Favorite Book Project

Analysis of Forrest Gump

Analysis of Forrest Gump
Denise M. Augenstein
07/30/10

This movie is a depiction of a man’s life from childhood through and adulthood. Spanning the 50’s through the 80’s it is about the challenges this person confronts having a low IQ. Forrest Gump was raised in Greenbow Alabama, as a child his mother instilled in him that he was no different than anyone else and should not think of himself that way. It seems to be one of the reasons that Forrest grows up with a very strong personality. As Forrest grows he meets a little girl named Jenny and is immediately taken with her because she talked to him as if he were a normal child.

In the movie it is stated that Forrest has a tested IQ of 75 which makes learning and some tasks difficult. Forrest has a set of braces on his legs to help straighten his back, and endures ridicule from children and adults because of them. There is a scene in the movie where Forrest shows Elvis Pressley how to do his famous hip shake. It is one of many where Forrest, without knowing, has an influence on famous person or situation. Another scene in the movie where Forrest is being chased by bullies on bicycles, Forrest breaks free of his braces, and runs away from them. All of the running Forrest does in this film is presented as a way for Forrest to get away from the things that are troubling him. After his braces fall off Forrest runs everywhere, it seems to be something that he loves and that he is good at. It seems to be what he does when times are rough for him or life has thrown him a tough curve.

As he approaches the end of his high school career, by sheer accident Forrest’s running pays off. He was running from some bullies (again) and managed to run onto a football field. Well there was a college football scout there that was impressed by his speed and Forrest gets a full scholarship to college. Again Forrest manages to find himself in a historic situation. Blacks are being allowed into the college and there are protests against this. When a black woman drops her book on the way into her class Forrest picks it up and hands it back. Wouldn’t you know it he landed on the TV news? Forrest does not understand what the big deal about this is because he was taught that everyone was the same regardless of what they look like. It was comic that one of his classmates said they were allowing “coons” in the school and he immediately told that student what his momma does when raccoons come onto their back porch. Forrest ran through 5 years of college and managed to obtain a degree! This after a grade school counselor told his mother that he wouldn’t be able to attend normal schooling due to his IQ. Through college Forrest still has a connection with Jenny. He begins to take a role of protector as far as Jenny is concerned, and physically beats up any man that attempts to hurt her. As far as his mother is concerned she isn’t shown as having much of a role in Forrest’s life during college.

At college graduation Forrest is approached by the US Army and subsequently enlists. This is where the movie relates to the Vietnam War and the lives of the soldiers. Forrest goes through basic training and meets his best friend Bubba. Bubba’s dream is to own and operate a shrimp boat. In all of the basic training scenes Bubba tells Forrest about shrimping and how many different ways you can prepare and eat shrimp. After basic training Forrest finds Jenny singing in an adult theatre, once again when she is grabbed by a male member of the audience, Forrest intervenes. He hasn’t see Jenny since he enlisted in the army and she is angry that he keeps trying to defend her. Jenny then gets ready to leave, and when he tells her he is being sent to Vietnam Jenny tells him not to be brave and just run if there is trouble. Forrest and Bubba are then deployed to Vietnam where they meet Lieutenant Dan. From here the movie depicts well what life was like for the soldiers, from what happened to their daily patrols to how they slept at night. It depicts their personal relationships with each other and even shows some of the equipment they used. During this period in the movie it is shown how Bubba and Forrest become closer friends. Later in the film Bubba is killed in an ambush, during this scene in the movie Forrest is shown saving most of his platoon just by running. Also in this scene Forrest saves Lieutenant Dan from dying on the battlefield. Earlier in this part of the movie Forrest points out that someone in Lt. Dan’s family has died in every war since the civil war. Lt. Dan is angry with Forrest at this point for robbing him of his fate. This part of the film really brings home what the soldiers had to deal with in a war time situation. It shows their emotions and interactions with each other while on patrol and during the high stress situation of being attacked.

