Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen not only managed to provoke a manner of realism in a past and present tense but also allowed the reader to challenge all preconceived notions of a circus. The outlook of the book reminded me much of Heart of Darkness in the sense that it was so tragic, it was beautiful.
The manner in which the animals were treated made me angry. I couldn't help but think if we had the animal treatment acts in place that are now, but then, many of the horses that were slaughtered and fed to the other animals may have survived. I tried to keep in mind that it was a hard life for the people involved in the circus, but even though I lived most of my life not having enough money to pay for food through the week I could not imagine ever treating animals or even people the way the circus did.
The way "freaks" were characterized was relative to the time period but still just as disturbing to me. When I see someone of a small stature I treat them the same as anyone else, same for anyone of any ethnicity, weight, or tattooed. I believe in equality and half the time I found myself wanting to shout at the book or how wrong things were but just as compelled to keep reading.
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Both the treatment of the animals and the classification of freaks angered me a little too. I think that even though it is a fictional story, it was based on real events, so I saw it as more educational than personal, which I know is strange but I think it helped me cope with these things. The things that angered me most were the feeding the horses to the cats, and August's treatment of Rosie. I know that the horses probably would have died anyway, but Rosie just didn't deserve that kind of treatment.
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