You can tell a lot about a person by their actions as well as their shoes. Theres not a drop of fraudulence, wickedness, or falsity in him, but unlike the nearly blank slate chauncey gardiner in being there, forrest has feelings, empathy, and a touch of wisdom. An analysis forrest gump follows a southern gentleman through his life of heroism, happiness, and loss. Characters from the novel forrest gump wiki fandom. Forrest gump by winston groom is a memoir of a halfwit in the 1960s70s whose life is not like a box of chocolates but is not at all humdrum. The endings of the film and the novel also differ considerably, the sour sweet. The novel also describes him as being a savant with extraordinary talent in numerical calculation as shown when he states the exact amount of time in years, months, days and hours that he spent running across the country. Hes a lover, a fighter, a football star, and a multimillionaire. I have read the book forrest gump and also watched the forrest gump movie version.
The title character retells adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships, to thinking about his childhood love, as he bumbles his way through american history, with everything from the vietnam war to college football becoming part of the story. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend jenny. His mama teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Why is the ending of forrest gump different from the novel. Whats the difference between forrest gump the book and forrest gump the movie. When forrest gump was in the army, his biggest priority was saving the lives of his friends. Forrest gump major character analysis supersummary. In other words, he just might be the perfect allamerican man. The director has created a touching and fascinating film, the main character of which was forrest gump, a naive humbug. One film that captures both your imagination and your heartstrings is the classic american film, forrest gump. Forrest gump forrest is the protagonist of the novel. Forrest is born and raised in rural alabama, in the southern united states.
Classic editor history talk 0 this page is for characters from the novel forrest gump. Forrest s childhood friend whom he immediately falls in love with and never stops loving throughout his life. It is the sequel to his novel forrest gump 1986, and the academy awardwinning film of the same name released in 1994, with tom hanks. Gump is portrayed as viewing the world simply and truthfully. Forrest is put down through out the story because people call him names such as idiot and retard, but that does not affect forrest. In the novel, forrest is shown to be somewhat cynical and abrasive, while in the film, he is more placid and naive. There is a joyously madcap feeling to the first half of this unusual novel, but then the absurdity gathers its own speed and begins to run dangerously amok. Famously known as the worst character ever, forrest gumps. Lieutenant dan believes in predetermined destiny, jenny spends her entire life trying to take control of her destiny, and forrest simply takes life one step at a time, believing that destiny is about the journey. He has an iq of about 70, making him, he figures, an imbecile or a moron rather than idiot. Although he wears a special walkhelping apparatus, he bec. The picture perfect man in the film forrest gump directed by robert zemeckis one of the most inspirational movie characters ever was born, forrest gump.
In the film, forrest is a philanthropist and a war veteran, businessman, and college football player who bears witness to various. Alright, lets go back a bit technically it really began in 1986 with a novel by. He loves what he does and puts all his heart in it. Oct 24, 2016 forrest gump is a special character in a special movie that rekindles for viewers what they love about the big screen by showing our capacity as human beings to love, cry, laugh, and share good times and bad with those friends and family as forrest does. It is not until forrest begins to speak to strangers while he is on the bench.
He is a simple minded man with simple dreams born in greenbow, alabama. Character adaptation the adaptation of forrest gump. As depicted in the movie, gump is not a smart man, with an iq of 75. We open with a shot of a feather blowing through the air and wafting gently down to land on forrest gump, who puts it in his suitcase while he sits on a busstop bench. The tom hanks satire would go on to win six oscars at the 67th academy awards, including best. Forrest gump in both movie and novel does not classify people after race, religion, politics or sex. Forrest gump essays winston groom forrest gump the story takes place in america in the 60s. Essay on forrest gump literary analysis 916 words cram. They crash in the jungle and are taken hostage by cannibals. In the movie version at the end of movie, jenny told forrest that she was suffering from hivaids virus then she proposes to him and he accepts but jenny died at the end of the movie. Parents need to know that although forrest gumps strong language st, fk, and more, violence including some bloodyexplosive vietnam war scenes and the implication of child abuse, and sexual situations foreplay, kissing, implied sex, and more make it questionable for young kids, its ultimately positive messages and entertaining take on three decades of american history make it a.
Forrest alexander gump is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1986 novel by winston groom, robert zemeckis s 1994 film of the same name, and gump and co. He announces straightaway that he is an idiot with an iq of 70. Robert zemeckis, the master of creating cult paintings, fascinated by the novel of winston groom, decided to remove the tape, the genre of which rather corresponds to the concept of a melodrama. The movie adaptation differs substantially from the book on.
He is able to beat master chess players because he can see the patterns on the board. Oct 03, 2016 why it took forrest gump author nearly 20 years to write a new novel after forrest gump became a bestseller, winston groom says he ran out of good ideas for novels until now. He can do nasalevel mathematical formulas because they make sense to specific. Im closer to bein imbecile or maybe even a moron, but id rather think of myself as a halfwit. Differences between forrest gump book vs movie page 1. Meaning he is telling the whole book through his point of view. As an adult, his iq is somewhere near 70, but in some areas he has savantlike intelligence. Forrest alexander gump is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1986 novel by winston groom, robert. Plot summary forrest gump is the story of an incredibly kind and gentle person who is also what some people might call mildly retarded. Tools of characterization characterization in forrest gump. Forrest gump, winston groom forrest gump is a 1986 novel by winston groom. This category is for characters from the forrest gump.