After the war Forrest then is awarded a medal of honor, while in Washington DC he again finds Jenny. At this time in America there are protests and rallies happening against the war in Vietnam. After his ceremony he goes out site seeing and is mistakenly taken into a group of protestors going to an even to speak out against the war. Forrest is then whisked on to the stage where he makes a speech and then the power to his mic is turned off. He doesn’t realize it and keeps speaking at the end of his speech he says his name and out of the crowd runs Jenny.

This movie was a very great depiction of the events that were happening at that time. It is funny how Forrest seems to find his way into many famous events, and meets many famous people. Through most of this story Forrest is shown to be a strong man, and a lot smarter than he was depicted in the start of the film. I found it powerful that he is able to take tragic events and either run them off or talk about them and then stop. It’s like for him just the act of talking about it is enough to help him get through the hard times.

Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources
Denise M. Augenstein
07/25/10

My first source for my paper was found on the JSTOR website. I was very limited on my search topics and there was almost nothing I could use in the article I found. Since it was the only article on the subject here I evaluated it. The author of the article is Deborah Hooker; she is a published author of short stories and novels. She has also written for “The Southern Journal”. This information was obtained on muse.jhu.edu which is the muse journal website. The article was published in 2006 and had several pages of references for its content. I also looked up one of the sources and did not have difficulty finding it on the web. I did not use this article in my paper as I had found two excellent books on the topic I wished to study prior to the citation requirements being changed.

The web source I used to define the terms cults and brainwashing were found on Wikipedia. While I understand that this website is made up of anonymous authors and anyone can change the content of the pages I trusted what I found. These particular search terms were similarly defined on other websites and on the Wiki site they were write protected as they are both delicate subjects. This site is constantly updated and both terms had more than 30 references behind them.

www.//www.jstor.org.proxy.yc.edu
www.wikipeida.org

Topic Proposal for Essay 3

How some people are more susceptible to the power of suggestion and brainwashing when placed in a cult environment and others are not?

The topic I would like to research for Atwood’s book is brainwashing and cults. I have always found it fascinating the power of suggestion and the human mind. This topic will help me understand how some women in the Red Center were easily trained into what the Aunt’s were teaching and how others were not so easily broken.

I will be researching modern day cults and some of the brainwashing techniques that have occurred in WWII. I have never understood how people can go from being raised with one set of values and then be turned 180 to another set. Some of the cults and brainwashing experiments I have heard of can produce some scary results. Much like Ofred in this story, she was a grown woman with a family. She was placed in a cult when the government drastically changed and over time began to behave much differently than she would have in her other life. I think that researching this topic will help me understand Ofred and her situation in this story better.

Literary analysis of Stephen King’s book The Stand.

In his novel The Stand, Stephen King tells a tale of good versus evil. He also explores what would happen to government and society should a major disaster occur and kill the majority of the human population.
To begin since this book is a work of fiction I will give a small summary of the story and why I chose to explore one of the themes it contains. California, in a military research facility containment of a deadly virus fails. One man that was working at the facility manages to escape the military base where this facility was located and then consequently spread the virus to a few other people. It then spreads like wildfire throughout the country in a matter of weeks killing millions. It is not mentioned in the book how many survivors there are but to give you an idea the story tells of only 4 – 5 people alive in New York City, this includes one of the main characters. At this point in the story it splits into several separate lives of the main characters, their trials through the plague, and how they eventually come together. The story then goes on to tell how governments are reformed and how one society is essentially good and the other evil. It includes religion to a point whereas one leader is a believer in god, and the other is essentially the devil. Some of the characters are also sent on a religious quest. The story then tells how each “leader” comes to the survivors in their dreams and calls to them based on their nature not religious beliefs. In the end the two societies believe the other society is plotting against the other. Of course because it is a story good wins over evil and the people of the remaining society begin to leave. They go on to start their own lives or societies post plague.
One of the themes in this book King was trying to convey is that society would regroup and move forward after a major disaster. He tells a story of how it could happen and some of the issues that may come to light while we as humans recover our way of life.
There is a character in the book which King speaks his ideas about the survival of the human race through. His name is Glen Bateman; he is an assistant sociology professor at a community college at the time of the plague. In the story Bateman meets up with Stu Redman and they discuss the human race and what will happen now that the survivors of the plague are spread throughout the country. He discusses how the human race may not survive this disaster because of so many unknowns. He postulates that babies conceived after the plague may not survive once born due to the virus still being active, or if they do survive most may die after birth because of minor illness that can be cure with modern technology but that is now useless.
He also brings up the point that with no medical care readily available many survivors will die from illness or injury that is currently treatable and preventable. There is also the matter of weaponry and other dangerous items that are now lying around unprotected for people to tamper with and possibly injure themselves or others. The book then tells several short stories of people who die of preventable or treatable illness. One man has a heart attack and dies on the sidewalk because there was no one around to call for help, another is the story of a boy who falls and breaks his leg. He starves to death. Yet another is the story of a woman who gets a cut on her foot and dies of the infection that she gets from the cut.
“Man is a gregarious social animal, and eventually we’ll get back together, if only so we can tell each other stories about how we survived the great plague of 1990.” This is one of Bateman’s statements in the book on why he believes we will seek each other out. It makes me chuckle to read this because he is right. How often do we call our friends and tell them everything exciting that just happened? I know I do it all of the time! History also shows us this fact, humans overtime have come together to form tribes than later cities, counties, and finally countries. We have improved transportation so we can move within our land toward each other faster. In the book a lot of the characters have to walk to travel until they find other modes of transportation, you really get a feel of the length of time it takes a person to get from one place to another. It makes you appreciate being to just be able to get in your car and drive.
Bateman then explores the idea of what sort of governments may come out of the survivors of the plague. He says “Most of the societies that form are apt to be primitive dictatorships run by little Cesar’s unless we are very lucky.” He could be right, I think of how often I hear people say if I was in charge it would be different. With as many views of the world that could be out there after a disaster like this many societies could be run outrageously and not by the government people are used to. The story brings up a good point that most of the survivors will be scared and sick, if one strong person stands up they will follow. Especially if that person starts making promises. This idea then goes back to all of the military weapons that are now just lying around, should one society have a survivor that has training with these weapons it could take what it wanted from others by force. The idea also surfaces that should two societies get people that have weapons training but only one gets a person who knows how to turn the electricity back on that could lead to the destruction of both societies. At this point the characters are starting to form small groups, and are being lead to a place in Nebraska.
After most of the “good” characters come together in Nebraska, they then travel to Boulder, Colorado to begin to rebuild society. This is the part of the book where the author brings a form of government into play and all of the parts the characters must contribute to make it work. The story tells of how many people are starting to come together and how little things are starting to happen. Like kids driving cars, and drunks going around breaking things. It speculates on what may happen, like jealousies or fighting over property leading to murder. At this point Bateman is a very important character in the book because he basically lines out what need to happen for the people that are coming together to survive. He suggests a reinstatement of America and its laws. They then elect a board to reinstate laws and appoint people to start putting this society in order. These people include law enforcement, medical, burial services, power, water and gas services and finally fire services. While these ideas may seem easy to achieve currently the story does a very good job of telling how in a post disaster society it is difficult. The difficulties arise from lack of people with experience in these areas and lack of resources in the area. All of this part of the book makes you see how it could be very difficult to bring everything back together. For most of the book the people of Boulder have to rely on a veterinarian and a retired nurse for medical care because that was the closest thing they could get.
The story also tells a lot about what is happening with the “evil” people. This society settles in Las Vegas, which to me has an underlying meaning all by itself. These survivors were all called together in the same fashion as the good people by subconscious. The Las Vegas people have power and military weapons at their disposal far sooner than the Boulder people. It supports Bateman’s idea that one society will get people with certain knowledge and the other population won’t. While telling the tale of the other society King also supports the idea of to completely different governments forming post plague. This society is run by one person; he makes all of the laws and decides all of the punishment. Punishment in this society is severe and there is no judge and jury. People breaking his laws are punished in ways that make them examples to everyone else in this place. One punishment tells of the crucifixion of a man who was making drugs, his cross was placed in the middle of Las Vegas. The person that runs this society is also the man that called these people together, he is the “evil” man or representative of the devil throughout this story.
Finally the story explores that because human nature is somewhat curious and anxious we will go to the “other” side to see what is happening. We do this as a matter of strategy and reassurance. Spies are sent to the evil side to report on what progress has been made and if they are planning to make an attack on the good side of things. One of the spies is hypnotized so that if captured he will not tell any secrets to them. Out of all three spies only one survives the other two die in service to their society. The story then brings religion into the mix. The woman that was responsible for bringing the “good” society together then picks 5 men that God has chosen to go west and destroy the prince of darkness. “God didn’t bring you together to make a committee or a community. He brought you here only to send you further, on a quest. He means for you to try and destroy this Dark Prince, the Man of the Far Leagues.” This is said by the religious figure in the book who is also the representative of the “good”. Up until now you forget that in a post disaster society religion may rise up and take control. This also could be a good and/or dangerous thing once again because of the person that interprets God’s will.
This is a great book with many themes; I’ve just gone over one here. Of course because it is a novel by Stephen King there is a very big supernatural element to it. Go figure.


