THE DESCRIPSION OF TENSES USED IN SARA GRUEN`S
NOVEL WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
A PAPER
BY
SITI ROMADIANA
REG. NO. 102202004
DIPLOMA III ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM
FACULTY OF CULTURE STUDY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA
MEDAN
It has been approved by Supervisor,
Dr. Ridwan Hanafiah, S.H., M.A
Submitted to Faculty of Culture Studies of Sumatra Utara
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for DIPLOMA(D-III) in English
Approved by
Head of Diploma III English Study Program,
Dr.Matius C. A. Sembiring, M. A NIP :19521126191121001
Approved by Diploma III of English Study program Faculty of Culture Studies, University of North Sumatera
Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
The D-III of Examination of the Diploma III of English Study Program, Faculty of Culture Studies, University of Sumatra Utara.
The examination is held on July ,2013
Faculty of Culture Studies, University of North Sumatera Dean,
Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A NIP :195110131976031001
Board of Examiners:
Signature
1. Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A (Head of ESP)
2. Dr. Ridwan Hanafiah, S.H., M.A (Supervisor)
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I am, Siti Romadiana, declare that I am the sole author of this paper. Except
where the references is made in the text of this paper, this paper contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in par from a paper by
which I have qualified for awarded another degree.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text
of this paper. This paper has not been submitted for the of another degree in any tertiary education.
Signed :……….
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
Name : Siti Romadiana
Title of paper : The Description Of Tenses Used In Sara Gruen’s Novel
Qualification : D-III/ Ahli Madya
Study program : English
I am willing that my paper should be available for reproduction at the discretion of the librarian of the Diploma III English Department Faculty of culture Studies USU on the understanding that users are made aware or their
obligation under law of the Republic of Indonesia.
Signed :………
ABSTRAK
ABSTRAK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to thank and praise the Almighty God, Allah SWT for blessing and giving me health, strength and ease to accomplish this paper as one of the requirements for Diploma III certificate from English
Department Faculty of Culture Studies, North Sumatera University. Secondly Feach be upon to my prophet Muhammad SAW.
Then, I would like to express a deep gratitude, love, and appreciation to :
My beloved parents,Ramlan Sitorus and Leli Wati Siregar. Thank you
for the motivation, advice, pray, love and financial support. I present this paper for you.
Drs. Ridwan Hanafiah, S.H., M.A as my supervisor. Thank you for the
valuable time in giving advice, suggestion, guidance, and help to write this
paper.
Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A. As The Head of English Diplomd
Study Program.
Drs.Bahagia Tarigan as my reader Thank you for the valuable time in
giving advice, suggestion, guidance, and help to write this paper.
Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A as the Dean of Faculty of Culture Studies,
University of Sumatera Utara.
All lecturers in English Diploma Study Program for giving me advice and
Muhammad Yunus Harahap as my brother thank for your support and
help me to complete this paper.
My best friends : Mariana, Winda, Hetty, Jojo, Vani, Nelpi, Maya,
Mahyar, Wahyu And Fatimah. And all my friends in English diploma III A and B. Thank you your support cares and other thing that help me to
complete this paper. thank you for the nice friendship during our study. I will be missing the days we spent together.
Finally, I realize that this paper is still far from being perfect. There fore,I hope for the constructive criticism and suggestion for this paper.
Medan, 22 July 2013 The writer
TABLE OF CONTENTOF THE PAPER
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ... i
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ... ii
ABSTRACT ... iii
2. A DESCRIPTION OF TENSES 2.1The Defenition of Tenses ... 4
2.2The Kind of Tenses ... 4
2.1Present Simple Tenses ... 5
2.2Past Tenses ... 9
2.3Future Tenses ... 12
3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TENSES USE IN SARA GRUEN`S NOVEL 3.1The Tenses Used in Sara Gruen’s ... 16
3.2The Most Dominant tenses used in Sara Gruen’s ... 16
4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 4.1 Conclusion ... 25
4.2 Suggestion ... 25
ABSTRAK
ABSTRAK
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study
Language, as a means of communication plays an important role to human `s life.We use language in order to communicate one another,express our
personal reaction to situation, to stimulate a response in something else, and for sake of thinking something out(Montgomery,1962:15).
Crystal(1997;17)state that there are many languages in the word. Every person speaks own languages ,for instance Indonesians speaks Indonesian and English language people speak English, et. But in globalization era, English
language be comes the international language because many countries interact with other countries. So, they need international language in order to understand
each other.Grammar is a body of rule specifying how meanings create in English.
