Although I was greatly relieved by the ending of Water for Elephants I also felt confused. Up until the ending there had been a darkness about the book. Then after Uncle Al and August are killed the darkness is suddenly gone from the book. Just like that there's a happy ending? He gets the girl, the elephant, the horses, and the monkey and goes on to another circus then at ninety something years old runs off with another circus? I don't know if its just me who thinks this but its like everything just switches from being a cruel realistic portrayal to something totally different.
So I was thinking about how this could have happened and I came up with two explanations. Either Jacob was right and that was what happened and after the two evil men were gone all his major problems were resolved or... Jacob in his old age made up the ending just the way he thought it should have ended. Perhaps the reality wasn't the one he wanted, and so he made a new ending and then went on to find the ending of his old age that he wanted. Maybe he didn't run off with the circus but merely retreated into his imagination and lived in a dream like Ipphy.
Needless to say I'd rather think that the first explanation is true.
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I definitely can see what you mean about the whole tone change from dark to a sort of airy happiness. I think your right in the sense that one minute you have red lighted workers, prostitutes, and a powerless despair, and then the next minute there is a joyous acceptance from the son Jacob never had and an epic escape with the circus. Although the Bizarreness of the story never changed its depressing outlook did.
I think that maybe it is an exaggeration to say that once the two evil men (Uncle Al and August) were gone all was finally well, because I am sure hardships still had to occur. However, I think Jacob (and his memory) just chose to leave any further hardships out. I think within this story we see an array of troubles all occurring one after the other, so I think for Jacob that was enough. Once a turning point in his life happened I think possibly nothing terrible could compare to his life pre-Ringling, and therefore he chose to ignore it within the final telling of his story.
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