Summary
The movie begins with Christy Brown being pushed into an event in a wheel chair, but it is unclear why he is at the event. It is evident that Christy has Cerebral Palsy to an educated audience member. He hunches, and struggles to control his movements. Every word he speaks seems to be a struggle, even after years and years of speech therapy. Christy is met by a nurse named Mary Carr who is in charge of caring for him during the event. When everyone else leaves the room, the two begin to converse and we learn that he has written an autobiography.
Christy was born into a large, poor family living in Ireland and was considered to be mentally handicapped throughout his entire Childhood. As a kid, he could not walk or talk and without
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proper education, nobody knew what was wrong with him. He did not have a wheelchair so his brother and his friends used a wheel barrow to move him around. His family cares about him and treats him well even though they know that he has a disability which was surprising to me given the time in which the movie took place. One of the major scenes shows Christy in his room upstairs when he hears his mother fall downstairs. He is the only one home so he struggles to get downstairs and get a neighbors attention so she can get assistance. Christy’s had a close relationship with his entire family, but the relationship with his mom was special and this demonstrated that. At the age of about 10, Christy was on the ground at his home with the entire family and we see him reach for a piece of chalk with his left foot and write the word “mother.” This proved to everybody that he was not mentally handicapped, just physically. His dad was ecstatic and went to the local bar to tell everybody about the revelation. The new found skill of using his left foot to write naturally got him interested in painting. He becomes an incredible painter and actually has exhibits to display his art alone. In order to better his speech, Christy works with Dr. Eileen Cole who does a tremendous job helping him cope with the disease. Christy falls in love with Dr. Cole. At dinner after the art show, Christy learns that Dr. Cole is engaged to the studio owner and does not handle it well to say the least. To me, this was the best seen in the movie although it was so uncomfortable. Christy is chugging hard alcohol and yelling making a scene in the restaurant because the woman he loves does not love him back. He proceeds to bite the table cloth and rip it off the table. Eventually Christy is dragged out of the restaurant. Christy’s father, along with help from the family, build him a private studio on the side of their house.
His father, who loved him and was proud of him (interesting given the time period), passed away suddenly from a stroke shortly after the studio was built. During the wake Christy instigates a fight at the pub with all of his brothers.
Christy Brown was a flawed character in every way. The frustration that he experienced, as portrayed by Daniel-Day Lewis, was painful to watch. We saw a man who was so incredibly intelligent, stuck inside his very own body. As a result he was stubborn, difficult and had a drinking problem. If nothing else, the movie showed the audience everything that they have to be grateful for. It is one of those stories that makes the audience realize just how well they have it. Digging deeper, we see a man who has every imaginable obstacle in front of him, but still lives a fulfilling life, finds love, and enjoys
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success. What I have learned I learned a lot from this movie because I was able to get into the mind of someone who has an extreme communication disorder. For the first ten years of his life, Christy was trapped inside his body because he had not learned to control it yet. People looked at him like was sub-human. That kind of attention would drive me absolutely insane. It is incredible to me that Christy was able to stay as composed as he did throughout his life. Although this is cliché, I think a major message from this story is don’t judge a book by its cover.
Christy had serious connections with people when they gave him a chance. Throughout the movie we saw his support system that comprised of his family, friends, Dr. Cole and his eventual wife. His brothers would include him in soccer games in the streets or spin the bottle with their girlfriends. I believe that it was this kind of stimulation that led to Christy’s successful life. He knew from a young age that no matter what he had a support net. The pivotal scene in the movie is when Christy’s father is at the bar contemplating the fact that he has a handicapped son. He is very clear that no son of his will go to a home which probably saved Christy’s life. If he was institutionalized, he probably would have gone mad and maybe he would have successfully committed suicide robbing the world of his gift to paint and
write. Relevance to the course It is one thing to talk about communication disorders, but it is another to actually see someone live with one. There is a reason that Daniel-Day Lewis won the Academy Award for best actor in a lead role. He showed everybody that saw the movie the daily struggles of a person that has cerebral palsy. As we learned how awful the disease is, we also learned that people can learn ways to cope. We learned that communication disorders do not rob someone’s ability to think an intelligent thought. Most of all, we learned how important it is for people with a communication disorders to have a support system and people that love them.
From the beginning of the movie, people seem to have a fascination over a man with a mental disability. After telling his story another
When Martha Ballard died, she was definitely missed and even though her diary sat in the back stacks of a library for a very long time because authors thought it was useless, her story was told and it was a good one at that. It wouldn?t be a surprise to me if her story has inspired women and I know it has definitely educated people about women?s lives at this time. It?s just a shame that more women?s stories from this time will never be told. I?ve learned from Martha Ballard?s story that she must have been a very good, decent, and smart woman and I would have loved to have met her. She is a good example of what some women were like back then and it?s good to see that not all of them were powerless housewives as some people think and how I, myself, thought before I saw this movie. I saw her struggle and her get through the hard times. The things she had to live through throughout her life were astonishing and I?m really glad I got to see this woman?s work. I realized how easy we have it now and how women like Martha paved the way for us and we have to appreciate them for what they?ve done.
Mairs describes her condition and how it relates to the actions and responses of other people in any situation. Mairs uses the term cripple loosely, making sure it is not offensive to anyone. By starting her passage with, “I am a cripple,” Mairs doesn’t hide anything. She begins by coming straight out into the open with who she is and how she wants the world to view her. In the first paragraph, Mairs uses the word choose three times to establish her personal decision to be titled a cripple.
