Water For Elephants Theme Analysis

Even though Rose is a great wife to Troy, he still is so discontent with his life that he cheats on her. Troy tells Rose on page 69, "It ain't about nobody being a better woman or nothing. Rose, you ain't the blame. A man couldn't ask for no woman to be a better wife than you've been" (Wilson, 1986). This shows that Troy was fortunate enough to have Rose as his wife, but he was so unhappy with his life he found someone else to be with and love.

Irene has the desire to become the person Clare is, but she is not ready to give up certain things to be who she wants to be. Both women are in sexless marriages, this shows the arousing of sexual desires that each woman has in the closeness of their history together, adding to their already established relationship from their childhood.   In presenting this idea it shows that men are not the only ones thinking of sex, applied by the absence of their husbands, seen with the travels of Clare’s husband and with Irene’s compliance to her husband’s wishes to sleep in separate rooms.   Several parts of the text are presented in this idea of a lesbian relationship between Clare and Irene.

He places her in the nursery of the colonial mansion, despite her requests to be placed otherwise, “I don 't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs... but John would not hear of it” (Gilman, 2). The narrator’s husband dictates all aspects of her life to the point where she internalizes her husband 's authority, accepting his dominance over her, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad,” (Gilman, 2). Even though the narrator knows what she needs is to be active surrounded by people instead of cooped up alone in a house out in the countryside, she abruptly stops her train of thought as she remembers John’s instructions to not think about her condition.

Jacob has a keen interest in women and thinks of intercourse very often. At the same time Jacob is committed to only having sex with someone he truly is in love with. He spends his life in a monogamous relationship and says he never had the need to cheat. "I was completely faithful to her. Not once in more than sixty years did I stray".

Throughout Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants both Rosie and Jacob are seen as outsiders, only at the end do they represent independence and being powerful. From both characters being quiet and navie about their feelings, the elephant can definitely symbolize Jacob. For when they both start their life at the circus everything is a difficult task to try to belong somewhere. They are then silenced by the head of the carnival, and just try to blend in with the bustling circus life. With Jacob hesitating to kill the man he hates and Rosie instead carrying out the dead, can show the symbiotic relationship between them.

She wants to be a more independent woman, but her feelings for Robert are evident, much to the displeasure of Mr. Pontellier, causing tension in their marriage. Wuthering Heights and The Awakening focuses more on the inner workings of marriage, in relation to the marriages that were one-sided. In The Awakening Edna, also known as Mrs. Pontellier, is a married woman on vacation with her husband and kids to Grand Isle. She develops an unhealthy attachment to Robert due to Mr. Pontellier

Historically, a woman’s value has come from her marriage. This is reflected in Shakespeare’s work Hamlet, especially in Ophelia’s role. While Ophelia’s brother is encouraged to travel the world and interact by their father, Ophelia is told to keep her purity and stay away from men until a proper marriage can be arranged. This represents how Ophelia’s value is tied to her marriage and her virginity, rather than any other positive characteristic she may have, and reminds the audience that Ophelia holds little value, especially compared to her brother, who serves as her male counterpart.

Although Rose disagrees with Troy from time to time she shows unconditional love and tries to be understanding. However, later in the play Troy betrays her by being unfaithful and this makes rose put up her own fence. She tries to communicate with troy but is also very cautious because she knows how much he hurt her and would most likely not hesitate to do it again. Rose wants to keep the marriage between them because they have been together for so long and it is her only source of shelter.

If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at the both of you” (108). Throughout the story Edna’s feelings for Robert grow stronger and deeper, so that by the end of the novel she simply longs to be with him. Yet parallel to that growth Edna has discovered her self and developed her own identity. The idea of a transfer of ownership of her person from one man to another is abhorrent to her, so much so that it would cause her to abandon her dream of being with Robert. Though she wants that very much, she is unwilling to lose her own identity in the process as she did when she was with Mr. Pontellier.

Desire can be Helpless People are helpless, when they are caught by desire, precisely like the character Gatsby in Fitzgerald's novel, “The Great Gatsby”. Fitzgerald would agree this as Gatsby falls in love with a married women, Daisy, and is helpless due to the adoration he has for her. Through the story the reader finds Gatsby eager to do anything for Daisy as he stands up to protect her or uses his willpower towards and for her. Daisy is also helpless as she contributes her old love for him, but the thought of her family replaces him.

He was soon informed that this was the train of The Benzini Brothers Circus. The main conflict that Jacob faces is that he fell in love with one of the circus performers, Marlena, who is married to August, a guy with a wicked temper. Some things that complicate the conflict is when Marlena gets pregnant and they have to get out because August started beating her. Jacob did everything he could but he basically got kicked of the circus. The conflict was resolved one night when the animals got loose and Jachob’s elephant smashed in Augusts head and killed him.

“I pass legs sticking out of doorways, and signs advertising breadlines. I pass signs in windows that say ‘CLOSED’, and it’s clear they don’t mean for night. I pass signs in windows that say ‘NO MEN WANTED’ and signs in second-story windows that say ‘TRAINING FOR THE CLASS STRUGGLE’ I pass a sign in the grocery store that says ‘DON’T HAVE MONEY? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT? WE’LL TAKE ANYTHING!’”