In 1981, forrest gump is sitting on a bench at a bus stop, and he has decided to tell his life story to a nurse who is sitting on the bench next to him. They says folks sposed to be kind to the afflicted, but it aint always that way. He started off going to a nut school then eventually was noticed as being quite physically fit by one of the local high school football coaches and he then went to a regular high school so he could play football he then ended up playing football for alabama university after he was finished with high school and. A woman plops down beside him, and he offers her a chocolate. Its not so much that the film is overly complicated or that reality is always in question or any art house tricks of that. Forrest picks up the feather and puts it inside a book. Everybody can become his friend, even an ape like sue.
It is not a perfect film like vertigo or citizen kane, but it is the movie that i will put on for background noise any time that i see it on air which seems like every day on tbs the film was released in the summer of 1994 and competed with films in the box office such as jurassic park which was in. The question and answer section for forrest gump is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel ask your own question. My daddy, he got kilt just after is born, he worked down to. He does not complete college within the movie there is also a lack of closure. Jenny is a broken bird from an abusive home life and became riddled with terrible choices in men sans forrest and drugs. This page is for characters from the novel forrest gump.
He does not know what he wants to do in life, but despite his low iq, he is made out to be full of wisdom. Any attempt to describe him will risk making the movie seem more conventional than it is, but let me try. Forrest is a kindhearted simpleton who doesnt have a mean bone in his body and grew up in a loving household. Its true that he is not too smart, but he is very fortunate, because he has a mother and friend who love him dearly. Forrest gump 1994 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. This study guide consists of approximately 75 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and. The novel tells the story of forrest gump, a man with an iq of 75, and his epic journey through life, meeting historical figures, influencing popular culture and experiencing firsthand historic events while largely unaware of their significance, due to his lower than average intelligence. Why it took forrest gump author nearly 20 years to write a new novel after forrest gump became a bestseller, winston groom says he ran out of good ideas for novels.
Depending on his low iq, forrest makes no demands on his friends, he likes them as they are. Forrest gump hanks is a somewhat retarded but goodhearted southern boy who grows up in greenbow, alabama. The book is written in an odd, colloquial style meant to mimic the phonetics of forrests southern accent and slow style of thinking. The second aspect of characterization to explore in forrest gump is the variations. Forrest is not portrayed as innocently within the book as the movie he continuously uses profanity, is mildly racist, and loses his virginity to a boarder at the gump house, not jenny which was in the movie. Forrest as a child is not popular among his schoolmates and everybody thinks he is an idiot. Forrest gump is the first person narrator of the novel.
Now, all these years later, ive found another book which i dont think is anywhere near its movie version. Tom hanks, robin wright, gary sinise, sally field, and mykelti williamson. Apart from jenny, the most important person in forrests life is his mother. Beginning with the main character, forrest gump tom hanks, sitting on a bench at a bus stop, nothing seems to become clear to the audience. Forrest gump is the story of an incredibly kind and gentle person who is also what some people might call mildly retarded. It was written to chronicle forrests life throughout the 1980s. Forrests childhood friend whom he immediately falls in love with and never stops loving throughout his life.
Forrest gump has an iq of about 70, but realizes that he is smarter than a lot of normal people. When under attack, forrest saved as many people as he could, including lt. To start off celluloid cinema, i have decided to write about my favorite film, forrest gump. Forrest gump is a 1986 magical realism novel by winston groom. The question and answer section for forrest gump is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. A victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of her bitterly widowed father, jenny embarks on a different path than forrest, leading a selfdestructive life and becoming part of the hippie movement in the 1960s and the 1970s1980s drug culture.
English film analysis forrest gump positive traits of characters forrest gump he is played by tom hanks. As a young boy, forrest wore leg braces because he had a curved spine and was unable to walk properly. Forrest gump grew up in alabama and had always been considered slow by his peers. Ive never met anyone like forrest gump in a movie before, and for that matter ive never seen a movie quite like forrest gump. Dec 07, 2017 forrest gump is a 1986 magical realism novel by winston groom. Why it took forrest gump author nearly 20 years to write. Forrest becomes and astronaut and goes to outer space. On july 6, 1994, paramount unveiled robert zemeckis forrest gump in theaters. Forrest gump vocabulary forrest gump novel and film. Anybody who watches forrest gump can relate to forrest and what he goes through. He grew up in a boarding house in alabama with his mother, who taught him to always believe in himself, in spite of his physical limitations.
Its not so much that the film is overly complicated or that reality is always in question or any art house tricks of that kind. Ever since i saw gump when i was a college student in the 1990s, ive considered it to be a modern classic, movie magic if you will. Entering the bus to the army in the movie, forrest is denied all empty seats. Thanks, we assume, to some promiscuous sex and unsafe needle use, she comes down with an unnamed virus thatwink wink, nudge nudgewe know perfectly well is aids. Character analysis of jenny in forrest gump free essays. Forrest gump follows a southern gentleman through his life of heroism, happiness, and loss. With a challenged childhood, gump is still able to push through the obstacles and negativity. Forrest alexander gump is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1986 novel by winston groom, robert zemeckiss 1994 film of the same name, and gump and co. He started off going to a nut school then eventually was noticed as being quite physically fit by one of the local high school football coaches and he then went to a regular high. Narrator and protagonist forrest gump describes his life as an idiot as not like a box of chocolates but also not at all humdrum. Why it took forrest gump author nearly 20 years to write a. Narrated by the title character, a southern man with a kind nature and an unspecified mental disability although his savantlike skills in some areas have led many readers and analyst. Forrest gump is a film that defies the conventions of filmmaking, and in that sense it is difficult to do a typical analysis of the film.
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