Summary Of The Book 'Water For Elephants'

In the book, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, power is held by those who use intimidation, violence, and have a high standing title at the circus. The Ringmaster, Uncle Al, is a very powerful character at the circus who uses his authority to blackmail and intimidate others in order to get what he wants. When August and Marlena split up, Uncle Al wanted Jacob to convince Marlena to come back to August; however, when Jacob refused, Uncle Al threatened : “If you want a job to go back to, you will sit back down” (Gruen, 2006, pg 266). By using this method of intimidation, Uncle Al validates that he has power over Jacob and that if Jacob goes against what he is told, there will be consequences for him and his friends. Furthermore, it’s people

like August, who acquire their power by tactics of violence; abusing people and animals physically and emotionally. For example, after Rosie had drank the Circus’ lemonade, he lashed out and beat Rosie harshly with a bull hook; no one from the circus crew stopped him from abusing her. This is a great example of how the characters in the book display and keep their power because the drastic violent measures that August uses to prove his superiority scares and intimidates the other characters in the book, to the point where they don’t even attempt to question his actions, in fear that he might lash out on them. Lastly, people of high standing, like the performers, have higher power than those of lower class. In the novel, there was a very definite class difference between the working class and the performers; the performers got paid first, had nicer living conditions, and had better eating amenities than the working class men. The performers are able to receive this better treatment due to the fact they had obtained a great amount of power and esteem because without them there is no show and without a show there isn’t any money. All and all, the power held by the characters in the novel, Water for Elephants, was used for personal gain and such characters used violence, intimidation, and their high standing at the circus to acquire and keep their superiority.