The Characterization Of Benjamin Braddock In The Graduate

Although The Braddock’s feel that what they are doing to there son is perfectly fine, they fail to see the damage they are causing. Sheltering Ben did not save him from the outside, it only created more problems that made him fearful, putting him in a state of confusion now that he is expected to live in the real

He initially had no interest at all in nature, but after some adjustments he changed his mind and gained a “relationship” with nature and, he even learned some survival skills along the way. In the beginning of the text, Ben preferred to be indoors making videos, or being a detective or even just watching television rather than being outside like his younger sister Olive. This meant that unlike his sister Ben did not develop any survival skills. This became a problem, when the Silver family were suddenly on the run from the cops and found themselves in a life or death situation. The novel mentions that, ‘wilderness was his enemy”. This was one way of showing that Ben did not like to be outside in nature. Eventually, Ben changes views and he now appreciates and enjoys being outdoors in nature. He even finds peace within the wilderness. The novels says Ben had “missed this placed”. This shows that he has changed tremendously. He has gone from Ben, the being indoors lover, to Ben the Nature loving boy. This was a significant change for the

As he ages, he decreases using the word go to describe his motion and starts using went. Benjy may seem dissociative, but when he separates himself further from the people around him, he is actually able to give an even more unbiased recollection of events because he is mostly repeating dialogue that those around him do not realize he remembers or understands. Benjy narrates events as he experiences and remembers them, without repressing anything because of his lack of mental filter (Priddy). Nothing is withheld from Benjy’s narration, in fact the reader receives more information because of his memories, allowing the readers to gain information from experience other than the

When he gets off the plane at the beginning of the movie, he is moving in the opposite direction of everyone else. This indicates the fact that Ben feels isolated from society and has not yet found his role in it. Everyone around Ben has such high hopes for his future, but he does not seem to care about it. Instead, he is going through life the opposite way of others after graduating from college by lounging by the pool all day and being involved with a married woman. Ben is very weak and indecisive and cannot seem to figure out what he wants to do with his life since graduating. All of the choices that Ben makes seem to be very irrational and not very thought out. For example, he drops everything and goes to Berkeley in hopes of marrying Elaine after only going on one date together. Also, he brushes off advice concerning his future like when the guy at his party tells him that he should invest in plastics. However, he seems to have no interest in becoming successful or going to graduate school as he appears to be lost and traveling in the wrong

When the audience first encounters Ben (Miller 44), he represents the success that Willy is striving for.  Before the audience learns of the success that Ben encountered in Africa, they see him on the stage accompanied by an idyllic musical motif

Now in the literary story Benjamin has a grandfather who at the start was antagonized, became to enjoy his grandson’s company. It is a brief account of his grandfather but a meaningful one as this was the first one who gave him a sense of acceptance. The film version gave him acceptance through Queenie and we never get to know a grandfather; though one could say the patrons at the old folk’s home could have been grandparent surrogates for Benjamin. The patrons at the old folks home taught him many things but his experience living there taught him not to fear death and what loss was about which, in a sense, desensitized the character so that when Queenie passes he is not visibly upset.

Ben enters his room and is at ease finally. The music stops and the focus is on him. The room is well lit and his head is leaned against the white door, which gives the audience a sense of escape. As he makes his way toward the window, we see a dartboard next to his bedroom door that has not one of the darts on the correct target. One has even found itself on the wall. Over his bed we see pictures of planes and toy planes pointed in every direction as maybe parallel to his life. The camera holds a medium close-up as Ben looks down through his window after he takes a hesitant walk over to that position.

