The Zoo Keepers Wife Essay

The novel The Zoo Keepers Wife, By Diane Ackerman ties together: stories, memories, and interviews centered on Antonia and Jan Zabinski and the Warsaw Jews that they saved during the Holocaust. One of the main characters Antonia played a tremendous role and definitely stood out in this novel. She took Warsaw’s Jews’ in, and provided them with a stable shelter to stay in during this war. I believe that it takes a brave person to house Jew’s especially during this time. Her mission was to preserve the natural bloodline of Germany, including the animals. She sis everything in her power to do that they closed their zoo and transformed it into a pig farm to feed the Germans. I believe that looking out for others and preserving history is overall the end-all goal. Antonia and Jan did just that; she helped others on the risk of her own life. In society today it is hard to even grasp that concept. To help others with such a large risk, Antonia has a self-giving heart and that as a society we need to strive to be more like that. At the being of this novel Antonia and her husband owned this beautiful zoo filled with exotic animals from around the world. As the plot
This novel shared the risks and suspense during the war, while also sharing great history about this period. There was a passage in the novel that showed us the reality of the war. It was describing when the animals escaped the zoo and the Germans were bombing the building. Ackerman used such descriptive words, that it was effortless to imagine what was going on in that point of the novel. For example on of the passages wrote, “ I can’t breath” “I feel like they are draining the city, washing away the past” Antonia had a passion for animals and for saving the Jews. She was determined to make