Veit (1986:6) states that grammar is a person`s subconscious language,
knowledge. To be a good sentence in English we have to know the grammar because it is one of the basic elements in English. To make a good and correct
writing, we should use correct grammar. And lots of people believe that by learning the grammar, you learn a language. We dont think this is completed true. Instead, we think of grammar as the basic building blocks of a language when you
know grammar, you know things like past tense verbs; how to use conditional forms; how to form questions and so on.
The description of the time will change the form of sentence. This change of the
time called tenses. Example :
We usually have break past at seven oclock in the morning(simple
present tense).
I when to the town last year(past tense).
She said that he had fixed my cycle(perfect tense).
He would sing a song but his throat was sick(future tense).
The language used in the novel to present the tense and exact meaning, of the Language. And the tenses in the novel plays the important rule in the sentence in order to make the reader understand the idea of its contains. Moreover, it is
novel there are types of tenses used suck as present simple tense(simple present tense ),past tense, future tense ,and past future tense.
The writer used this novel because it is most found the tense. And the writer want to know how often the tenses are used in those novel.
1.2 The problems
The problems that writer would like to investigate are as follows: 1. How many tenses are there used by the author in the novel
1.3 The Scope of The Study
The writer restrict subject only about tenses. The tenses will be explained in more details. there are many things in English to be discussed. I just limit the study on the tenses found in the Water For Elephants Novel:
1. Present simple tenses
2. Past tense
3. Future tense
1.4 The Purpose of The Writing
The purpose of writing this paper are:
1. To description of the Tenses used in Sara Gruen`S Novel
2. To find out sentence tense s used in Sara Gruen`S Novel
3. To fulfill the requirement to get a Diploma Certificate In English Study Program at the of Culture Studies, University of North Sumatera.
1.5 The Method of Study
In writing this paper, the writer used the method of library research by reading, learning some books, collect all the information from books. internet and
2. A DESCRIPTION OF TENSES 2.1 Definition of Tenses
The are many definitions of tenses which are proposed by grammarians, such as Djuharie and George. Djuhari says Tenses is grammatical category that
locates a situation in time that indicates when the situation take place. Tenses are part of grammar. mastering tenses is important if we do not use appropriate
tenses, it can make misunderstanding especially in written language. George (1980: 192) states that tenses means time. It should be pointed out that time in relation to action is a concept that eists in the mind of the speaker ,reader, or
listener.
2.2 Kind of Tenses
In the traditional English, tenses can be devided into three mains time periods:The present, past, and future. The basic pattern Is referred to simple shapes. In each of these basic pattern can also be seen aspects of how the incident
took place which is being lasts, over, or still in progress. When associated with mood tenses is formed precisely in the real main patterns and like which aspects
in general pattern of tense as follows:
ASPECT TIME
PRESENT PAST FUTURE PAST FUTURE SIMPLE Present
simple
Past simple
Future
simple Past future simple CONTINUOUS Present
2.2.1 Simple Present Tenses
The Simple Present Tense of most verbs requires only an-s ending in the third personal singular. This is true whether the subject is pronoun (he ,she, it) or a singular noun, the first -an second – person pronoun (I ,we, you ),the
third-person(they),and plural require no ending in the present tense . Example :
1. I always help my friends.
2. The sun rises in the east.
Pattern:
Positive : Subject + Verb 1+ Object
Negative : Subject + Do/Does +Not+ Verb 1 + Object
Interrogative : Do/Does + Subject Verb 1 + Object ?
Used question word (when, where, who, why, what, which, how), question word used before the auxiliary: do/does..
Example:
1. Does your mother work here?.
2. Does he go to school every day?.
Functional
Used to express the general truth 1. The sun rises in the east
2. The sun does not evolve around the earth.
3. The sky is blue.
Used to express habitual action:
1. The car is turned up every month.
2. We go to school every day.
3. We celebrated the ceremony every Monday.
Used for events after or now
1. Diana studies at elementary school.
2. Siti is given a scholarship for great achievement.
3. A do not have any car.
Used for a planned future action or series actions
1. I have a meeting Wednesday at the time.
2. The train arrives at 10.20.
2.2.2 Present Continuous Tense
Present Continuous Tense is a construction. It made up auxiliary be+ the- ing (present participle)form of the verb.
Pattern:
Positive : subject +is /am/are +verbing +object
`am` for subject `I ` for subject third singular, and `are ` for subject the
other and third singular.
