Comparison of "The Horse Whisperer" and "Elephant Winter"
...ful for it and it helped their relationship. One of these decisions was to give her mother extra medication when she was in pain, “I broke another bottle of morphine and she groaned and thrashed.” (Echlin, 171) Sophie did everything she could to help her mother stay comfortable during her illness, and the times that they could sit and talk were spent reminiscing and sharing personal thoughts. The decisions Sophie made kept her mother healthier for a longer period of time and it gave them time to share a lot of personal details about themselves. Sophie’s decisions concerning her mother’s health brought the two of them closer together, while Annie’s decisions concerning Grace hurt their relationship and showed the consequences when someone makes decisions about someone else without their approval. When Annie made decisions about the man she loved in The Horse Whisperer, it caused many negative consequences, while Sophie’s decisions about the man she loved in Elephant Winter only caused positive consequences. Annie had to make one of the most important decisions of her life, which was deciding between going back to her husband or staying with her new love, Tom. Annie decided to go back with her husband, and she felt she had made the best decision concerning the people involved, such as her daughter. Her decision to leave Tom, however, had a very bad consequence. It made Tom feel as if he had no reason to live, “Grace had a sudden, vivid impression that it was otherwise and that Tom, quite without fear or despair, was somehow this time offering himself.” (Evans, 440-441) Tom let himself be killed by a horse since he felt he had no reason to live anymore because Annie was leaving him. Her decision also caused Annie and her husband to separate because her husband found out about her love for Tom, which hurt Grace anyways. Annie never realized her decision would affect other people so much. Her decision hurt people and caused them to make decisions of their own. These decisions were influenced by Annie’s decision, and may not have been the right ones. which might not have been the right ones because they were affected by Annie’s decision. Annie’s decision involving Tom had a bad outcome and caused other people to make poor decisions. Unlike Annie’s Sophie’s decision involving her new boyfriend, Jo, had a positive outcome for her. Sophie decided to let Jo leave her and his elephants without saying anything, “When his jaw was unwired he called from his brother’s trailer in Florida and said he wasn’t coming back.” (Echlin, 155) By not asking him to come back, she made the decision of taking care of the elephants on her own, giving her life a new purpose, “The elephants liked having me there and I felt better among them in the small cot than alone in the empty house.” (Echlin, 184) With this new purpose, she felt she did not need to be with a man anymore and this decision not only had no affect on anyone else, it also did not have any negative consequences. Unlike Sophie’s decisions about Jo, Annie’s decision involving Tom demonstrated that some decisions affect other people and their decisions, which means a person has to be careful how their decisions affect others. Annie’s decisions involving her daughter’s horse in The Horse Whisperer had only negative consequences while Sophie’s decision about her elephants had only positive consequences in Elephant Winter. Annie decided to transport her daughter’s mentally unstable horse across the country which caused the people who were taking care of it to get injured by the horse, “He looked pale and had mud all down one side of him. He also seemed to be trying not to limp.” (Evans, 167) Annie’s decision caused other people to have to look after the horse, and it was very violent and caused many injuries. She had not thought about how her decision would affect anybody else besides herself and her family, and that caused a lot of pain to other people. If she had thought her decision through, she could have come up with another way to transport the horse without having to hurt anybody. It also did ...