Gilbert Grape Analysis: Family Dynamics

Jim suggests to his own father to stand up to his wife and not allow her to bully over him. Jim is disgusted by his father’s subjection to his wife and in this state, Jim’s father cannot give his son advise on how to make a decision based honor or stand up and be a man.

In the novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges, Gilbert Grape is a 24 year old kid who wishes to escape his life in the tired town of Endora, Iowa. Gilbert has been stuck with the responsibility of taking care of his mentally disabled little brother, Arnie, as well as provide for the rest of his family. His mother, who is unbelievably obese as well as a widow, hasn’t left the house in several years, let alone the couch which is about cave beneath her weight. Gilbert’s has an older brother who left the house and two younger sisters who don’t have a care in the world. He is the lover to a married woman who is a mother of two. When a new girl comes to town, Gilbert develops a crush, and then continues to go back and forth about his

Gilbert Grape from the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape has many responsibilities that were “eating” him. His stressful home life was what was “eating” him. Gilbert was pretty much the head of the house since his father committed suicide, and his mother was housebound due to her being morbidly obese. He had many hardships get in his way of living a “normal life,” such as having to take care of his brother Arnie, who always managed to get into mischief because he was mentally impaired. Gilbert also had to work at a grocery store since his mother wasn’t physically able to work. Gilbert had no time for himself because he was constantly taking care of everyone else around him that needed help. People’s perception of his family also bothered him.

Becky becomes involved with the Grape family and helps Gilbert to realize that he is entitled to his own life, wants and needs. Gilbert Grape will be the focus of this paper and what can be done to implement changes in his life. These changes will benefit Gilbert and the entire Grape family, by focusing on a strengths prospective.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a film focused on Gilbert Grape, a young adult who lives in the small town of Endora, Iowa. Gilbert, a son and a brother, lives in a family of five in a small run-down house built by his father. His mother, Bonnie, has grown morbidly obese after the suicide of her husband 7 years ago and she has not stepped out of the house since. Since his mother lacks the ability to physically move around, Gilbert is left with the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother Arnie, who is mentally retarded, and his two sisters Amy and Ellen. While Gilbert works at a small grocery store to support his dysfunctional family, he leads an empty life. He holds a love affair with Betty Carver, a woman twice his age whom he

Jake and Kelly the targeted patient’s parents both grew up in small rural towns. They met in college, and have been married for last 19 years. Kelly stated her parents were hard working famers, who didn’t have time to see her participate in cheerleading. Jake describe his family as being controlling and as an adolescence felt he was a weakling and not athletics. Jake and Kelly have two children the targeted patient Ben who was adopted at a young age and a daughter Sam.

This analysis will provide an in-depth look into Dean and Cindy’s troubled relationship and how it was perhaps destined to fail and be unsatisfactory from the beginning. Since they married young because of the pregnancy, they did not have a chance to fully engage with each other. While all three components of Sternberg’s Triangular theory were present, they weaned quickly. Their verbal communication was not the most effective and later on was one of the major breaking points of their relationship.

Gilbert then hits Arney in the face multiple times.(What's Eating Gilbert Grape) This is a demonstration of incompetent communication. Gilbert is not using self monitoring, which is “Paying close attention to one's behavior, and using these observations to shape the way one behaves.” (Adler & Proctor, 26) Gilbert doesn't change is behavior towards Arney when he realizes that Arney isn't understanding. He gets frustrated and loses his temper which doesn't achieve what Gilbert wants and it hurts their relationship.

In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck family plays a big part in the book. To the Joads their family is survival. Without each other, they wouldn’t be able to cope with the loose of land or their journey to California. Family is the single most important weapon that the Joads have against the cold, ruthless world around. The Joads learn that they work much stronger and safer when the engage with other migrant families and create a sense of security, shelter, and community.

When a family is put in tough situations, it is natural to want to escape from it all. As a man surrounded by things that seem beyond his control, the main character of the film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, shows the psychological emotional detachment that can occur when the realization of such an escape is impossible. Gilbert Grape is a man often thinking carefully about his situation and making an effort to filter his feelings. His family life is depressing, and his emotional response to his living arrangement is an overall rejection of everything around him. Gilbert often shows contempt for his family by having cynical thoughts of them whenever he speaks inwardly about them in his mind. Gilbert appears to be on autopilot through life, only speaking enough to keep things peaceful with friends and the people of Endora. Gilbert has a general lack of interest in most relationships outside of his family, and often turns a blind eye towards the town of Endora as a whole. His severance extends even to himself, as he is not emotionally honest with himself. As the film progresses, Gilbert's emotional state begins to readjust as he comes back into contact with his feelings. The emotional detachment is extreme for Gilbert, and Johnny Depp does an excellent job at depicting the psychological effects of a broken home and the difficulty one faces in overcoming it.

F. Scott Fitzgerald stated, “There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.” Although this is true, and there are as many types of love as people who experience them, there are key elements needed in creating the “true love” each of us strives to possess. Psychologist Robert J. Sternberg explains these vital components in his Triangular Theory of Love. According to his theory, love is comprised of intimacy, commitment, and passion. Different types of love are the result of the various combinations of these elements. His metaphorical theory helps to define and explain the theme of various types of love presented in Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, and Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.

The movie utilized for this assignment was What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. This movie explored the life of the Grape family consisting of Gilbert, Ellen, Arnie, Bonnie and Amy. (Hallström, Blomquist, Matalon, Ohlsson, Teper 1993). The movie reveals the struggles that the family face while raising Arnie who had a chronic mental illness (Hallström et al., 1993). This paper will discuss the priority concerns and corresponding interventions that are pertinent for the Grape family based on thorough use of the Calgary family assessment model. The focus of this papers assessment on the family will be on the functional aspect; however the structural and developmental aspects have been assessed.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a motion picture drama that follows the life of the Grape family in the small, lackluster town of Endora (Hallstrom, 1993). Gilbert Grape, played by a young Johnny Depp, is the film’s predominant character and apparent man of the family after his father’s death. Throughout the movie, Gilbert narrates his thoughts as he attempts to navigate his familial responsibilities, his work, and his personal life. Gilbert struggles to take care of Bonnie, his morbidly obese mother, his new love interest, Becky, and his autistic brother, Arnie. Arnie is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and for the purpose of this assignment, will be the focus of this analysis.

The film, Precious, is a powerfully charged story that delves into the family dynamics of a 16-year-old girl and her struggles to survive an onslaught of treacherous experiences. Throughout the film, the viewer is enveloped in a dramatic web of extreme situations, experienced by the main character, and those to whom she is close. The themes of domestic violence, rape, incest, drug addiction, gambling, poverty, social justice, social services, housing and education are laced together throughout the story. Particularly poignant attention is paid to various systems that help shape the experiences of the characters. The social services industry, and its associated workers, educators and administrators, set the foundation for the social themes that are highlighted by this film.

I have done this according to the characters and their fallacies in order which I thought were present in the movie. However, there is a possibility that I would not have covered them all. According to the internet encyclopedia of philosophy A fallacy is error in reasoning. Fallacies may be created unintentionally, or they may be created intentionally in order to deceive other people. Juror-1 FOREMAN