Works Cited
King, Stephen. The Stand. New American Library, 1991.

Thesis Blog

Thesis Statement Blog
Denise M. Augenstein
07/09/10

Weak thesis statements:

1. I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species.

This is a weak statement because it makes no claim.

2. The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.

This statement is weak because it is true and a statement of fact. It also restates conventional wisdom.

3. An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view.

This statement offers a personal conviction as the basis of the claim so it is a weak statement.

4. Othello is a play about love and jealousy.

This thesis statement makes an overly broad claim.

5. The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the feelings of individuals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat’s songs are meaningful to me because I can identify with them.

This thesis statement is weak because it offers personal conviction as the basis for the claim, and it makes an overly broad claim.




My Thesis Statement:

The scratched writing in Offred’s room was important because it offered her a distraction. Offred spent the majority of her time alone without human contact. The writing allowed her to escape solitude by imagining what the person looked like, how they got away from the house, and what the meaning of the writing was.

This is a strong thesis statement because someone else could argue the reasons Offred found the writing was important. It is specific in that it is often mentioned in this story by Offred and how she wondered about the girl that wrote it and tries to imagine her physical appearance. She also tries to puzzle out what language it is written in. All of these things are contained in the story up to this point.

Mid Session Letter

Ms. Darrow,
So here it is the middle of summer semester! It’s going by so fast! I am writing to you to update you on my progress so far and the goals I hope to achieve by the end of this class.
The first part of the class I did kind of struggle with because I’m not a poetry reader. Unless it grabs my attention right away I usually struggle to get through the material and don’t retain much of it. However, I did find two of the poems interesting which helped.
The next book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien was tales of soldiers from the Vietnam War. I do admit so far this was my biggest challenge for a few reasons. I’m not a fan of war stories so reading the stories and becoming engaged was tough. Then on top of the reading for this class I was studying for my recertification for my job. So while trying to read and retain this material I was also reading medical books to study for those tests. Let’s just say thank goodness my recertification classes are over!
The readings in this class have affected my positively and negatively. On the positive side I have found a new author I may continue to read. The book by Margaret Atwood has been a page turner! I haven’t been able to put it down yet and will probably reread it a few times. It was not a story I was expecting to read just judging by the title. I also would like to finish the book by Tim O’Brien just so I can tie all of the stories together. I feel like I’m missing some pieces of the puzzle to that book and that is making me curious about the other stories. On the negative side I’m still not a big fan of poetry and must admit that I did not retain much information from the start of this class. Although I did give it a try I don’t think it will be anything that I will be able to read.
Finally I hope to improve my writing skills and use of grammar. Judging by the grade I received on the grammar assignment this is an area I need to work in. Papers have never been easy for me to write and it usually takes a couple of days for me to put them together.
Sincerely,
Denise M. Augenstein