What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a heartwarming film that uniquely explores the struggles of children in unfortunate circumstances, offering a deeper explanation as to what’s really going on beneath the surface of the lives of struggling young adults. After the demise of his father seven years prior, Gilbert became the sole provider for his dysfunctional family of five, leaving him little time or energy for himself. His mother has given up on life, his brother has a severe mental disability, and his two sisters do little to help the situation. The film examines the toxicity of the overwhelming responsibility that not only Gilbert, but many minors face through the use of contradictory events and realistic character dynamics. These two plot devices show the inevitable chaos of juggling so many responsibilities at such a young age. Several events in this movie show how Gilbert’s outlook on life transforms from a self deprecating, pessimistic one to an optimistic, hopeful one. Firstly, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape involves two major scenes between Betty Carver and Gilbert. Both times, Gilbert delivers Betty’s …show more content…
The first scene went smoothly. Gilbert gave Arnie a bath, needing to aid him nearly every step of the way. The second, however, did not go as smoothly. In an attempt to fit Becky onto the list of people Gilbert cares for, he stretches his time out unwisely and ends up putting Arnie in danger. Gilbert foolishly leaves Arnie alone to bathe himself so he can spend the night with Becky. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds that his autistic brother has spent the night in the ever-cooling bath water. This shows that Gilbert has never made time for himself before, that he’s never tried before. It also shows how much care Arnie really needs. A teenager isn’t supposed to be taking care of a low-functioning autistic child 24/7. It isn’t fair to Arnie or
Gilbert Grape is the eldest child. He takes on the role of being the head of the family by working a full-time job at the town’s mini-grocery store providing for his siblings, special care for his disabled brother Arnie and homebound mother. Amy Grape is the second eldest and takes on the motherly role in the household while becoming their
The father, Guy struggled for work he wanted his son Little Guy to work as well but his mom Lili wouldn't allow it. This family was not well off, “The rattling door of his tiny shack. His wife, Lili, was squatting in the middle of their one room home, spreading cornmeal mush on banana leaves for supper.” (Pg.45) This quote represents how poor and desperate this family is, they have fallen to eating off banana leaves in a one room shack. Guy begins to really be affected by the family's lack of money and poor living conditions, “ I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up in the air. I’d sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. I’d build my own house, keep my own garden. Just be something new” (Pg.61) Guy has become so desperate he wants to run away from everything. Later on Lili was out for her morning water run when, “On her way back, the sun had already melted a few gray clouds. She found the boy standing alone in the yard with a terrified expression on his face, the old withered mushrooms uprooted at his feet. He ran up to meet her” (Pg.63) At this point in the story, after all of Guys reactions and things he has said begin to unfold,”’It’s Papa,’ he said finally, raising a stiff finger in the air. The boy covered his face as his mother looked up at the sky. A
Themes of hope, success, and wealth overpower The Great Gatsby, leaving the reader with a new way to look at the roaring twenties, showing that not everything was good in this era. F. Scott Fitzgerald creates the characters in this book to live and recreate past memories and relationships. This was evident with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, Tom and Daisy’s struggling marriage, and Gatsby expecting so much of Daisy and wanting her to be the person she once was. The theme of this novel is to acknowledge the past, but do not recreate and live in the past because then you will not be living in the present, taking advantage of new opportunities.
“Don’t Blame the Eater” is an article by David Zinczenko that explains to Americans, specifically overweight young Americans, about the risks eating at fast food restaurants and its cause of affecting one’s health. In his article, he tries to address the issue about America’s food industries by using literal devices such as tone, logos, ethos, diction, and organization in order to spread his message. He begins his article by addressing the topic and as he continues writing, he supports his topic by writing about personal experience and moves onto the reasons why his topic in a serious issue. Although he shows an overall clear progress, he does tend to have a few problems with his writing that could be improved.
In the film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1993, one of the main ideas is that of struggle and hardship. This idea is significant to the film because it relates to each character in a different way, making the storyline more interesting. Three different techniques used by Lasse Hallstrom to illustrate the idea of struggle and hardship include Gilberts voice over, the extra close-ups of Bonnie as she climbs the stairs and the double up of dialogue, where Mrs Carver is talking to Gilbert, and Mr Carver is heard tying to entertain their children in background.
Generally, after watching the movie I can say that Gilbert is at the fifth stage identity versus identity confusion. Erikson as (cited in Newman & Newman 2012), states “A person’s assessment of the importance of certain content areas in relation to others influences the use of resources, the direction of certain decisions, and the kinds of experiences that may be perceived as most personally rewarding or threatening” (PP. 413). Therefore, during adolescence years, individual are challenged in finding out who they are, what they are all about, and where they see themselves in the future. Moreover, struggling to support his dysfunctional family, Gilbert finds it hard to find his personal identity. Because of the pressure of supporting his family and watching over Arnie, Gilbert lacks a social life. When Gilbert tries to have a social life something negative always happens to Arnie. For example, when Gilbert begins to talk to Becky, Arnie once ...
