What's Eating Gilbert Grape Essay

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Whats eating Gilbert grape • What I have seen of Arnie so far leads me to believe that he has some type of low functioning autism based off of his behavior. It is Arnie’s behavior that I find to be quite fascinating. Arnie does have stereotypical behaviors like hand flapping and wanting to climb up high on different objects. I have also noticed that Arnie has no fear when it comes to heights and does not seem to understand that he is not supposed to do something. For example, when Arnie climbs up the water tower the citizens of the town say “Here we go again” like this is a normal occurrence. • At this second stop in the movie I still believe Arnie has a type of low functioning autism. However, this form of autism also prohibits Arnie from growing cognitively. In the movie they say that Arnie is going to be turning 18, but he seems …show more content…

Some of the things had to do with Arnie’s disability and others had to do with family structure. Speaking specifically about Arnie’s disability I did notice some behaviors throughout the film that were stereotypical. Arnie would frequently flap his hands, would obsess over people trying to find him when he would hide, and loved to climb tall things without fear. Arnie’s disability also seemed to prevent him from being socially appropriate. Arnie wouldn’t understand that it was rude or mean to say things like “dad is dead” “you’re not invited to my party!” Arnie also had a difficult time listening and comprehending direct instructions or orders. Arnie was told a few times not to touch the cake and not to climb the water tower, but he didn’t seem to listen. Arnie could repeat what he was told to do, but did not seem to comprehend what was asked of Arnie also seemed to have trouble regulating his emotions. One minute Arnie would be laughing because he killed the grasshopper the next he would be crying because he killed the

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