Water for Elephants Pgs. 70-104

 By: Sara Gruen

Summary:
In Chapter 6 Jacob examines Marlena's horse, Silver Star. He says that she has a foundering hoof, and that it will be a long time until she can perform again, if ever. Uncle Al is outraged by this and tells Jacob that if he wants to stay on with this circus he better "fix that d**** horse" (wow someone's got some anger issues...). Because of Silver Star's illness, Uncle Al makes declares that this city just won't get to see the circus, so they pack up and move out.  Halfway to their next stop, the train stops so the workers can feed the animals. August asks Jacob to help him feed the cats (the lions, tigers, and panthers). The food is rotten and disgusting and Jacob tries to tell August that they can't feed the animals this. August tells him that this is all they've got. When they get to the cat den, Jacob nearly gets his arm ripped off by a lion named Rex. Luckily he didn't have any teeth, so it just bruised him really bad. 
In Chapter 7 Jacob gets invited to go have dinner with Marlena and August in their train car. At the dinner, they all get pretty drunk and there is this moment when August gets this glassy look and looks like he is going to hurt Marlena just before he passes out. Marlena tells Jacob that August has a "problem" but won't say what the problem actually is. The next day, Jacob tells Marlena that he is probably going to have to put Silver Star down. They have a moment when Marlena starts balling and Jacob is there to comfort her (foreshadowing??)

Response:
I really like this book even though it has some pretty gruesome details. As I read about the conditions that Jacob, the workers, and even the animals live in, I can't help but get a little sick to my stomach. It's just disgusting to think that they serve the animals rotten food. I think I detected some foreshadowing with two different parts in these two chapters. First, when August gets that look where he wants to hurt Marlena and second, when Marlena and Jacob have their "moment". I can't help but wonder if Marlena and Jacob are going to have an affair because of something that August did to hurt Marlena.  I guess I will jsut have to keep reading to find out.......