Negative : Subject + Is Am/Are+ Not + Verbing +Object
Interrogative : Is/Am Are + Subject + Verbing + Object?
Function
Used question word (When, Where, Who, Why, Which, How), question
word place before to be :is/am/are.
Used to express an activity or state in progress or around the time of speaking:
1. I wonder what is being read by her.
2. Diana is eating dinner now.
3. Listen! she is singing a good song.
Used to express an action future that has planned 1. Diana is leaving for Medan tomorrow.
Used to express temporer action
1. I am studying Arabic at University Of North Sumatera.
2. The guests are staying in Madani Hotel
2.2.3 Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect tenses is construction on made up it auxiliary have + the past participle form of the main verb.
Patten:
Positive : S+ Have/Has +V3 +Object
‘’has’’ use for subject third singular, and ‘’ have’’ use for other subject the third singular.
Negative : S + Have/Has +Not +V3+Object
Interrogative : Have/Has +S + V3 +Object ?
Used question word (When, Where, Who, Why, What, Which, How), question word place before Have/Has.
Function
Used to indicate an action has relevance in the past, but still relevance in
the present:
1. I have ever been to Bandung.
2. I have already seen that movie.
Used to indicate an action took place at an indefinite time or over
period:
1. Rani has already read the entire book.
2. We have already written our reports.
3. The bridge has been built nowadays.
Used in intransitive verb:
1. I have been a teacher since 1989.
2. I lived here since I was born.
3. She has slept for 10 hours.
2.2.4 Present Perfect Continuous Tense Patten:
Positive : S +have/has +been +ving + object
Negative : Subject + Have/Has +Not +Been +Verbing + Object
Positive : Have /Has +Subject +Been +Verbing +Object ?
Function
Used to expresses the duration (the length of time )an activity is in
progress. Time expressions with since and for are used with the present perfect progressive.
1. I have been sitting in class since 9 o`clock .
3. Rita has been talking to josh on the phone for twenty minutes.
Used to express an action relevance in time but do not explaned in Indonesian can be interpreted.
1. I have been reading a book.
2. We have been watching TV.
3. We have not been watching TV.
2.2.5 Simple Past Tense
Past tense is used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended at a particular time in the past.
Patten:
Positive : Subject +Verb2 + Object
Negative : Subject +Did +Not + Verb1 +Object
Interrogative : Did Subject +Verb1 +Object ?
Function
Used to express habitual action or repair to in the past. 1. Diana walked to school everyday ten years ago.
2. It rained almost everyday last rainy season.
Used to express activities or situations that began and ended at a particular time in the past.
2. I slept for eight hours last night.
2.2.6 Past Continuous
The past continuous tense is an important tense in English. we use it to
say that somebody was in middle of doing something at a certain time. the action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished.
Pattern:
Positive : Subject + Was/Were + Verbing
Negative : Subject + Was/Were + Not + Verbing
Introgative : was/were + subject + verbing?
Function
Used the Past Continuous Tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about.
1. I was walking at 10pm last night.
2. They were not sleeping at 9am last night.
3. what were you doing at 10pm last night
Used to express events in past progressive tense
1. The engine was running when it suddenly stopped.
2.2.7 Past Perfect Tense
We use the Past Perfect tense to emphasize that an action in the past finished before another action in the past started. This tense is also used in reported speech, third conditional sentences, or to show dissatisfaction with the
past. Pattern:
Positive : Subject+ Had +Verb3 + Object
Negative : Subject +Had +Not+ Verb3+Object
Introgative : Had +Subject +Verb3+ Object?
Used question word (When,Where, Who, Why, What, Which, How,) place before ‘’Had’’.
Function
Used to express the events incurred before simple past . 1. After I had breakfast,I started to work.
2. He had already walked to school before I could offer him a ride.
2.2.8 The Past Perfect Continuous Tense
The Past Perfect Continuous is formed with the past perfect tense of the verb to be ( had been )+ the present participle (ing)
Pattern:
Positive : Subject + Had + Verbing
Negative : Subject + Had +Not + Verbing
Introgative : Had + Subject + Verbing
Used to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
1. They had been talking for over an hour before tony arrived.
2. She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business.
Used before another action in the past is a good way to show cause and effect:
1. Diana was tired because she had been jogging .
2. Sam gained weight because he had been overeating.
2.2.9 The Simple Future Tense
The Future Simple is used in many situations such as when making
promises or predictions.
