Water for Elephants

Characters

  • Jacob Jankowski – The protagonist, a 93-year-old nursing home resident reminiscing on the time he spent as a circus veterinarian during the Great Depression.
  • Marlena Rosenbluth (formerly L'Arche) – The main love interest and a star performer with the circus. She ran away from home to join the circus and marry August, the equestrian director. She enjoys a special rapport with the horses and cares for them deeply.
  • August Rosenbluth – Marlena's husband and the head animal trainer. As a classic batterer, he is alternately charming and brutal, both to the humans and animals, particularly Rosie, a newly acquired elephant for the circus. Later in the book, it is suggested that he has paranoid schizophrenia as an explanation for his violent outbursts.
  • Alan J. Bunkel aka "Uncle Al" – The violent, abusive owner of the circus. He is known for red-lighting circus workers. If workers were deemed to have committed some particularly egregious offense, they were thrown off while the train was passing over a trestle, presumably with the hope that they would die or be seriously injured.
  • Kinko/Walter – A little person with whom Jacob shares living quarters on the circus train. Initially, their relationship is rocky, but they develop a strong friendship. At the beginning of the story, he is known as Kinko. Walter is his real name and he only lets his friends call him by his actual name. He has a deep attachment to a Jack Russell terrier named Queenie (a possible allusion to a short story by Truman Capote).
  • Camel – One of the first people Jacob meets when he jumps onto the train. He is a drunk who is instrumental in getting Jacob a job with the circus. When Camel gets "Jake Leg" from drinking contaminated Jamaican ginger, Jacob and Walter hide him in their car and care for him.
  • Rosie – An elephant that Uncle Al buys from another circus. She is believed to be useless until it is discovered that she understands commands only in Polish. She is often the target of August's rage.
  • Rosemary – A nurse in the nursing home where Jacob lives who is especially kind to Jacob, despite the fact that he can be very rude to her.

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