First Post: Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Choice #9: Dramatic Moment: Choose a significant moment in the novel/film and explore its importance.
Movie: Forrest Gump
In my opinion the most significant moment in Forrest Gump is when Forrest gets drafted to the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War creates the foundation of the whole movie, the next major events starts from this one event. He meets Bubba in which he shared his passion for catching shrimp and his desire to open a shrimp business and have his own boat to go shrimp fishing, being Forrest he agrees to everything and crosses his heart to join Bubba in pursuing his dream after the Vietnam War is all over. Although this hope that the war will soon be over, whilst the squad was trecking through Vietnam marsh they encounter an ambush where many of the squad members were shot. Forrest being the only survivor, rushes back into the jungle in search of many of the fallen soldiers, he rescues many and finds his best friend Bubba, last. Although Forrest brings him to safety, Bubba suffers a gunshot to the stomach and dies in Forrest's arms. Later on in the movie after the Vietnam war is over Forrest buys a boat and names it after his love, Jenny. Together with his Co-Sailor Lieutenant Dan they both venture into the wild seas in search of hardcore shrimp fishing, so despite Bubba's death, Forrest carries out his promise. The images brought back from fighting in war can be traumatizing, and Forrest coped with this by playing ping pong, he "even played ping-pong when he had no-one to play ping-pong with"- Forrest Gump. Ping-pong became more of a passion, then being a distraction and he learnt to play the game so well that he was world renowned for his talent. Forrest is then discharged from the military, taking money from a ping-pong endorsement and uses that to open the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Forrest's long lost true love, Jenny, after having seperated with Forrest, has her life on the edge of destruction becoming addicted to heroin and considering suicide but decides against in at the last second. Jenny then becomes a part of a hippie "Anti-vietnam War" crew. After Forrest returns from the war, along with his other fellow soldiers, they attend a public speaking in which Jenny is speaking about her beliefs. Forrest spots Jenny and a dramatic meet of the couple occurs and the crowd goes wild, this is the start of the reunited couple once again.
Book: Elijah Of Buxton, By Christopher Paul Curtis
An important moment from this book is when Elijah is reffered to as Fra-gile by his mom. This all comes from when The Right Reverend Zephariah W. Connelly, the Preacher (AKA The Preacher) comes into the book with a rather foolish entrance. Whilst Elijah and Cooter were checking out mysterious tracks that traced into Cooters backyard, The Preacher helps investigate and comes up with a horrifying story to Elijah as to what these tracks could be coming from. The Preacher explains that these tracks are typically left by Hoop Snakes, who's bite can be so venomous that it can kill full grown human being with just one bite that leaves them swelling up until they explode. Elijah comes running down the road screaming and horrified as to what he just heard. He meets him mom right in front of his house gate and after explaining why he was screaming at the top of his lungs, his mom scolds him for being Fra-gile and that no other kids his age would react the same way Elijah did to an obviously fake story. His mother tells him that he needs to learn how to grow up, because "Life's gunn be a tough row to hoe for you if you don't learn you caint be believing verything folks tell you, not even growned folks" (Page 28). From this point on the reader (me) follows him on his journey to complete tasks that require a mature mindset, he changes the way he thinks in order to cope with these problems that he faces.