Pattren:
Positive : S+ will/shall + v1 or subject + is/am/are + going to +v1
Introgative : will/shall + S +V1 or is/am/are +s +going to +v1?
Function
We used Simple Future Tense when there is no plan or decision to do something before we speak. We make the decision spontaneously at the time of speaking.
1. Hold on. I `ll get a pen.
2. We will see what we can do to help you.
3. Maybe we` ll stay in and watch television tonight.
We used the Simple Future Tense to make a prediction about the future. 1. I will walk to school tomorrow.
2. I will attend a party tonight.
3. I will be to new york net week.
2.2.10 Future Progressive Tense
Future Continuous to indicate that we will be in the middle of doing
something in a specified time in the future. Pattren:
Positive : Subject +Will/Shall +Have +Verbing
form Future Continuous with ‘’will’’
will be + present (participle)
1. will you be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight?.
2. You will not be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight.
Form Future Continuous whit “be going to “ (am/is/are + going to be + present participle)
1. Are you going to be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight?
2. You are not going to be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight.
Note:
It is possible to use either “will” or “be going to” to create the future continuous whit little difference in meaning.
2.2.11 Future Perfect
Future Perfect tense to talk about actions that will be finished before some point in the future. We also use this tense to express situations that will last for a
specified period of time at a definite moment in the future. The last use is to express certainty that an action was completed.
Pattern:
Positive : Subject + Will/Shall +Have + Verb3
Negative : Subject + Will/Shall +Not +Verb3
Function
The Perfect Tense expresses action in the future before another action in the future.
1. He will be walking to school at 8 a. m. tomorrow.
2. This time net week l will be sailing to Netherland.
2.2.12 Future Perfect Continuous
Tense to express situations that will last for a specified period of time at a definite moment in the future. We also use this tense to express certainty about the cause of some future situation.
Pattern:
Negative : subject + will + have +been +ving
Positive : subject + will + not + have + been + ving.
introgative :will +subject +have +been+ ving
Function
Future Perfect Continuous with ‘’ will’’
(will have been + present participle)
1. you will have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives.
2. Will you have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane
Future Perfect Tense Continuous with ‘be going to ‘
(Am/Is/Are + Going To Have Been + Present Participle)
1. You are going to have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally.
2. Are you going to have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives?
3. Note : it is possible to use either ‘’will ‘’ or ‘’ be going to ‘’ to create the future perfect continuous with or no difference in meaning.
3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TENSES USED IN SARA GRUEN`S NOVEL 3.1 The Tenses Used in Sara Gruen`S Novel
The tenses used in Sara Gruen`S novel are simple present,past tense and future.
3.2 The Most Dominant Tense Used In Sara Gruen`S Novel
The stories are from Sara Gruens novel found 25 chapter story. In this
paper the writer found tenses in data research shows that the simple present tense shoe 119 data chapter (1-23), the data past tense show 16 data chapter (1-18), the
data future tense show 20 data chapter (1-23) and past future continuous 2 data chapter (14).
The Simple Present
1. You go upstairs to fetch something
2. The nurse parks me in front of my meal
3. I open my mouth to answer
(chapter 3 page 27 )
4. I close my note book
5. He pats my back loudly
(Chapter 4 page 36)
6. They don`t look like my parent
7. He looks uncomfortable
8. I scan the room
9. He squints at me a while longer
10.I set my plate down
(Chapter 5 page 42)
11.Cecil stands on a platform
12.He struts back and forth
13.He turns to address the crowd
14.He leads me through to the back
16.He claps a had on my shoulder
17.L poke my head out of the tent
18.She brings it to her mouth and takes a deep drag
(Chapter 7 page 56)
19.I feel my face turn red
20.He rips the ball hook from my hand
21.He stands absolutely still
22.I return to the ring stock car and lie on my bed room
(Chapter 9 page 61)
23.He moves to the open door and waves me toward him
24.He stares at the ledger book in front of him
25.He smacks his lips
26.He picks up his bag and edges toward
27.He tips his hat
(chapter 11 page 88)
28.He wipe his hands carefully
30.I remove my hat
31.He pulls a flask from his pocket
32.She walks a small circle in the center of the ring
33.She calls and they stop
(chapter 19 page 112-118)
34.He presses his muzzle into it
35.I give them treats
36.He marches straight to August
37.I don`t try very hard
38.He shines like the sun
39.He becomes positively
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
Present Continuous Tense 1. he is sitting opposite
2. I am telling you now
3. He is lying you now
5. I am going to slug him
6. I am watching the circus
7. He is standing at the window
(chapter 19 page 112-118)
8. I am going to lost it
9. He is a hulking brute with a thick black bread
(Chapter 7 page 56)
10.Four men are sitting on rough burlap feed sacks
11.Camel is walking away
(Chapter 4 page 36)
12.I am searching in vain for an elephant
13.She is standing in front of a row of black and white horse
14.I am standing near the back of a much smaller
15.She is standing perfectly still
(chapter 1 page 8)
16.You are having a bad dream
18.I am dying to now
19.Kinko is lording over a party with a bottle in his hand
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
20.She is wearing a halter
21.I am not mopping
(Chapter 9 page 61)
22.You are mopping off
23.We are trying the hair of the dog
(chapter 21page 119-129)
24.We are going to find out
25.Are you talking about the elephant again
26.She is a lone sitting in her chair
27.I am talking generally
28.I am not talking about you
29.I am longing on my bedroll
30.Squadron is preparing to pull out
31.We are pulling out
32.He is standing on the ground in front of the open door
33.I am getting a doctor out to day
34. Are we going to perform this examination
35.We are touching shoulder
(chapter 3page 27)
36.I know he is a working man and Al
37.Are you saying you didn`t want to kiss me?
