Where is jacob jankowski from

He's always ready, maybe too ready, to beat up the bad guys. He's not good at using just his words to resolve conflicts, and other people often have to hold him back. Perhaps, like his interest in sex, Jacob uses his readiness to participate in violence as a way of proving his masculinity to other characters. Why do you think he's so concerned with this?

Participating in violence isn't always a bad thing, though. It's good to be able to defend yourself if you need to. It's good to be able to stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves like Camel. Fighting is one of the ways the circus people communicate with one another. Jacob's world is full of people who understand fighting with fists better than fighting with words, and Jacob is just fitting in with that.

So can we let him off the hook? Violence is also a trait that Jacob, somewhat surprisingly, shares with his archenemy August. Both of them frequently resort to physical force as a way to address conflict. It's no surprise, then, that several times they use this force on each other.

Jacob's participation in violence leaves permanent marks on his body: he develops a crooked nose and an eye condition. One could say, though, that Jacob's participation in violence is different than August's in that Jacob fights to defend others: Marlena, Rosie, Camel. August just tries to hurt them. Jacob tries to do right by his friends and loved ones and struggles internally when he fails them.

The value system revealed by his attitude to sex shows up just as clearly in the ways he uses violence. Jacob always has a good, moral reason for violence. The one time when his interest in violence might take him too far — to murder — he remembers his moral code and backs down at the last minute. In his old age, Jacob is still mentally interested in sex, even if his body can't keep up: and so he retreats into his memories to relive sensuous pleasures.

He's no longer worried about getting to have sex; instead, he's worried about his ability to hold on to his memories of it. And despite the fact that he previously had such a voracious appetite for physical pleasure, he never cheated on Marlena: "I was completely faithful to her. Not once in more than sixty years did I stray" 8.

This point becomes even more relevant in hindsight, when Jacob reveals that he and Marlena first got together by committing adultery. In order to be with him, she had to be unfaithful to someone else. As an old man, Jacob seems to wish, more than anything, that he could slot himself back into his young body and get back the freedom he used to take for granted.

In his 90s, he can barely walk across the room. When he describes his memories, he doesn't necessarily value one thing more than another. He misses sex the same way he misses food: "Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn" 1.

He misses Marlena the most, but he misses Rosie, too. In a way, he seems to miss the drama and excitement of the Benzini circus. His memories focus on a time full of adventure and danger rather than the pleasant decades as father and husband he must have enjoyed as well.

Jacob will always love Marlena. He says, "Losing her was like being cleft down the middle. It was the moment it all ended for me" 1. In other words, even though he's still alive, he's only half himself. As a side note, check this out: August was "cleft down the middle" when he was killed, too.

What's up with that? Is losing Marlena as awful as being brutally murdered? What do you think? Jacob says very little about his relationship with Marlena or about their day-to-day life after the catastrophe that shut the circus down. Without August to keep them apart, it seems like they just relax into life together. In fact, the events between the s and the present are condensed into about four paragraphs in Chapter He loved her and he loved being with her, but that's all we really learn.

It seems their marriage was as gloriously ordinary as their courtship was dramatically difficult. Set in a travelling circus touring the backblocks of America during the Great Depression of the early s, this is a story of love and hate, trains and circuses, dwarves and fat ladies, horses and elephants—or to be more specific, one elephant, Rosie, star of Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

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Water for Elephants. Jacob Jankowski is a main personage and protagonist of this novel. He is a veterinarian. According to his life story he appears as an honorable and sensual man. He always tries to find justice and proves that people are able to show restraint and consideration. When he loses his parents, he fights to the end and looks for better life. The Benzini Brothers' Circus is his only salvation.

His strength of mind is shown in his deeds. Jacob saves and protects animals. He shows concern about the elephant Rosie. Jacob is very kind and brave man. Marlena is an amazing and beautiful woman in the novel.