First Critical Article Summary

Allan Schwartz

The first article that provides criticism towards the novel Water for Elephants is written by a doctor named Allan Schwartz. This article breaks down the overall idea of the main character from when he was a young man to when he is in his early nineties. Allan Schwartz states that he enjoys the major themes that the author Sara Gruen has incorporated into the novel. Throughout the story Jacob Jankowski uses his age to partly to joke and partly out of sarcasm to show use the reader how it is to be living in a nursing home. The author also comments on how the time line shifts from present to past as he constantly shares his struggle living in the nursing home. Mr. Schwartz reveals some very important and life changing events that Jacob has to deal with throughout the novel which is disappointing to readers of the book. Sara Gruen is complemented on the way she smoothly and neatly contrasted Jacob's life in the nursing home and while in the circus by the author of the article. The author also states that Jacob at the age of  90 or 93 he is alert, intelligent, angry and sarcastic which is ironic for somebody that is suffering from being around Alzheimer patients and living in a nursing home. The author also states how our institution often turn people from individual human beings into nameless objects. Lastly Allan Schwartz concludes by saying that the book truly captures the sense of helplessness that physiologically sound elderly patients must feel when they are deprived of their autonomy and decision making powers.