38.I am back to sleeping on the horse blanket in corner
(Chapter 5page 43 -46 )
Present Perfect Tense 1. I have forgotten
2. I have stopped (chapter 3page 27)
3. They have lived here for nearly thirty year
4. I haven`t eaten since the day before yesterday
(Chapter 9 page 61)
6. They have gone back to the train to wait for a doctor
7. I haven`t moved since he left
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
8. She has learned to follow august
9. She has stopped beating the hell out of her
10.Uncle Al hasn`t actually said so
(chapter 1 page 8)
11.We have missed you
12.He hasn`t touched her whit the bull hook
(chapter 19 page 112-118)
13.I haven`t got a rosary
14.We have got a strow house to night
(Chapter 5 page 42)
Present Perfect Continuous
1. I have been mucking out stock cars an morning
2. I been talking a friend of mine
4. She has been so busy concentrating on her ball
5. We have hearing rumors that maybe there is money finally
(Chapter 5 page 42)
Past Tense
1. I got talked
2. I ware to attempt the usual guest
(chapter 3page 27)
3. I was not dreaming
4. I was not joking at age
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
Past Continuous
1. You were going to say thirty- three
2. I were standing in front of Salomon
3. I wasn`t a ware of dozing
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
4. I was checking out baggage stock
5. I was actually looking for you
7. I was dreaming about Marlena
(chapter 19 page 112-118)
8. He was charming and relentless
9. I saw getting married
(Chapter 5page 43 -46 )
Past Perfect Continuous
1. I have been sitting at the table forever
2. He is been there two weeks
3. He had be drinking Jake canned heat
(chapter 3page 27)
Future Tense
1. You will never forget what you see
2. He will take you right on it
3. You will never remember the quarter you spent here to day
(chapter 24 page 204-280 )
4. I will show you ladies something you have never seen
(chapter 3page 27)
7. They will survive until something shows up
8. I will be a long in minute
9. I will go to confusion
(chapter 1 page 15- 20)
10.I will make sure
11.You will find you sea legs soon
12.He will be here any second
(chapter 1-23)
Future Continuous
1. they will be puling in any time
2. we are going to be crawling with suckers in a minute
3. you will be talking about this for rest of your live
(chapter 1 page 15- 20)
4. what will I be doing?
5. I will stop drinking
Past Future Continuous
1. He shouldn`t have been drinking in the place
( Chapter 14 page189 )
Past Future perfect
1. I wouldn`t have gone
4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
4.1Conclusion
The simple present is domint using in this novel the are found 42 sentence with the simple present tense, present continuous found 57 sentence,
present perfect tense found 15 sentence and present continuous tense found 5 sentence, the past tense found 4 sentence, past continuous found 9 sentence and
past perfect continuous found 3. The last there are 18 sentence with future tense. The future tense found 15 sentence and the future continuous tense found 5 sentence.
4.2Suggestion
After completed this paper. The writer would like to present some
suggestion to the reader such as :
The reader must be understand about tenses because tenses is very
important to make a good sentence not only writing but also in speaking.
For English student especially the beginners. it is important to able in
making sentences by understanding tenses.
I wish this paper can be useful to enrich knowledge about the usage and
function of tenses in English.