Nothing much ever happens in Endora, Iowa. The Grape family is one of several that inhabit this town. Gilbert is the eldest brother of 4 children, of whom all but one, still live at home with their Momma. Arnie is 6 days away from being 18 years old. Doctors told the family that they would be lucky if he could live until the age of 10. The movie begins with Arnie and Gilbert watching the trailers pass by, an annual tradition before Arnie’s birthday. After the trailers have all come and gone, they go into town and head to Gilbert’s work. Shortly after arriving, he is called out for a delivery to Mrs. Carver’s. He leaves Arnie alone in the truck, when he exits the home, Gilbert realizes that Arnie is missing. At that same time, the sheriff goes flying by; it can only mean one thing. Upon driving into the middle of town, it is then that Gilbert sees Arnie. He has once again climbed up the water tower. It is at this time you see the true connection between Gilbert and his brother Arnie. As Arnie continues to climb higher, his brother takes the loud speaker and begins singing to him. He is able to coax him down through song, assuring the sheriff it won’t happen again, he is able to then take him home. Being the main caretaker for his brother, Gilbert is responsible for bathing and getting Arnie ready for bed.
Overall the movie illustrated that having to care for someone suffering with a mental illness is no easy job and it will bring in many other issues as well. No matter the social, psychological and social impact that a chronic illness can have on a family, ______________. Through nursing interventions, action can be taken to address priorities to decrease caregiver burden and to strengthen roles and alliances within a family. Interventions such as communication, commendations and positive encouragement can create a more positive environment for the family. Throughout the movie Gilbert proved that he was willing to sacrifice his self-independence in return for the good of Arnie and his family.
The film takes place in the small town not filled with much but the local businesses and towns people. The film focuses on an interesting relationship between two brothers, Gilbert and Arnie Grape. Gilbert is a hardworking kid taking care of his mentally challenged brother, Arnie, who can be a handful at times. The boys live in a rundown house
As Jeannette gets older she realizes that her parents differences are not something to be proud of. She comes to this conclusion at first when she is in the hospital after getting severe burns from her mother letting her cook hot dogs at the age of three. She realizes that it is not right for a parent to let their three year old to be cooking. Another example of when she realized that is when she had to eat food from a garbage can at school while all the others had brought food from home. She decided to hide her shame by eating the food from the garbage can inside the girls washroom. As Jeannette gets older she changes a little bit more by her perspective of things when she meets Billy. Billy is a juvenile delinquent that also has a father for a drunk. When Billy laughs at his own father when he was sleeping from drinking so much the night before, Jeannette argues with him saying that no one should make fun of their own father. Billy
Gilbert loves his mom, but she’s too much for him. Since Gilbert is the man of the house it’s up to him to take care of his family, which is a lot of pressure. At one point in the film Gilbert says, “I wanna be a good person.” This quote shows how much pressure Gilbert puts on himself to be a good person for his family. Gilbert’s family relies on him for so much and Gilbert does all he can to provide do to provide everything they want. All of the pressure of being relied on is a lot and starts to show up in his
In the film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, Arnie Grape, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is practically raised and watched by older brother Gilbert. Gilbert takes
that a discontented individual is often unable to take ownership of his life until he realizes that he must set a good example for his children. Walter is a protagonist who seems to only care about himself. He is really dependent on his mama's huge insurance check. Walter wants his mama's check so he and Willy Harris can open up a bar. This character continues to go down the wrong path until something tragic happens.
Gilbert Grape or the protagonist in the movie, is a young man who works in a grocery store to provide for his family and attempts to be the main caretaker of his 17 years old handicapped brother Arnie. The movie begins with Gilbert, standing with his autistic brother Arnie, while they look at the people who are camping by their caravans in the town. One of the campers’ lorry breaks down and a girl named Becky is stuck in the town with her grandmother. Grape’s family consists of a mother, which suffers from depression, was one of the prettiest women in the town. But when her husband committed suicide, she lets herself go and turns into the most obese person. Gilbert has two sisters, Amy is the oldest girl who undertakes the motherly role in the family by cooking for the rest of the family and Ellen is the youngest girl who suffers from self-admiration.
The Grapes are a family living in a rural and economically depressed community. The members of the Grape family presently residing in the familial home consists of biological birth mother Bonnie Grape, who is unemployed and 54 years of age. Amy Grape, the eldest child, Unemployed and currently 34 years of age. Gilbert Grape, the eldest male sibling who is employed at a local grocery store and is currently 24, years of age. Arnie Grape is Gilbert’s younger brother and is presently turning 18 years of age. Arnie reaching his 18th birthday is considered to be somewhat of a triumph by the Grape family, as Arnie suffers from a debilitating medical condition that has not only kept him from achieving age appropriate developmental milestones but also threatens to shorten his life expectancy considerably. The youngest sibling Ellen Grape is currently employed at a local ice cream parlor and is 16 years of age.