The camera always remains focused on where the main character's attention is. Take for instance the scene at the bar. After consoling his friend in the phone booth, the camera follows Forbes back to the bar where he gets a drink. As soon as something feels wrong, the camera follows Forbes eyes back to the now empty phone booth. Another instance of this clever camera work is the final scene where Forbes gazes into a mirror, sees no reflection, and then runs away in sheer panic. With the proper angle and optical positioning of the mirror, Forbes appears to be looking into a mirror without his image. This conventional effect creates reactions that are far from conventional. Forbes now runs into the hallway, where a simple pan allows for a seemingly impossible vanish. As Forbes reaches midway through the hall, the camera pans over to the last crew member still sitting in bed. This is to show that the center of attention is no longer on Forbes, for he is no longer a character at all. There was no Forbes. There are no eyes to follow

     The pool scene where Benjamin Braddock is in the SCUBA suit demonstrates another film technique. The director uses a shot from inside the suit looking out towards the family. You can’t hear anything. It let’s you know how Benjamin feels about his current life. He is just going through the motions of life. Then, when Benjamin is under water sitting perfectly still, the director goes from a close-up and fades out until you can’t see him anymore. This makes you think that the character is sick of it all and that he is about to change.

At the beginning of this chapter, Ben makes numerous comments from his childhood that reflect what he was like as a young boy. When he speaks about his mother asking him, "DO you have a brain," it allowed me to understand the frequency of this statement throughout his life. I also thought his comment about finding a way not to pick up the target showed he and his brother were being lazy, and when he commented he could shoot better than Curtis, it showed he had an enormous amount of pride at that age. Of course, the main inspiration of the chapter was when his mother said, "You need to use the brains God gave you and learn to think beyond the can!" This was moving, however, we all need to analyze outside of the moment and seek the end result.

Much of the story centers around Benjamin’s aimlessness and uncertainty of the future. The conventions of Art cinema focus on the psychological complexity of its characters, and that is exactly what The Graduate emphasises; the story relies on the thoughts Benjamin has. The significance of Benjamin’s mindset that is stressed in the film adds depth to the story; without it, the movie would be aimless without explanation. Benjamin’s fear and confusion concerned towards the future, exemplified through the pool scene, as well as the summertime montage along to the song “Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel, rings true to audience members. Although some of Benjamin’s actions, such as following Elaine to university, and breaking into the Robinson household to seek out Elaine before she gets married are seemingly sporadic and contradictory, these actions are all fueled by Benjamin’s need to grasp something, anything, to hold onto, to avoid drifting around without a future.

In the opening moments of the film, Ben looks bored and lonely with his life. We first see him on the airplane, and then a moment of silence begins when we hear the line, “Hello darkness, my old friend.” While riding the conveyer belt after getting off the airplane, Ben seems to be lacking happiness. He has a hole in his heart and the only way to fill this hole would be for him to choose his own path in life and start pursuing it, not follow in his parent’s footsteps and do what they want him to do. Ever since graduating from college, Ben

Benjamin’s prudent manner, however, is thrown off guard when Boxer is sent to a glue factory, which provokes Benjamin to speak his mind for once in a effort to save Boxer, but to his consternation he fails in his efforts. Benjamin, soon after, regresses back to ill-tempered, mute self. Benjamin’s twisted sense of humor and sagacious manner ultimately preserves his soul from the toxic reign of the

Benjamin holds a negative attitude throughout the whole storyline. He never devoted himself to the cause the way the other animals did. He is quiet during a lot of major events as he never gets involved. But he does pipe up when Boxer is being taken away.

His own disbeliefs in himself got in the way. For example, when being asked to separate the twins he was skeptical, because it had never been done successfully. I know that Ben has these traits because fears of doing things that have never been done occurs in everyone. Other character traits that could have possibly decreased his full potential was his fear of not being accepted by others. On page 45, you can tell that Ben’s social life started to improve. He was considered to be cool, and he wanted nothing to get in the way of his image. Sometimes, his mother sent him to the store to get groceries and because of their home situation, the only way it could have been paid for is by using food stamps. He made himself appear to be something that he was not at school. He did not want to be spotted using food stamps because it would have affected his life at school and he feared not being accepted as he