Water for Elephants Blog

Come on Sarah...

"So what if I'm ninety-three?... why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?"

         Well Jacob, it's actually pretty simple why you shouldn't.  You're a ninety-three year old Grandpa.  You can barely get out of bed.  You need a walker to move, and even with that you have trouble just getting down to the dining hall.  Who knows what's in the pills your doctor is feeding you, and your negative physical symtoms would likely ascend away from the elderly home.  On a non-physical side, you have a family Jacob.  How would your family react to a call from the home, "Excuse me, Mr. Jankowski, we regret to inform you that your father has somehow left our campus.  Also, the police have discontinued their search."  How do you react to that?  "Oh, OK!  Hopefully he comes around soon.  Thanks!"  No, that's not what you'd say.  There would probably be no reaction at all.  If you were Jacob's son, you would simply hang the phone up and call the first lawyer that comes to mind.  Because no elderly home just has patients go missing.  

          So say we get past and accept the bitterly unrealistic idea that Jacob stopped being searched for and he continued with the circus.  How would he adjust?  It's pretty blatant that he wouldn't do his duties.  First of all, Jacob can barely remember his own age, so how could he possibly do the math in selling tickets at the booth?  Jacob has a tendency to fall asleep at random times and even talk in his sleep.  A ticket seller is one of the many jobs in the circus where falling asleep on duty isn't going to pass.  The main reason why Jacob was given a job opportunity is because Jacob has circus experience and fantastic stories.  However, Jacob was a veterinarian, which is a bit different from selling tickets.  Also, no one in the ticket line is going to be too thrilled about a customer listening to one of Jacob's circus stories during their transaction.  

         According to a critic on www.bookbrowse.com, "The book ending was a little too cheerful to be believed..."  The book ending was very cheerful.  The reader grew a bit depressed when Jacob realized his family forgot about him on this special circus day, but the conclusion of Jacob getting a new job attempted to lighten things up.  Obviously, this will please some readers who are giddy for a happy ending, but it won't fly with the critics.  Perhaps Gruen could have done her ending differently by keeping the conversation with the circus director, but concluding during their conversation and without the job offer.  I'm sorry Jacob, I really am, but no ninety-three year old is going to run away and be forgotten by their nursing home or family.  This is the twenty-first century, not the Great Depression.

Columbine: Golden Quote #2

A Columbine killer pointed his gun at Cassie Bernall and asked her the life-or-death question: 

"Do you believe in God?"

She paused. The gun was still there.  "Yes, I believe in God," she said.

That was the last thing this 17-year-old Christian would ever say.

                 A short while after the massacre at Columbine, Cassie's parents appeared on Oprah to discuss their daughter's unbelievable courage.  At one point, Oprah poised the question, "Do you wish she has said 'No'?"  The mother had mixed feelings.  There had been an account by another girl at the school who had begged a shooter for her life and he ended up letting her live.  So on one hand, Cassie's mother wishes she had begged, for the chance that she too but might have been spared.  But on the other hand, Mrs. Bernall admits that there is probably "no more honorable way to die" than to profess your faith in God.  I come from a Christian family so I was curious to ask my mom what she would have wanted me to do if I were in Cassie's situation.  She told me she would have wanted me to do what Cassie did, profess my faith in God, rather than deny Him for the chance at not being shot.  I told her that wasn't an answer most mothers would give but she told me, "I would see you again in Heaven."

                 Now lets look at the possibility if Cassie had answered the question differently.  Cassie could have ignored the question altogether, and begged for her life.  My guess is the shooter would continue to press her for an answer, and if she didn't give one, he would shoot her.  I am guessing that the killer who had questioned Cassie was Eric.  My reasoning for this is that Dylan wrote about God a lot in his journal, and constantly restated that he did believe in God.  However, as time went on and his social-outcast life kept turning for the worst, he got angrier and angrier at God, who he thought was being completely unfair to him.  So if he had asked Cassie the question, I don't think he would have shot her for answering "yes," because he believed in God too.  So it must have been Eric.  Now lets imagine if Cassie had answered "no" to the question.  The shooter might have been pleased with this answer and let her live.  If he had let her live, Cassie would live with regret for the rest of her life that she had denied her Lord and might even wish she had said yes.  There is also the good possibility that even if Cassie had said "no," the shooter still would have killed her.  Cassie believed in a literal Heaven, so it probably ran through her head at that moment that if she said no, and the killer still shot her, God might punish her by not sending her to Heaven.  So if we were somehow able to communicate with Cassie now, I'm sure she would not regret answering "yes" to the killer's fatal question.

                If we were to agree on the idea that Cassie's killer was in fact Eric, not Dylan, then we need to ask the question of why he didn't believe in God?  Eric's family used to belong to a Evangelical church, but they weren't very involved and ceased their attendance about five years before the massacre.  So Eric had at least somewhat grown up around the idea of an existing god.  But another phenomenon to look at is the fact that Eric saw himself as superior to pretty much everybody around him.  He bragged about this on his online Blog site and his personal journal.  He wondered why everybody around him was so stupid, and he loved the idea of natural selection.  So there is a good chance that Eric didn't believe in God simply because he couldn't accept the fact that there was somebody superior to himself. Maybe he wanted Cassie to say she didn't believe in God because he wanted her to praise him or something.  Maybe that's what he did to the girl who had to beg for her life (this is assuming it was also Eric dealing with that girl).

