to the camp and goes in to see the animals. The next day Uncle Al calls him into his office and tell him that he needs to try to get Marlena and August back together because he wants them to still work together. Later Jacob and Marlena make a plan that they are going to run away in the next town to get away from August. The next night August goes on a rampage trying to find Marlena and the man who works there says she isn't there and he leave and Jacob spends the night with her. The two of them get back to the circus in the middle of that day. By the end of the week the circus is having a show and Marlena is told that it has to be with Rosie and in that same night Marlena tells Jacob that she might be pregnant. During the show Rosie doesn't do what she is told and runs out of the tent and August and Marlena follow. August beats Rosie and then grab Marlena and takes her away. While he is doing that Blackie grabs Jacob and hits him on the head and he gets knocked out.

Week 6: Part 1

Vocab:
1). postcoital(Pg 244): Occuring or excisting.
2). Epithet(Pg 246): Any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality
Figurative Language:
1). "...Sewing up a storm."- This is an example of metaphor because it is describing the sewing that she did to somthing that happens in nature.
2). "...Walter's assurance still goes down like mustard gas."- This is an example of a similie because the sentance has the word likein it.
3). "She bellows and screams, throwing her head and backing away, but he's like a machine."- This is an example of a similie because the author is using like to describe his action to Rosie.
Quote:
"I'll be fine. He won't do anything with rubes around. You've got to go. Please."(Pg 286) This quote shows that after Jacob and August got into a fight that they have to avoid each other even though they work together.
Sentance:
The emerging theme of this book is how Marlena and Jacob are going to leave the circus in the next town so they can get away from August.

Week 6: Part 2

In this section of the book "Water for Elephants" the elephant Rosie is found to be very smart. In the beginning Camel is lying on the floor in Jacob's and Walter's bunk because he can't move and the two of them have to keep him clean and fed. After Marlena's accident and after her foot held she is in another show but not with Rosie. Her show is with lots of white and black horses. Since their fat lady died Uncle Al has been looking for a new one but isn't having any luck and they decide to leave a town early and when they pull out Walter's dog Queenie gets lost. After they leave town Walter won't talk to anyone and a couple days later Marlena shows up with the lost dog and said he was running along side the train when they left the town. August has been beating Rosie a lot thinking that it will change the way she works. Marlena tells Jacob that she does like him the way she likes him but she can't do anything because she's married. In the next couple of days Jacob finds out that the reason Rosie can't listen and doesn't know what to do is because she only listens to commands that are in a different language. In the next weeks Jacob, Marlena, and August work on a new routine for Marlena with Rosie and in the end it was the hit of the show when the preformed it in the next town. While they were there August still used the bull hook but he never actually touched Rosie with it after he found out abou the language barrier. Uncle Al was so happy with there preformance they said he might actually have been crying.

Week 6: Part 1

Vocab:
1). Bereavement(Pg 198): To deprive or make desolate by death.
2).Surcingles(Pg 200): A girth that binds a saddle, pack, or blanket to the back of a horse.
Figurative Language:
1). "You're sharp as a tack."-This is an example of a similie because it is describing his smartness to a tack.
2)."Charming, gregarious, and handsome as the devil."-This is an example of a similie because he is talking about august as being the devil.
3)."...clining to each other like spider monkeys."-This is also another example of a similie because he is refering him and Marlena to sea monkeys.
Quote:
"And then the shower of money starts-the sweet, sweet showerof money."(Pg 237) This quote is significant because the act that they put together wasn't done before and when the people liked it they got money.
Sentance:
The emerging theme of this book is the love that jacob has for Marlena and the new act that the elephant Rosie is in.