![]() He crashlands in New Guinea, spends four years playing chess with a Yale-educated cannibal, then is rescued and taken to a crude caricature of President Nixon for congratulations: ""I am your commander-in-chief. The authorities give him a choice: he can have permanent hospitalization as a dangerous moron, or he can take his computer brain on a secret NASA space flight (""Look,"" I tell him, ""I am just a idiot""). ![]() After a publicity tour which takes him as far as China, he leaves the Army and goes through a hippy/protest phase (the freaks think he's, yuk-yuk, far out) but gets busted when he throws his Medal over the White House fence during a demonstration. Before they can exploit him, however, he flunks out, gets drafted and sent to Vietnam, and wins the Congressional Medal of Honor, mainly because he's too dumb to be afraid. His teachers there discover he's an idiot savant-he can't pass Gym 101, but he knows the theory of relativity like nobody's business. After surviving a poor-white-trash childhood that would've destroyed better men (such as, say, Benjy), Gump is plucked from obscurity by Coach Bear Bryant and taken to play football at the University of Alabama. My IQ is 61, which qualifies me, so they say."" And off we go, Gump starring as a self-consciously literary half-wit (he's a fan of Lennie and Boo Radley) while Groom makes Statements about America. The narrator is Gump himself, of Mobile, Alabama, 6'6"", 242 pounds, and all idiot: ""I've been a idiot since I was born. For anyone who wants to study up on struggles of learning disabled people and chasing love, this could be an interesting read.The usually reliable Groom (Better Times Than These, Conversations with the Enemy) turns as gawky and ham-handed as his hero-Forrest Gump, contemporary American idiot-in this stumbling, droopy-drawered attempt at a picaresque novel. The one loadstone in Forrest’s life is Jenny, his love interest, who keeps getting lost from him because of various circumstances, and yet he never gives up on her. The eponymous character’s circuitous journey through life as he faces prejudices like ableism and rises above people’s expectation is heartwarming. This episodic story about a mentally challenged protagonist’s peregrination through American history is a whimsical ride. But one person Forrest cares about most may be the most difficult to save - his childhood love, the sweet but troubled Jenny. ![]() Whether dominating on the gridiron as a college football star, fighting in Vietnam, or captaining a shrimp boat, Forrest inspires people with his childlike optimism. Slow-witted Forrest Gump has never thought of himself as disadvantaged, and thanks to his supportive mother, he leads anything but a restricted life. One day a big box of bananas fell down on my daddy and killed him.” When I was born, my Mom named me Forrest. I can think things OK, but when I have to say them or write them down, sometimes they come out all wrong. “I was born an idiot ─ but I’m cleverer than people think. Themes: History/ Love/ Friendship/ The Meaning of Life/ Purposefulness/ Warfare Genres: EnglishGradedReaders/ Fiction/ Humor/ Romance/ Drama/ Bildungsroman Forrest Gump - John Escott, Winston Groom (1986)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |