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Abstract
Humanity has always wanted to find peace, order, and justice in a perfect world. Yet,
this longing manifested in literary works, has been touched by the dark side of reality,
transforming Utopia into Dystopia; a world of conflict and chaos. Sara Gruen (1969)
captivates this undeniable reality in her novel Water for Elephants (2006) and shows
that the so called ideal society can still have a tragic flaw. This study intends to prove
the existence of a Dystopian world in Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants, and
how it is shaped within a miniature society of a circus. In the life of this circus, the
elements of Dystopia come together to portray the degeneration of society during the
Great Depression of (1929 – 1941) in the United States of America; creating a world
everyone thought at the very beginning was Utopia. Therefore, this study unravels the
layers of perfection and shows the flaws of this so called perfect man-made world (the
circus) by using the theoretical approach of the term Dystopia and applying it to the
novel, one finds that the events that lead to the hero’s abandonment of everything
because of the Great Depression in America, ends with the hero’s triumph over
shackled circumstances in which he is played as a pawn. This feature of ending
oppression and fighting for his and his society’s freedom is a major quality of a
Dystopian Hero; in contrast, a Utopian Protagonist stands aside, simply being
objective in society as he studies the perfect laws and nature of such a perfect world.
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1. Introduction
The United States of America endured a decade of hardship and adversity during the
Great Depression (1929 – 1941). Ten years of prosperity during the 1920s was
celebrated by various financial leaders throughout the country, and a lot of those
people believed that it was the dawn of a new age in which good profit and money
were duplicated easily with flourishing businesses and successful deals. Yet this era
of hope did not last long; when the Wall Street stock market crashed in October 1929,
it shocked many wealthy stockholders with its severe losses. This caused a lot of
suffering at all levels throughout the nation as the American citizens struggled to cope
in perishable circumstances; many people were out of work, jobs were scarce, and so
the “good times of the 1920s were replaced with the bread lines, soup kitchens, and
the wandering homeless. The administration of President Herbert Hoover took
unprecedented actions to relieve the crises, but nothing seemed to work” (Ayers,
2009, p.624). As a result of this situation, the economic crises spread worldwide
creating poverty, unemployment, deflation, and plunging farm incomes. The
depression as known, started in the United States of America with the fall of stock
market prices, and soon after, it affected stock markets globally. Thus, the American
Dream of gaining wealth and power in a minimum amount of time became the
American Nightmare for the residents of the United States of America. The hungry
nation drifted apart, and it was basically a survival for the fittest. Many writers and
idealists tried to create an ideal utopia in order to escape the bitter reality and find
some peace once again. Some even searched for it, claiming that they had the
roadmap to heaven, for life forced men, women, and children to dream for a better
place (Ayers, 2009, p.624). However, not all societies that are perceived as perfect are
Utopia, but in fact, the subtle beginning of a Dystopia. Simply because all attempts to
perfect those worlds are made of power, manipulation, and injustice (Hermansson,
2011).
A happy land without history where all the citizens are all mentally and morally in
tune brings about the failure of Utopia, simply because man by nature is selfish and
greedy. A counter-point in literature known as Dystopia is thus created, because every
man strives for individuality and unique power of his own; this element could be a
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major role in transforming what was known as Utopia, into Dystopia. Briefly, Utopia
is defined as a certain society that holds idealistic values in all parts of the way of
living; such is legislation, housing, education, and economy. As for Dystopia, it is
similar to the Utopian world, but differs in the aspect of government and hierarchy as
classicism and inequality leads always to its failure (Wells, 2011). With this
Dystopian notion, Sara Gruen (1969) takes advantage of this dystopia and manifests it
ideology in a microcosmic world of her own known as the Benzini Brothers Most
Spectacular Show on Earth.
The word Dystopia was first used by John Stuart Mill in 1868, an English
Philosopher, political economist, and liberal thinker, when Mill denounced the
government’s Irish land policy. Mill strongly objected on a parliamentary dispute
about Ireland in which the conservative government’s proposal to build a Protestant
Church, and keep the Catholic one in order to please all sides. Thus, Mill (1868)
makes his famous statement about this matter:
I may be permitted, as one who, in common with many
of my betters, have been subjected to the charge of
being Utopian, to congratulate the Government on
having joined that goodly company. It is perhaps, too
complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather
to be called dys-topians, or cacotopians. What is
commonly called Utopian is something too good to be
practicable; but what they appear to favor is too bad to
be practicable. (p.1517)
From this meaning, one can allude to how it functions as an ideology applied to a
certain community. A community that coexists with mankind in utter perfection is
basically a dream world, what Mill alludes here is that with the existence of a Catholic
Church and a Protestant one, the civil war will never cease. Harmony will coexist
with the two faiths as proven already in history of the endless battles in England
between the Protestants and the Catholics to make a dominant religion in the country.
Catholicism ruled England, Ireland, and Scotland for thousands of years, and was
basically the main religion throughout Europe. “In the 1500s, Catholics began to
question the power of the pope, who led the Roman Catholic Church” (Banting, 2002,
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p.8). The question lies whether Ireland is any different? “Between 1534 and 1537,
King Henry VIII tried to force Roman Catholics in Ireland to give up their religion
and follow Protestantism” (Banting, 2002, p.8) One may allude that life does not
function the way people want it to be, for power corrupt, classicism, and mankind’s
selfishness would bring about the downfall of an attempt to perfect society.
The Canadian-American writer, Sara Gruen (1969), manifests Dystopia in various
aspects of her novel Water for Elephants (2006). The story revolves around the
protagonist, Jacob Jankowski, whose penniless and homeless situation led him to join
the circus as a veterinarian. His boss, known as August, is violent and everyone fears
him with great caution, even his young, beautiful wife Marlena is frightened of his
madness at times. Jacob soon finds himself attracted, and then falls in love with
Marlena. However, when unraveling the novel, many parts reflect the elements that
create a Dystopian world, especially in its settings, characters, and main events. The
characters and events of the novel go beyond the mere reader’s perspective of a
typical love story developing in a magical place of the circus into a visual drama of
lively characters and impulsive behavior. In order to prove that a Dystopia truly exists
in the world of the novel, the original atmosphere and how the characters react to such
an extraordinary place is analyzed through theoretical basis in detail in this paper.
2. Review of the Related Literature
This study is completely original. What has been dealt with, whether in the form of
books, articles, and the like, is the continuous analysis and explanation of the growing
concept of Dystopia in literature. In dealing with Dystopia, most critics attempt to
define the term and give its historical origin, while explaining its functionality.
Michael D. Gorden, Helen Tilley, and Gyan Prakash (2010) state that
Dystopia, utopia’s twentieth-century doppelganger, also
has difficulty escaping its literary fetters. Much like
Utopia, dystopia has found fruitful ground to blossom in
the copious expanses of science fiction, but it has also
flourished in political fiction (and especially in anti-
Soviet fiction), as demonstrated by the ease with which
the term is applied to George Orwell’s 1984, Evgenii
Zamiatin’s We, and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New
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have timers on their arms to count how much time they have left; once it hits zero, the
person dies suddenly. However, in order to comprehend the actual sense of this
ideology, various aspects should be explained. First of all, “for a thematically more
neutral definition of this ‘bad place,’…dystopia [is looked] as a social structure that is
worse than the present social system” (Gottlieb, 2001, p.5). Dystopia’s rules force
oppression over a society. Moreover, it portrays a repressive society that fears change,
technology, or the unexplainable. This society always tends to fear its great fall, hence
individuality is a given right to the ones in power, like the government, and alienation
is bound to its people. According to Niclass Hermansson (2011), the irony of its
pretentious democratic ways is found in the character of an accomplished and a
competent person who is suppressed or stigmatized, considering him to be above
others; intellectuals, scholars, and scientists are thus considered to be a threat. In
addition, the dystopian world finds itself isolated from nature; the people are alienated
from all that is green, making a person confide to darkness and indoor life in most of
his or her life. However, some Dystopian societies are founded in the natural world.
The main focus is going to be on the Dystopian Hero and how the atmosphere helped
transform the weak, scared child, into a strong fighter.
Generally, the background of the story that depicts a Dystopian world takes place
after a crisis; for example, war, famine, or revolution in order to create a new
government delegated by the charismatic people of the remaining society. Usually the
people in power are shallow and follow their own pleasures. “Some are even brutal
and cruel. Unlike utopia where the rulers are just and caring for the well-being and
comfort of their citizens, the Dystopian rulers are oppressors and dictators, using
flawed laws that cause corruption in the society” (Hermansson, 2011, p.1). Because of
this corruption, there is black marketing and bad goods are sold. This often creates a
revolt from a group of oppressed people that spreads through the whole community
and brings down the corrupted government. Mainly, the revolt begins with the
protagonist, a Dystopian character who has lived the unjust cruelty for years, and can
no longer stand the injustice inflicted upon lower class people. “Conflict is basically
the main issue in bringing about the first steps of change [towards a positive change];
the protagonist usually trusts a group of people whom withhold powerful positions in
the government, but later on back stabs the hero in the end” (Hermansson, 2011, p.1)
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Thus, Dystopian literature attains a climax of revolution at all times, aspiring tragedy.
However, the ending always takes the Dystopian Hero’s favor and a new life is
produced before the hero. Whether this new life is good or bad one, it is something
else than the life the hero had, usually, an indication at the end shows that the hero,
who is finally freed from all authoritative constraints, is happy for being finally able
to create decisions of one’s own. Destroying Dystopia could either be possible or
impossible, in some novels and short stories, and even science fiction, the Dystopian
world is usually shaken up by the rise of the people and sometimes, they lose their
case when opposing the powerful and corrupted rulers. The escape of the protagonist
is also a sign of triumph; in a sense this person is able to run away from an oppressive
life and finally live a normal life with a rather balanced power and rights division. As
a result, Dystopia is but a mortal trial to establish an immortal state that rulers think is
the best for their people, but the means in which they conduct their state is unjust and
wrong, and so Dystopia must be destroyed at the end.
3. Research Methodology
This study is analytical in the sense of analyzing events and characters to elaborate
how the Dystopian world came to be. In short character development analysis and plot
analysis are used throughout the whole process. Moreover, the study is theoretical by
applying the attributes of Dystopia as a genre. The historical background of the Great
Depression is used in order to portray the becoming of Dystopia in the circus during
the mid 1930s. Sarah Gruen (1969) uses The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular
Show on Earth as her refuge for her main hero, Jacob Jankawski, and whom the paper
refers to as the Dystopian Hero. Moreover, attributes of the genre, Dystopia, like the
use of an actual historical calamity to push people to create a Dystopian society, the
idea of having a tragic hero who revolts against a tyrant, are applied to the novel in
order to show how the Benzini Brothers’ Circus is a miniature society of a corrupted
hierarchy, disguised as a sanctuary for all those who are lost in the Depression. By
doing so, the study adds to the definition of Dystopia that it does not have to be set in
the far future in the world of science fiction, but it can actually exist in a historical
fiction, and take the same shape as it would in a world full of robots or aliens.
4. The Importance of a Dystopian Hero in Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants
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Water for Elephants is set in two realms, a nursing home in the present times, and a
circus in the past. In order to justify how Dystopia came to being, a real life crisis
should be presented in the background. In the case of Water for Elephants, the crisis
is related to the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States of America. It is
formally known that the Great Depression expanded throughout the world. Among
those countries was Poland, from which our main hero of the novel, Jacob Jankowski,
comes from. At the beginning of the novel, Jankowski is seen as an old man who is
confused whether if he is ninety or ninety-three-years old, and would reminisce about
the circus. He remembers the 1930s in Ithaca, New York at Cornell University, where
he is in his final semester studying to be a Veterinarian. Gruen subtly projects the
background information of her novel in the first chapter, hinting the origin of the
Jankowski family. Zbigniew Landau and Jerzy Tomaszewski state that the “Great
Depression brought a sudden fall in marriage-and birth-rates, the result of common
pauperisation and anxiety about setting up a family or having more children”
(Landau, 1985, p.86) made various couples decide to bear only a child or two. This
reflected in the Jankowskies having an only child, Jacob. The Great Depression in
Poland also explains why so many Poles immigrated to America and to other
countries before the Depression, and why the number of immigrants decreased after it.
Many even returned to Poland because they had lost their jobs or couldn’t find any.
“A characteristic feature of economic depression was that migratory movements
diminished, especially those of people seeking work abroad…Between 1930 and 1935
emigration from Poland totalled [sic] 448,000 people, whereas in the previous six
years more than 900,000 Poles had emigrated.” (Landau, 1985, p.86) Gruen uses this
information and chooses to place the Jankowskies’ veterinarian business in Ithaca to
bankruptcy, and in order for Jacob’s father to pay off Jacob’s tuition fees at Cornell
University, he had to mortgage the house. The Depression caused more misery for the
Jankowskies, as it forced many people to pay for veterinarian services with other
things than cash. This is all revealed to Jankowski, a young man in his twenties, when
he is summoned to the offices of Edmund Hyde, Esquire:
Apparently my father has been taking payment in the
form of beans and eggs for nearly two years…
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members, despite the fact that it is a miniature of the actual reality; it is able to
proceed with promises and dreams for its residents, creating a false Utopia.
There are several elements in the life of the circus that make up the Dystopian world;
therefore, each aspect of the circus is analyzed, such as classicism, government, and
the workers. In the journey of the main hero, who will be later on identified as the
Dystopian Hero, Jankowski is soon able to find some work by helping out in various
tasks around the circus, and he is pleased to do something for the menagerie. At first
when he watches the first show, he is dazzled by it:
The big top still stands, glowing like a ghostly coliseum
and pulsing with the sound of the band. I stare at it,
entranced by the sound of the audience’s reactions.
They laugh, clap, and whistle. Sometimes there’s a
collective intake of breath or patter of nervous shrieks
(Gruen, 2011, p.62).
Jankawski is greatly attracted by this world because it offered him a home again. It is
also a place of wonder and illusion, which made him forget the troubles he was going
through. He later learns of the hidden segregation and corruption behind the smiles of
the performers and workers. He finds out that the people who work at the circus are
divided into two classes: The working class, the workers, and the ruling class, the
performers. Obviously, the working class has lesser privileges, perks, and even space
to bunk in the train. The segregation can be seen even when they all gather for their
meals at the cookhouse:
The sidewalls of the cookhouse have been raised to
allow for a draft, but it divided down the center by a
curtain. The tables on the side are graced with red and
white checked tablecloths, silverware, and vases of
flowers. This seems wildly out of sync with the line of
filthy men snaking behind the steam tables…The tables
in the other half are set end to end, their bare wood
graced only with salt and pepper shakers. No flowers
here (Gruen, 2011, p.43-44)
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At the beginning, Jankowski is treated as a plain worker. A kind old man named
Camel, allows him to stay on the train and finds him some work. This creates an
opportunity for him to meet with Uncle Al. Uncle Al and August Rosenbluth are two
powerful ringleaders. After hearing that he was studying at Cornell University as a
Veterinarian, they appoint him as the circus’ veterinarian:
‘So you missed the exams. Big deal.’
‘It is a big deal.’
‘No it isn’t. It’s just a piece of paper, and nobody here
gives a damn about that. You’re on a show now. The
rules are different.’ (Gruen, 2011, p.130)
In this dialogue, August Rosenbluth (one of the ringleaders) and Jankawski are
discussing the importance of education. Rosenbluth believes that in the life of the
circus, a degree does not matter at all, what matters most is a man’s contribution to his
work. This brings about the sense of security for Jankowski, and so he simply does
what he is ordered to do, and mingles with the rest of the workers and some of the
performers. At first he shares quarters with Camel in a cold corner of the train, next to
piles of hey. Later on, when Rosenbluth takes interest in him, he upgrades his
sleeping quarters and bunks him with a well-known performer, a dwarf called Walter,
known as Kinko in the realm of the circus. Gruen portrays segregation of each class
by projecting the little matters like places to sit in the Cook House, or where to sleep
in certain quarters. The performers are treated with delicate care and attention,
whereas the workers are treated with indifference and demeaning ways:
Performers emerge from sleepers closer to the back of
the train and of obviously better quality. There’s a clear
hierarchy: the closer to the back, the more impressive
the quarters. Uncle Al himself climbs from a car right in
front of the caboose. I can’t help but notice that Kinko
and I are the human occupants closest to the engine
(Gruen, 2011, p.90)
This shows the performers’ advantage over the workers:
The odor of unwashed bodies and clothes is
overwhelming. The bunks, stacked three high, hold at
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hypocrites in every sense of the word. This contradicts the illusion of bedazzlement
and fair treatment to all; Rosenbluth clarifies this point in his conversation with
Jankowski:
No. It’s nowhere near. It’s probably not even the fiftieth
most spectacular show on earth. We hold maybe a third
of the capacity Ringling does. You already know that
Marlena’s not Romania royalty. And Lucinda?
Nowehere near eight hundred and eighty-five pounds.
Four hundred, tops. And do you really think Frank Otto
got tattooed by angry headhunters in Borneo? Hell no.
He used to be a stake driver on the Flying Squadron. He
worked on that ink for nine years. And you want to
know what Uncle Al did when the hippo died? He
swapped out her water for formaldehyde and kept on
showing her. For two weeks we traveled with a pickled
hippo. The whole thing’s illusion, Jacob, and there’s
nothing wrong with that. It’s what people want from us.
It’s what they expect (Gruen, 2011, p.131).
The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth is a Dystopia of illusion. It
also creates isolation for the workers, making them feel that they have to work twice
as hard in order to get a decent pay. Uncle Al would even feed them less just like the
animals to achieve his goals:
‘Where to?’ I ask.
‘Into town, for breakfast,’ he says. ‘Doubt there’s any
food here. Probably won’t be until tomorrow.’
‘Jesus – really?’
‘Well, we’ll try, but we hardly gave the advance man
time to get here, did we?’
‘What about them?
‘Who?’
I point at the defunct circus.
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town Providence safely to deliver him to his son. Marlena falls in love with
Jankowski during these rigid times, and decides to run away with him and start a new
life away from the circus. Walter helps Jankowski, Camel, and Marlena to run away
once they hit Providence. Rosenbluth is lost without Marlena, who no longer sleeps
with him in the same car, and moves up to the Virgin Car with the other women.
Uncle Al is furious by the show not being able to go on without Marlena or
Rosenbluth performing their best act. At first, Jankowski tries to soften Uncle Al by
making him think that Marlena is just angry with Rosenbluth and will go back to him,
and all she needs is a bit of time to come around. This is, however, part of the plan to
stall time and reach Providence with Marlena out of harm’s way. Jankowski’s huge
risk is to free her from the clutches of Uncle Al and his men, as well as Rosenbluth’s,
and ensure Camel’s safety. Furthermore, find a new place to settle down with Marlena
in world swallowed by the great Depression. What brings about the downfall of
Dystopia is when Rosenbluth sends out his men to kill Jankowski and get rid of
Walter and Camel by ‘red-lighting’ (circus term for throwing people off a moving
train) them. Jankowski is able to get away, but Walter and Camel could not:
‘They got tossed over the trestle, all of them. Camel’s
head hit the rocks. He died right away. Walter’s legs
were smashed up bad. They had to leave him.’ He
swallows and adds, ‘They don’t reckon he lasted the
night’ (Gruen, 2011, p.383).
The injustice could not be tolerated anymore by the working class, especially when
many of their friends were tossed out of the train alive like ragged dolls. Because of
Jankowski’s strength to stand against Rosenbluth, and protect Marlena, he actually
sent a subliminal message to his fellow mates that injustice must pay its toll. Hence, a
revolt began between the workers who were thrown out. They opened the cages of the
menagerie during one of its performances and ruined the whole show. Jankowski on
the other hand was consumed with the fact of rescuing Marlena from the stampede
and more likely from Rosenbluth. It turns out that Rosie, the elephant, has a vendeta
of her own on Rosenbluth. Rosenbluth hit her real hard with a hook without mercy,
and now amidst the stampede of running people and loose animals, Rosie did the
unthinkable:
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prevail without a doubt. Therefore, it is vital to have a Dystopian Hero found in every
Dystopia to bring about this world’s downfall.
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