              All in all, even if you aren't a Christian, we can all agree that Cassie had an honorable death because she stood up for what she believed in.  No matter what it may be that you put your complete faith in, you should stand up for it, even in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Columbine: Golden Quote #1

[The parents] talked to a lawyer that night. He related a sobering thought. "Dylan isn't here anymore for people to hate," he said. "So people are going to hate you."

            Just imagine.  Imagine being at your office going through your daily work routine, and getting a phone call telling you that there has been a massive school shooting at your child's high school.  Immediately, you're going to do two things.  One, you'll worry to death about your child.  Are they ok?  Are they still in the school?  Is the shooter still out there?  Will my kid be emotionally ok?  Secondly, you're going to drive to the school to see if you can muster up what exactly happened.  On April 20th, 1999 that is story of what thousands of parents in Littleton, Colorado went through that morning.  But the story was a bit different for two pairs of parents.  Mr. and Mrs. Harris and Mr. and Mrs. Klebold both received phone calls from the school or friends about the school shooting.  Their world was flipped upside down however, when they started being notified that their sons may be the ones performing the massacre.  Mr. Klebold was at home that morning when his son Eric's friend, Nate Dykeman, called up and asked whether or not Dylan's trenchcoat was in his closet.  Nate had heard several reports that the shooters were wearing trench coats.  After Mr. Klebold looked in his son's closet, he came back to the receiver and barely muttered, "Oh my God.  It's not here."  Mr. Klebold did the correct thing and called 911 to tell them his son might be involved with the murder.  

           Is this what you would have done?  It's very hard to imagine yourself in this situation, but it's possible that you aren't all that different from the Klebolds yourself.  Although both parents worked, they had fairly good relationships with their son and could never in a million years see something like this coming.  Many parents might react to differently to the situation Mr. Klebold was put in.  Some might deny it completely and say it's just a coincidence the trench coat is gone.  Others might panic and do absolutely nothing and sit in complete fear.  More radical ones might even flee from their home in attempt to hide from authority.  If it were me in that situation, I hope I'd call the police like Mr. K did.  

          Being only 100 pages into the book, I don't yet know what happened to the shooters' parents after the slaughtering.  If I were to guess, they probably moved very far away, perhaps even to another country, in order to try to start a new life where they aren't labeled as, "The parents of the murderers."  People are naturally going to blame the parents for raising their kids incorrectly, but there are thousands and thousands of parents who raise their kids either the same or worse, and their kids don't grow up to be mass murderers.  I don't know if our society will ever truly get a grasp of why these events occur.  If you think of the recent Sandy Hook shooting, the shooter clearly had some mental struggles, but that still doesn't give a concrete answer as to why he would retaliate his struggles with his mother onto small children.  I pray that someday these answers become more clear so we can learn how to prevent such drastic events from occurring. 

BB: Living Somebody Else's Dream

Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be?  What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am" (Miller 105).

                Most students at Singapore American School can relate to this quote from Biff.  Growing up in affluent families, having successful parents and grandparents, and attending a high-ranked prestigious high school puts a lot of pressure on each of us.  We all have parents who demand we try our best in all of our activities, school and non-school related.  We're often pushed into AP classes that we aren't actually interested in, so that the Ivy League schools we apply to are more impressed.  Why do people even strive to attend Ivy Leagues anyway?  In Mr. Hallam's Finance class, we did a project on the rewards and consequences of attending an Ivy League university.  We found that graduating from an Ivy League school isn't the automatic pass into a high-salary career like we seem to think, but it's the work ethic and drivenness that really matters.  Students who applied to Ivy League schools and were accepted but didn't attend, actually ended up doing just as well or even better financially than those who did go.  Another thing, I believe that some students at this school think the big reward is getting into the Ivy League school, and then it's just a golden brick road from there.  When really, the work load and pressure is even greater there than at SAS, which I'm sure not many students would want.  So here is where we go back to Biff's quote, why are we all trying to become something we don't want to be?  According to this website, https://www.cco.purdue.edu/Student/major.shtml, 50% of students switch their major before graduation.  This is proof that too many students are picking majors that they aren't interested in, but maybe they were pressured to pick.  

              We can all learn a lot from Biff.  Biff isn't afraid to admit that he doesn't know what he wants in life.  For example, on page 81, Biff says, "I realized what I ridiculous lie my whole life has been," and on page 5, Linda says about Biff, "He's finding himself, Willy."  Biff does know for certain that he doesn't want an office job though.  Biff has been able to look past his father's materialistic dreams for him and search around for a purpose in life.  Unlike Biff, our school community has only grown up in a wealthy environment, and we're afraid to venture into a lower class of living, even if that means giving up our dreams.  Why is it that there are way more people from SAS who major in investment banking, finance, and international business than there are people learning to becomes vets, farmers, or teachers?  Are you really going to argue that the students here have just been dying to become a hedge fund manager their whole life?  Here is a one last question to think about: If money wasn't an object, what would you want to be in life?  

