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That's a fascinating theory. I really hope it isn't true but it is interesting.
I'm not sure that the whole book is all a "lie," but I think this comment among all the others here is closest to explaining what the title refers to. Remember what Rosemary the nurse tells Jacob: as we age we remember the past as we would like to remember it...McGuinty cannot be accused of lying because he really believes that he carried water for elephants. And if that is the case, then how does this phrase connect to the novel as a whole? What "water for elephants" is Jacob carrying? What does he remember incorrectly from the past? In brief, I believe he remembers Rosie the elephant killing August as a way to free his wife and the memory of his wife of the stigma of murder. The twist at the end really has another twist to it if you think hard about the reliability of Jacob as narrator, a narrator who doesn't know his own age or his grandchildren and who demonstrates other problems with his mental faculties. So, is it a lie? No, but Jacob like McGuinty remembers something that didn't happen or he remembers Rosie doing it because it's too painful or inconvenient to recognize what Marlena did. Also, I would suggest that the ending is another part of that unreliability. Does Jacob really run away with the circus at the age of 90 or 93? Well, it's pretty to think so, but I'm not sure he even made it out of the home in his walker.
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Hayley
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Jul 07, 2011 02:28PM
That's a fascinating theory. I really hope it isn't true but it is interesting.
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I'm not sure that the whole book is all a "lie," but I think this comment among all the others here is closest to explaining what the title refers to. Remember what Rosemary the nurse tells Jacob: as we age we remember the past as we would like to remember it...McGuinty cannot be accused of lying because he really believes that he carried water for elephants. And if that is the case, then how does this phrase connect to the novel as a whole? What "water for elephants" is Jacob carrying? What does he remember incorrectly from the past? In brief, I believe he remembers Rosie the elephant killing August as a way to free his wife and the memory of his wife of the stigma of murder. The twist at the end really has another twist to it if you think hard about the reliability of Jacob as narrator, a narrator who doesn't know his own age or his grandchildren and who demonstrates other problems with his mental faculties. So, is it a lie? No, but Jacob like McGuinty remembers something that didn't happen or he remembers Rosie doing it because it's too painful or inconvenient to recognize what Marlena did. Also, I would suggest that the ending is another part of that unreliability. Does Jacob really run away with the circus at the age of 90 or 93? Well, it's pretty to think so, but I'm not sure he even made it out of the home in his walker.
