I thought the author did a great job here, and found myself reading the two accounts of the ending events simultaneously, checking for differences. The events are the same, just the clarity of how they occurred is different.
Also, great point about Rosemary's comment. It really makes you think Though I definitely want to believe the story as it was told; sometimes we need a happy ending. Aug 25, AM. When I read the book I never thought Marlena killed August.
I always thought the Elephant did it. I don't know why I did but it was the whole reason why I continued reading the book. I wanted to know why the elephant killed someone like that. Easier to live with the fact that an elephant killed someone than the mother of your child. I read the book because so many people had given it bad reviews.
It intrigues me when someone says something is so bad that I must find out for myself and I'm happy that I did. I enjoyed the book alot and found myself loving the circus background. Sep 11, AM. I too was confused at the end of the book about who killed August and also went back to the beginning to see if I had read it right that Marlene was the one.
In retrospect, I think it was Marlene, not Rosie, because Rosie had other opportunities to kill August and didn't. Sep 12, AM. I am sorry.. The author made a point of setting up the skill she had of replacing her stake. That's the key.. Aug 21, AM. I was a little confused by that as well, thinking I'd misremembered the first description of the stampede. In the end though, I was glad that Rosie killed him.
It seemed more fitting of her personality than of Marlene! Aug 22, PM. Linda wrote: "I am sorry.. The author made a point of setting up the skill she had of I don't think Marlene would have been capable of killing any one, not even August.
I had thought it was Marlene but only until the second chapter. Aug 07, AM. So i went back to the prologue and when it said 'pink sequins' i was convinced it was Marlena cuz thats what she wears. But then i remembered that Rosie has a matching head garment, also in pink sequins.
So 'she' can after all be Rosie. But i believe that the author left that up to the reader in the end. Add a reference: Book Author. Search for a book to add a reference. We take abuse seriously in our discussion boards. Only flag comments that clearly need our attention. As a general rule we do not censor any content on the site. The only content we will consider removing is spam, slanderous attacks on other members, or extremely offensive content eg.
We will not remove any content for bad language alone, or being critical of a particular book. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Their conflict being displayed during a burial is unethical and only causes dysfunction within the family as they are ready to cause more death.
Lastly, Laertes actively takes part in the plan to kill Hamlet. As mentioned before, this plan succeeds, but has disastrous effects on the rest of the family; many deaths occur, including the death of Laertes himself. The men that work for him cannot run away from the circus either because it is a source of constant food, water, and shelter which was hard to afford during the Great Depression. This act and disrespect for human life makes Jacob and his fellow workers hate Uncle Al with a burning passion, and it also gets Al in trouble with the rail police.
Later on in the novel when Al is found dead, Jacob talks of him little because he does not care that he is dead. Al took the lives of too many men for Jacob to even care.
Unfortunately, his biggest fear comes to life when Maleficent curses his daughter to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into death-like sleep. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in the pool of blood…. This leads him to brutally beating Rosie with a bullhook. August notices that Marlena and Jacob are getting close, and he once again displays his violent nature by beating both Jacob and Marlena.
Marlena decides to leave August for Jacob, and run away from the circus…. Each year several animals are captured and forced to work in circus shows. People are realizing this is a growing problem and have decided to boycott animal circuses so they can become banned.
Animal circuses should be banned because of the cruel animal training, poor animal welfare, and lack happiness in animals. You be careful. He doesn't like no one questioning his authority. And he has his moments, if you know what I mean" 6. The lore around the circus certainly supports the fact that August is capable of murder, or at least organizing one. It's no surprise that many dislike and even fear him.
Lots of individuals are prepared to kill August if they need to. After August hits Marlena, both she and Jacob say out loud that another such beating would result in his death. Despite that, Jacob takes it upon himself to kill August and almost succeeds, arriving at his bedside with knife in hand while August is sleeping. It's a total Hamlet and Claudius moment. In the Shakespeare play , Hamlet becomes concerned that his uncle, Claudius, murdered his father.
He spends most of the play freaking out about whether or not to take revenge. In one scene he comes across his uncle at a vulnerable moment: Claudius appears to be praying emphasis on "appears to be" and is defenseless.
But Hamlet ultimately decides not to kill Claudius while he was praying because he's totally defenseless and it means Claudius would go straight to heaven. Similarly, Jacob can't kill a sleeping, innocent guy, no matter how evil he might be.
In his sleep, August is as innocent as Claudius appears to be in prayer. The fact is, neither one is actually innocent, but neither Jacob nor Hamlet can go through with premeditated murder. Fortunately for Jacob, Rosie has no problem punishing August for his actions. While Jacob agonizes over whether or not to kill August, Rosie just picks up her stake and slices through his head the minute she gets the opportunity.
While it's a terrible way to go, you'd find several characters who would say that August deserved all he had coming to him. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Sara Gruen. Previous Next.
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