I also wish the reader can get much information about tenses from this paper
REFERENCES
Anderson, s. 1997. On Case Grammar. New York : Humanities Press.
Biber, Douglas.2002. Longman StudentGrammar of Spoken and WrittenEnglish.London : Libarary of Congress.
Chaer, Abdul. 2007. Kajian Bahasa. Jakarta : Rineka Cipta.
Close, R.A. 1981. English is a Foreign Languae. London : Allen & Unwin.
Crystal, David.1997. English as Global Language. England : Cambridge
University Press.
Grammar. Singapore : The Mc Grow – Hill I
Halliday, M.A.K.2002. On Grammar. New York Coninuum.
Hancock, Craig. 2005. Meaning Centered Grammar. London : Equinox. Ideas. Canada : Litle Brown and Company limited.
Montgomery, Robert L. AND Sucherland, William.1962.Language and Suryabrata, Sumadi. 2002. Metode Penelitian. Jakarta : Angkasa.
APPENDIXES
SUMMARY
Water for the elephants has two plots, both starring the same main
character, jacob. In one plot,Jacob is a young guy just starting to set out in the word; in the other,he is and old guy struck at a nnursing home. Every few chapters, the narattive switches from one jocob to the other. This could get
confusing. To make sure everything`s clear, we are going to lay it all out for you separately. But we warned, this isn`t the other of events in the book. The story is
told as a series of memoies by Jacob Jankowski, a ninty -three year old man who lives in nursing home. Jocob is told what to eat and what to do.
As the memories begen, Jocob Jankowski ius a twenty tree year old polish american preparing for his final exams as a cornell university veterinary student when he receives the devastating news that his parents were killed in car eccident.
Jacob`s father was a veterinary and jacob had planed to join his practice. When jocob learns that his father was deeply in debt because he had been treating
animals for just beans and eggs and had mortgaged the family home to provide Jocob an Ivy league education, he has a breakdown andf leaves school just short of graduation.in the dark of night, he jumps on train only to learn it is a circus
train belonging to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectakular Show on Earth. When the owver of the circus, Uncel Al, learns of his training as a vet, he is hired to care
dwarf named Waltern (who is known as kinko to the circus ) and his dog Queenie.
A few weeks later Jocob is summoned to take at Camel, an old man who, after jamaican ginger extract for many years, cant`s moveds his arms or legs. Fearing Camel will be ‘’red -lighted”(referring to the paractice of throwing circus workers
off a moving train as either punishment or as severance from the circus to avoid paying wages), he hides him in his room.
The head trainer, August,is a brutal man who abuses the animals in his care (such as the new elephant rosie) and the people around him. Alternately, ha
can be utterly charming.Jocob develops a gruarded relationship with August and his wife, Marlena, with whom Jocob falls in love. August is suspicious of their
relationship and beats marlena and jacob. Marlena subsequently leaves August and stay as a hotel a hotel while she is not perfortming.Uncle Al then informs Jocob that Augustis a paranoid schizophrenic and then utters a threat: reunite
August and Marlena as a happily married couple or Walter and Camel get red-lighted.
A few days later discovering that August has tried to see Marlena, jocob visits her in her hotel room. Soon after he comforts her however, the couple sleep together and then eventually declare their love for each other. Marlena soon
returns to the circus to perform (and also to have secret meetings with Jocob), but refuses to have August near her, which makes Uncel Al furious.
However, Jocob backs ouit and retrun to his car, only to find no one there but
Quenie. He then realize that Walter and Camel ware red-lighted and Jocob himself was supposed to be too.
As the story the climaxes, several worker who were red-lighted (thown) off of the train come back and releas the animals causing a stampede juring the
performance.
In the ensuing panic, rosie the elephant take a stake and driver it into August`s head his body id then trampled Jacob which occurred juring a circus
performance, the circus is shout down. Soon after, Uncle Al`s body is found with a make shift garrote around his neek. Marlena and Jocob leave, a long with
several circus animals(rosie,queenie and others), and beging their life together. Ninty-three year old jocob is waiting for his family to take him to the circus. It is revealed that Jacob and Marlena married and had 5 children spending
the first seven years at the ringling bros circus before Jocob got a job as a vet for a chicago zoo. Marlena is releven to have died a few years before Jocob was put
into a nursing home. After finding out no one is coming for him, olderly Jacob goes to the circus on his own. He soon meets the maneger chsrlie and begs to be allowed to accompany the circus by selling tickets. Charlie agrees and jacob
