Character

I am on page 64. The main character in this book is Mr. Jacob Janikowski. As said in my previous blog post, he introduces himself in the beginning as a ninety or ninety-three year old man. He goes into a lot of detail about his life as an elderly man. He talks about how he is now very forgetful and he hates it. The first mention of his name is during an encounter with two old ladies. He falls out of his chair and onto the floor and the women exclaim "Jacob! Oh Jacob!.. Oh dear oh dear!" (pg 7). The nurses then rushed to help him up, despite his belief that he could get up on his own. This shows his stubborn nature. In the second chapter, young Jacob is revealed. He attends school at Cornell and seems to be a very smart person. However, after his parents die, he cannot continue to pay for his education, so he runs away. This takes a great amount of courage, as he does not know where he's going, but eventually he "stop[s] because [he] is tired and does not know where [he] is." (pg 23). He then gets on the train, even though he has no idea where it is going. This shows his spontaneousness. He does this because he wants to start over, as his parents are dead and he has nobody else left to support him. Eventually, he ends up working backstage at the circus. One of the other workers comes up to him and very angrily says "I ain't trying to know your business, but I do know you ain't been on the road long. You're too clean, your clothes are too good, and you don't got a possession in the world. I know I ain't got no talking room, but a boy like you shouldn't be on the bum... If you got a life to go back to, I reckon that's what you should do." (pg 51). Jacob then responds with a voice crack, "I don't".  This quote describes Jacob as being cleanly and unlike the other workers in the circus. He is intimidated by this man because he has been in the circus much longer and knows this is not where Jacob belongs. However, Jacob is starting something new and has nowhere else to be, so he stays.

I have taken a strong liking to Jacob's character. I really liked the opening passage where he describes how he had a nice life leading up to being in the nursing home. The first person narrative makes me feel bad for him because he truly does not enjoy the nursing home. As the story transitions, I continue d to feel bad for him when his parents died tragically. He is incredibly resilient, however, and starts a whole new life for himself. Jumping on a random train takes an immense amount of courage, which is seen through his character as the story progresses. I am looking forward to reading more about his life and seeing how his character develops throughout the rest of the novel.

Young Jacob as the 2011 movie portrays him

Old Mr. Janikowski as the movie portrays him