Water for Elephants

August is angry over Al’s purchase of the elephant and the rail car needed to transport her. The decision has made the accommodations for the workers more cramped. He leaves in fury as Marlena and Jacob study Rosie. Entranced by the scene, they begin to dance, and Jacob knows he’s falling in love with Marlena. Jacob shares a drink with her and August in her stateroom, and when he leaves, he sees other circus members drinking and carousing. He loses track of how much he’s had to drink and finds himself in a tent with Barbara and another woman named Nell. The ladies grope him, but he’s too intoxicated to perform sexually and vomits on them. He awakens the next day in clown makeup and a dress, and someone has locked him in a trunk and shaved his genitals. Walter frees him and asks him to send flowers to Barbara as an apology. Jacob is humiliated and ashamed of his behavior. August summons him to keep Marlena occupied while he feeds the big cats. Jacob goes to investigate and finds Pete slaughtering old horses to feed the cats. Meanwhile, August attempts to move Rosie to her train car, but she won’t budge. Jacob talks to her without using the bull hook, and she responds. August returns and beats Rosie with the hook until she goes to her car. Marlena sobs in her stateroom.

As the train arrives in Chicago, Jacob is still feeling low after his humiliation. Walter tries to befriend him, but Jacob is despondent. Walter thanks Jacob for helping him with Queenie’s diarrhea. Chicago is a bustling city with skyscrapers, and Jacob notes that it’s the scene of many news-making events: “[T]his is the city of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, of jazz gangsters, and speakeasies” (145). They disembark near a stockyard, and Jacob becomes nauseated from the stench. Filled with memories of his father and his passion for animals, Jacob pledges to stay on with the circus to supervise the care of the menagerie. He attends to a sick giraffe and makes friends with Bobo the chimp. Walking around Chicago, Jacob sees evidence of the Great Depression in breadlines and abandoned buildings. He enters a church, hoping for absolution from the previous day’s events. Marlena is there, praying. Jacob returns and visits Rosie, and August invites him for a night out on the town with him and Marlena. Jacob borrows a suit, and August takes them to a speakeasy. Jacob doesn’t drink, though August keeps buying him scotch. Marlena becomes tipsy and takes to the dance floor. While August goes to the bar, Marlena pulls Jacob onto the dance floor. Although he’s ecstatic to be in her arms, he sees August watching them angrily from afar. The club is raided, and everyone scrambles to leave before being captured. Jacob and Marlena are separated from August but take shelter in an alley. Marlena begins to cry, and Jacob kisses her. She runs away, and Jacob walks back to the lot alone past a dreary hobo lot and more signs of the Depression all around him. He checks in on Rosie before returning to his car. Walter is awake and warns him to stay away from August. At breakfast, an awkward tension hangs between Marlena, Jacob, and August. August sends a warning to Jacob, saying he’d do anything to protect his wife.

Jacob works all day with the animals. August violently yells at Camel for being drunk in the middle of the day, and Al decides that he wants Rosie to participate in the parade, as he’s obsessed with recreating a show to rival the Ringling Brothers. However, the parade is a near disaster, as Rosie’s presence makes the other animals nervous. August prods her with the bull hook to keep moving. Rosie is a hit with the spectators, and Jacob notes that she’s quite intelligent. The parade is effective, and more people show up to see the “Spec”—circus slang for spectacular. Al and August argue about Rosie performing in the Spec. August knows she’s not ready, and it could be dangerous for Marlena. During the performance, August is cruel to Rosie, and she bolts from the tent. Marlena must grab a tent pole to save herself—and disguises the disaster by doing a gymnastic move to dismount; afterward, her feet are badly bruised. Jacob finds Rosie grazing in a local farmer’s garden and retrieves her with the help of Greg, another circus worker. Greg, who is Polish and speaks to Jacob in Polish, lures Rosie back to the tent with a bucket of gin and ginger ale, speaking to her in Polish. August, infuriated with Rosie for injuring Marlena, attacks the elephant with the bull hook to punish her.

In the nursing home, older Jacob is annoyed that the nurse won’t give him his walker. Rosemary comes to his defense and asks the other nurse to put the walker next to his wheelchair. It’s Sunday, the day Jacob’s family is supposed to visit. The nurse positions Jacob near the window, where he can see the circus tent. He notes all that is different from his day, including that the tents weren’t striped. Rosemary encourages Jacob to sit with his friends, but he’s still angry at McGuinty. Rosemary asks him to consider trying to be nice for her sake. Jacob obliges, though he still hates listening to McGuinty speak about the circus.