He wasn't antisocial—he always had friends, and everybody liked him—but he could go off and entertain himself for hours” (Krakauer 107). Carine described her brother in a way that made him seem like he was good company to others, but he also had a side to him where he had no problem being alone and doing his own thing. This aspect of his personality was always apparent as a child, as Carine described. “Chris was [also] a high achiever in almost everything that caught his fancy” (Krakauer 109). Walt, his father, also knew that Chris did whatever he pleased, no matter the consequences.
The book was very inspiring and I think it covered a lot of great information. Something that Joanne Crutchfield managed to do very well was paint vivid pictures with her words. Everything was so detailed and descriptive, I was really drawn in by that. The use of imagery made the topics more relatable in a sense. I also liked how the book touched on the topic of mental health. Mental health issues affect everyone however, in the black community those health issues go unnoticed or unattended to. The Author shared her story of depression and how she dealt with it. I thought that aspect of the memoir was great, I think that it was wonderful that she shed a light on mental health. On the other hand the book was a little difficult to follow with the way the chapters were set up. Other than that I thought the book was good and I really
In the story My Left Foot, Christy Brown was diagnosed at the age of three with cerebral palsy. Many people began to give up on him, but his mother did not. She told everyone that they were all wrong and that he was a normal child. She worked with Christy every chance she could get and tried to teach him how to write and read. One day, his mother’s perseverance finally paid off.
I think it did a great job of showing how a family can come to view addictive and abnormal behavior as normal. I would recommend this movie to friends. I feel that it gives great insight into the dynamics of how the disease of alcoholism can trickle down the family tree affecting everyone it touches in such profound ways. Other than the lack of physical abuse I could see myself playing most of the roles the kids did as far as lost child and hero, I remember trying to fulfill most of those roles when I was younger trying anything from trying harder in school to trying to do chores to perfection in the hopes that I could through my works keep my parents from drinking. Thankfully as I got older I came to understand that their drinking was their illness not mine and until they decided they had enough I could do nothing to help them, but love and pray for
“I am a Cripple,” when people typically hear these words they tend to feel bad for that person, but that is exactly what Mair does not want. She prefers that people treat her the same as they would if she did not have the disease. Throughout the essay, Mair discuses her disease openly. She uses an optimistic tone, so that the reader will not recoil with sadness when they hear her discuss the disease and how it affects her life. In Nancy Mair’s essay “On Being A Cripple,” Mair uses her personal stories, diction, and syntactical structures to create an optimistic tone throughout the essay, so that the audience can better connect story.
The film begins with Joseph, an Irish farmer, being removed from his land because he cannot pay rent. While mourning the death of his father he seeks revenge on the landlord who took his family’s land. This is where he runs into Shannon, a privileged
overcome before he can move up in the Hollywood society. Todd’s life begins to go downhill as he
"On Being a Cripple" is an autobiographical essay by Nancy Mairs. The author was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her late twenties, and has since then lost full use of several limbs. Despite the stigma around the use of the word, Mairs refers to herself as a "cripple". With the use of this word she attempts to accept the reality of her situation without feeling sorry for herself. The author also demands the same of her readers and the people that she meets in her life. Mairs writes to those who wish to learn more about what it is like to live with this debilitating disease and how people react to it. She uses this essay to make a point about how society labels people while telling her story in a manner which cites examples from her life. She describes her life through everyday situations that occur when living with MS. Mairs does not have the same physical abilities that most of us don't think twice about, but she carries on with her life without the need for pity or a new vocabulary that attempts to make her condition seem less severe.
Dan and Betsy go through their emotions on hearing about Samuel condition of cerebral palsy. The roll coaster of emotion they felt. As a parent I could relate to their emotion of having a child with disabilities. I would love my child regards of condition but the emotion I would feel would be fear. Dan and Betsy both went through fear; asking themselves what about his education, and interaction with others. I would have those same question; as
As time passes, Maggie’s persistence and Eddie’s pushiness finally change Frankie’s mind. This is when the true story begins. Maggie’s determination and strong will to fulfill her dream, combined with Frankie’s excellent training skills, launch both of them into the professional boxing orbit where they gloriously win battle after battle. Although the story seems like a big cliché, in truth, the world of Million Dollar Baby involves much more than boxing and success. Clint Eastwood treats such subject matters as love, fear, intricate relationships, and even religion.... ...
This film challenged my previous thoughts of bipolar disorder and took me into personal accounts of people suffering from this horrible disorder. I learned that individuals that are diagnosed with bipolar disorder are not the same and have different experiences of how the disease affected their life. I was honestly shocked at the fact that a disease in the brain can make you go into a manic state of mind and then fall into a deep depression. One of the most eye opening parts in the film was when Cheri was going to a client’s house and had to look into the mirror before she went in and told herself to put on her game face and transform into a chipper, perky version of herself because she was feeling down. This made me realize that people around you can be suffering from depression or other mental diseases around you and you can be completely unaware because the symptoms can be
To conclude, I think this movie is a good example to show how a homeless person lived and how he survived his life from being a homeless. Throughout all his life he showed what can determination do even though there are obstacles in the way. Doing is best paid off his hardships. So from dreaming big, be determined on what you're trying to do, and be responsible on things will make you succeed in the future.