What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ Essay Example
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ Essay Example

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (829 words)
  • Published: October 11, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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A personal crisis can be defined as 'a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger' in one's life. People in a situation of crisis need to find ways to overcome this period of their life, whether It Is a simple solution or a gradual process. In the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", Johnny Deep plays the character of Gilbert, who must take on the role of the father in his house after his own father hangs himself. For Gilbert, this is not an easy job, and between caring for his mentally disabled brother and morbidly obese, couch bound mother, he has no time left for himself.

Gilbert is not truly happy, and could be said to be in a personal crisis. The way that Gilbert copes with the situation he's In, and continues to be selfless a

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nd responsible for his family, can demonstrate many valuable life lessons to the viewer. One priceless life lesson that can be learnt from Gilbert Grape is that no matter what happens, your family are the most important people in your life. Gilbert loves his family with all his heart, and although he might not always say it, we can see it through his actions.

After the suicide of Mr. Grape, father to the four Grape children, and loving husband of Mrs. Grape, the whole Grape family were In a state of crisis. Gilbert had to put his own grieving aside to help the family to cope. He got a dead- end job at the local grocery store to support them, and looked after his younger brother Ernie, who needed constant supervision. This is hard for Gilbert, because instea

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of starting his own life and leaving his boring small country town, like other young men his age, he has to live the same tedious routine every day.

Although he test frustrated at times, he never gives up on them, like many people would. As the viewer we see Gilberts actions towards his family as admirable and Inspiring, which Indirectly teaches' us to want to behave In the way that he would. We are gaining useful knowledge and principles that we can apply to our own lives, by observing how Gilbert handles his own crisis. Another thing that Gilbert has taught us is that no matter how hard it gets, no matter what kind of crisis you are In, you must always try to be a good person. Being a good person was very important to Gilbert.

In a conversation with his friend and romantic interest Becky, she asks him what he wants, if he could have anything, and he simply replies with, to be a good person'. This demonstrates to the viewer a lot about his character and personality, and causes us to admire, and even look up to him, possibly as a role model. It is these types of characters in movies that teach us the most valuable lessons, because we want to be like them. Gilbert is always putting others first, which Is seen in his actions throughout the movie. One of the reasons that

Gilbert coped through his personal crisis was the fact that he always did what he thought was right, and in the end it bayed off. This teaches us, the viewers, that it is so important to always

stick to our values and morals, and to try to put others before ourselves, and in the end this is what will make us truly happy. Being selfless and taking responsibility for others Is very important sometimes in life, individuals also need to look out for themselves, and do things that make them happy occasionally. This is true especially when the person is going through a tough time.

As Gilbert has so much responsibility, he doesn't really end up having any time left over for the things that he wants to do. We see this in that he can't spend very long amounts of time with Becky, because his family relies on him so much, and need him home. Gilbert puts up with this because he wants what's best for his family, but we see that sometimes it stresses him out, to the point where he snaps. At one stage in the movie, when the great amounts of responsibility he has, especially for Ernie, is getting a bit too much for him, he cracks and ends up hitting Ernie, which he immediately regrets.

This proves that we can't always be thinking solely of others, we need a little personal space and time to ourselves to. The character of Gilbert Grape is going through a tough time in his life because of many reasons, but we see that through his actions and personality he handles the situation, and the movie finishes with a happy ending. This teachers the viewer many important lessons, and helps them gain useful knowledge and principles to apply to their own lives, whether they be in a crisis or not.

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