All About Animals discussion
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Born Free
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Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds by Joy Adamson
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Barbara, Founder and Moderator
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Jan 18, 2013 07:16AM
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I read this years ago, so won't re-read it, but I do look forward to discussing it when everyone else has.
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Great, can't wait. I watched the movie. Not sure if it was the same thing.
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No problem. It's also available new or used through Amazon and B&N etc. It should also be in the local library.
I read it years ago as well as enjoying the tv show when I was young
The Film is availible for free if you are Amazon Prime.
Has anyone read this yet? I got the 40th anniversary edition from the library and am looking forward to starting it in the next week or so. I was happy to see that it has lots of pics!
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Having read The Elephant Whisperer just last month, I am finding as I'm reading Born Free that I am comparing the two. Lawrence Anthony seemed to me to adapt more to the wildlife and the natural environment, while the Adamsons seemed more willing to kill animals. Maybe it was just the different times and countries that the approaches seemd to be so different to me. It was interesting to see some of the similarities in the Zulu and Kenyan cultures - I was happy when I recognized the African word "boma" from The Elephant Whisperer in this book. I saw the movie probably 30 years ago, and the book seems very different from what I remember - I think the book must include more of the sometimes not so pretty details that the movie may have glossed over. Or maybe I was too young to notice. Regardless, I still love Elsa's story.
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I just put the book on hold at the library and hopefully will be able to read it next week. I have never watched the movie but I have it on DVD and plan on watching it after I read the book.
I was disturbed that on p. 103 (in my version of the book) she writes about an incident where Elsa followed her natural instincts and chased a donkey, and she says "we gave Elsa the beating that we thought she deserved." Six pages later, she is talking about her cheerful disposition and attributes it to the fact that they used "neither force nor frustration" to get her to adapt to their way of life. I don't know about anyone else, but I think beating Elsa for following her natural instinct certainly counts as force.
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I shudder to think of the answer to that question Barbara! My only consolation is that Elsa is bigger than them, so hopefully, her use of that term back in the 60s in Kenya doesn't have the same connotation that it does to us.
I loved this book/movie a long time ago when I was still living at home and hadn't formulated a lot of opinions.. LOL I just knew I loved books about animals. Re-reading this book as an adult I did not enjoy it anywhere near the same. I thought the writing style was somewhat juvenile and the extent to which Joy interfered with Elsa's life really disturbed me. A much better written book is a Lion Called Christian.
I finished the book. While I loved Elsa's story and enjoyed most of the pictures in the book, this was not the heartwarming story I remember from my childhood. I love Elsa, but I really didn't like the Adamsons. It may be because I keep comparing them to Lawrence Anthony, another conservationist, and I find that Mr. Anthony seemed to have more respect for the animals' right to exist in their environment. I couldn't lose sight of the fact that Elsa was orphaned because he killed her mother thinking she was a male lion, leaving the three cubs without a mother. I was confused at her reference to "beating" Elsa when she tracked a donkey, which was a purely natural instinct, and not three pages later, said that they never used force with her. In my opinion, a beating counts as force, but maybe that's just me. Finally, I can't help but think how cruel it was to Elsa to keep sneaking off and leaving her when she was sleeping. They keep reappearing and disappearing - I'm not sure that helped her adapt to the wild or simply increased her confusion about where she belonged. She didn't know why the people she loved kept abandoning her and then returning and then repeating the process. One thing I got a chuckle out of was when they returned to Elsa for a three day period several times, and when she got to know the signs they were preparing to leave, she turned her face away from them. My 16 yr old shih-tzu does the same thing when I leave for work! She'll give me kisses whenever I ask, as she is a kisser. But, when I'm off to work, she knows - when I go to kiss her, she whips her face away and refuses to kiss me. When I come home after work, well, that's a different story!
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That's so cute. My dogs have their own little quirks and animals know when your leaving them.
Barbara wrote: "Jami wrote: "My 16 yr old shih-tzu does the same thing when I leave for work! She'll give me kisses whenever I ask, as she is a kisser. But, when I'm off to work, she knows - when I go to kiss her,..."They certainly do, Barbara! My girl has decided that in her senior years, she has earned the right to display a little attitude! Sometimes, I think they know what we are going to do before we do! The smallest routine that we have is a major signal to them.
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My one dog is alot older now but about 4 or 5 yrs ago I was headed off to work. My dog kept getting in front of me trying to prevent me from leaving. He had never done this before and has never done this since. I mean really getting in front of me, going to the door, standing in front of it, barking at me. So, I took a little extra time with him since I sensed something was disturbing him.
Finally he let me go out the door. A mile down the road there was a major accident. I would have possibly been in that accident if it wasn't for him blocking the door that day.
I have to believe somehow he knew cause that was the only day ever in the nine plus years I've had him that he has ever done this. He has never done it since.
Dogs are wonderful.
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http://youtu.be/H17edn_RZoY
Barbara wrote: "I'm not sure why but I just remembered this. I guess cause you were talking about leaving the house. My one dog is alot older now but about 4 or 5 yrs ago I was headed off to work. My dog kept ge..."
That is an awesome story Barbara; these things give me chills! I will check out the video! It reminds me of rescue animals who end up saving their people by alerting them to medical conditions or waking them when there's a fire. One day, we were walking with our lab and shih-tzu in Niagara Falls state park, which is huge. Despite having been there many times before, we managed to get lost after a long 2-hr walk. John said to trust Pike (the lab), so we did. Pike took us across this field in a diagonal, and I was beginning to wonder where we would end up - until I spotted our car! We hadn't gone that way ever, but somehow, he knew it was a shortcut back to the car! Amazing creatures!
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They are truly amazing. That's an awesome story of your own. They seem to know. I love dogs!
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http://www.biography.com/people/joy-a...
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Great questions Barbara and thanks for the wesbite link. I don't think I would want to study wild aninmals. I am too used to my "creature comforts" and often when I was reading this book and the Elephant Whisperer, I was thinking about the life of a conservationist. Even though I think what they do is admirable and I give them all the credit in the world, I know myself enough to know I probably wouldn't do well in those difficult environmental conditions; I am not one to react calmly to snakes, insects, etc. I'm also not sure how I feel about the return of tame animals. I felt so bad for Elsa in this book, because she was clearly torn between the two worlds. If they grow up used to humans and love their person, is it crueler to deprive them of that or to deny them their instincts and natural environment? I don't know the answer to that one, but its interesting to ponder. What are your thoughts?
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Interesting way to look at it. It maybe cruel to deprive them of their human, so to speak. I think if they return them to the wild after being so tame, they need to do it in a way that will protect them. Someone needs to teach them the ways of the wild so they aren't killed by other animals. Maybe it would be safer to put them in a closed in area where they can roam but not in cages.
I think it's best maybe not to take them from the wild in the first place.
Just finished the book, which I had expected to like more than I did.
Jennifer wrote: "Just finished the book, which I had expected to like more than I did."I know what you mean Jennifer - I felt the same way.