Death of a Salesman: Golden Quote #2

"But I was with the firm when your father used to carry you in here in his arms" (Miller 59).

         This quote from Willy to his boss Howard occurs while Howard is in the process of firing Willy.  Willy was very close and had a lot of respect for Howard's father, who used to be Willy's boss.  Willy has never liked or been close to Howard, and now he is trying to prove to him why he still deserves a spot in the firm.  Ultimately, Willy fails to convince Howard of why he deserves a spot, and is let go from the firm.

          This quote is meaningful to me because it makes me realize how unfair the business world can be.  Willy, who has "put thirty-four years into this firm,"has obviously worked much longer and harder than his boss.  Howard only got to the place he currently sits by mere luck; his father was the boss.  That's where there is a slight flaw in the American Dream.  I believe you can work yourself up from a very low economic position through drivenness and hard work, but there will always be advantages for others.  Take my two friends for example.  Friend 1, we'll call him, has a father who grew up in a mid-income family and graduated from Dartmouth University.  Friend 2, has a British father who grew up in a high-class family, and graduated from a mid-level university in the UK.  Friend 2's father joined his father's company, but only had a small title when he joined.  He worked hard and finally got boosted up to the head of the company, where his father once stood.  Friend 1, who's father worked extremely hard to graduate from Dartmouth, is now a position under Friend 2's father in the same company.  Yes, Friend 2's dad did work hard to get to his position, but without his birth advantage, he never would have beaten out Friend 1's dad.  

        Although that was a bit confusing example, the main idea is that hard work is extremely important for success, but advantages that come through your family and connections can help tremendously.  I feel bad for Willy.  Everyone reader will agree that he deserves a spot in the firm, especially since he's in personal financial trouble.  I guess that's why this book is a tragedy.  

          

Blog 1.5

One thing I noticed from the film but not the book is how during Charley and Willy's game of cards, Willy cheated by looking at Charley's cards.  To me, this shows what type of person Willy is.  Willy respects his brother, Ben, who clearly did some sketchy stuff to earn a lot of money in Africa.  It's as if Willy lives by the rule, "The end justifies the means."

Death of a Salesman: Golden Quote #1

"I lost weight, Pop, you notice? (Miller 35)

               In today's world, there are many different ways in which children try to get attention.  Some receive it through throwing tantrums, others by whining.  But some children try to earn their parents' attention by doing well at something, or by impressing them.  In Happy's case, he tried getting his father's attention by losing weight.

Three times during Act One, Happy asks his father this question (top).  Each time, there is no response; the scene either ends or a new character enters.  All of these quotes were ones from past memories though, during one of Willy's reminiscences.  The reader knows that now Happy is both physically very fit and very favorable with women, so his weight was a problem of the past.  But Arthur Miller was surely trying to make a point, having Happy ask the question three times.  My take on it is that Happy has always been "number two" or "an afterthought" in his father's mind.  The first-born son, Biff, seems to take up all of Willy's attention and thought.  It's as if Willy is trying to relive his life through his son Biff.  To be fair, Willy doesn't completely ignore his second son Happy, it's clear that he loves them both very much and wants them to be successful.  But all of Happy's life, he has listened to his father talk about Biff as if he's some type of god.  Typically when this happens in today's world, the "ignored" child might get angry and may act rashly in order to gain attention.  Happy doesn't seem to mind though.  He talks highly of his older brother and agrees with his father whenever Willy praises Biff.  It'll be interesting to see if Happy's reaction to his brother's glamor in his father's eyes changes.

               If you define success as having lots of money and a good job, then Happy became much more successful than Biff.  While Biff goes around the West earning small jobs at various cattle ranches, Happy has a comfortable job in New York City where he earns a respectable wage.  Maybe the reason for this is because during Biff's childhood, he didn't really need to prove anything to anybody.  Everybody loved his personality and he was very popular with the girls in school, so he didn't see why he would need to work hard in order to be successful.  Happy, on the other hand, didn't receive the constant praise, so he probably worked harder than Biff in order to make a bigger name for himself.  This is why it's not always a good thing to have such an easy childhood.  You might take it for granted, like Biff did, and regret it later in life.

The Single Greatest Thing About America is...

“The single greatest thing about America is… Aunt Jemima.” Not only is Aunt Jemima delicious maple syrup that Americans love to throw on almost all breakfast foods, but the picture on the bottle represents the stereotypical warm-hearted grandmother that is a significant figure in Americans’ lives. America needs an Aunt Jemima to feed them Grandma’s delicious homemade goodies.  Aunt Jemima is a way to keep eating grandma’s goods your entire life