Big Question with respect to Water For Elephants

This novel had many, many characters that each had a different answer to my big question. I will discuss the novel's protagonist, Jacob Jankowski. This novel is set up in an interesting way: a flashback format from a nursing home with 93 year old Jacob to his travels with the Benzini Brothers circus. But no matter what his situation, Jacob never stops short of seeking the truth in every situation. The novel begins with Jankowski fighting a neighboring man in his nursing home about the truth in carrying water for the elephants in a circus. Whether fighting about trivial things such as this or risking his life for Rosie the elephant and Marlena, his love, Jankowski is one of the truest characters to himself that I have ever read in any novel. He is the epitomy of moral righteousness and never, to my knowledge, did what was most physically convenient to get out of a situation.