What is the book about?
This book tells a story of a poor, ugly man called Elephant Man.
Content Abstract:
At first, nobody liked the elephant man. People often laughed at him. Some people were afraid of him. People putted him in a cage and showed him like animals.
Until one day, he was found by a doctor. The doctor thought the man was very interesting and wanted to research him. So he took the man to the hospital in London and lived in the hospital.
Then, the elephant man became famous. Everyone wanted to visit him; even the queen came to see him. Many people gave the hospital a lot of money for the elephant man. The man lived in the hospital for a long, happy life. He read many books and newspapers and talked to his visitors gladly.
Later in the summer, he stayed in the county for six weeks. After he came back to London, he talked about the country a lot and was happy to see his friends and his books again.
But six months later, the doctor found him dead in bed.
Why do we call him elephant man?(The following is based on his description.)
It was not a man or a woman, like you or me.
His dead was the most interesting thing. It was very, very big, like an enormous bag with a lot of books in it. The head did not have much hair, and there was another bag of brown, dirty skin at the back of it. This skin came down below his neck.
An enormous red tooth came out of his mouth, under his nose. It looked like an elephant’s tooth. The mouth and nose were like holes in the face. The face could not smile or laugh or look angry or sad, because the skin could not move. It was dead, like an elephant’s face.
There were more bags of dirty skin on the front and back of the body. These bags came down to his legs. The right arm was enormous, and there were bags of skin on it, too. The right hand was like a man’s foot.
But the left hand the left arm and the left hand were beautiful! The left arm had wonderful skin, and the fingers of the left hand were long and beautiful. It was like a young woman’s hand!
He could not walk well. His legs were very big and fat and he had a bad back. He could not walk far without a stick.
How he died?
He did not usually sleep on his back. His enormous head was very heavy, so he usually sat up in bed with his arms round his legs and his head on his knees. He could sleep well like this.
But he wanted to sleep on his back like you and me. He tried to sleep on his back that night, but his heavy head came off the bed, and he broke his neck. He died very quickly.
