Forrest Gump Essay Example

is rather positive. He is very nice; although a little slow. Forrest as a child did not speak until nine minutes into the movie, telling me a lot about his personality and slight mental disorder. Experts suggest that Forrest Gump probably has pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) which explains why he did not talk for the first couple of scenes. The underlying point is that he developed a little slower than average, which is portrayed in the beginning by him not speaking. After seeing the entire movie my perspective on Forrest Gump changed quite a bit.

He has been able to overcome many obstacles in his life including but not limited to leg braces as a child, war, and several deaths of family member’s. I see Forrest as a genuinely nice guy. I believe he inherited good qualities from his mother. A good example of this would be his mother renting out rooms of her home to strangers passing through town. Forrest would go above and beyond to help anyone as this shows throughout the movie. This especially shows when he gave potions of his money from his shrimping business to several different people in need of help.

3.) Would you describe Forrest’s self-concept as positive or negative? Why? Give examples of comments his mother made to cause his self-concept to either be positive or negative.

I would describe Forrest’s self-concept as extremely positive; even though he has been bullied and made fun of his entire life. There are two scenes in which Forrest must get away from bullies that are chasing him. His mother always told him “Don’t ever let anybody tell

you they are better than you,” which throughout the movie was apparent in the way Forrest dealt with the people who thought they were better than him. When Forrest was a little boy, he had leg braces put on to help straighten his back. As he was running up his driveway; leg brace on both legs; three bullies on bicycles were chasing him and throwing rocks. As Forrest got to the middle of the drive way the leg braces disintegrated and he sprinted off into the woods unharmed. I believe this scene tells a lot of Forrest Gump’s will to overcome difficult obstacles in his life.

4.) In class, we have learned the language is subjective. Give two examples which Forrest’s interpretation/comprehension of language differed from that of others.

My first example would be when the school bus stopped to pick up Forrest for school. The bus driver asked if he was going to get on and he stated, “Momma said not to be taking rides from strangers.” In this example Forrest took the meaning literally and wouldn’t even get on the school bus. My second example would be Forrest playing football in College. He was told to run with the ball and he did just that. In fact he never stopped running. He was handed the ball on a kick-off return and ran it back for a touchdown. He then proceeded to keep running past the end-zone and into the entrance tunnel to the field. I believe this shows that Forrest will do what he’s told. I will not stop short or deviate from the path he is told to go.