Cinderella Man Essay

Jimmy Braddock is the main protagonist of Cinderella Man. His family consist of two boys named Jay and Howard, one girl named Rosemarie and his wife Mae. He is a boxer that earns money in order to provide for his family but has to stop boxing due to a bone injury in his right hand and loses his boxing license. That injury to his hand didn't stop him from looking for work every day although he conceals it in order to work in labor without any issues. The storyline is about the struggles that Jimmy and his family endures before he has a life or death match with a deadly opponent and gets back into boxing. As the protagonist of the film, Jimmy is loved in the boxing world and lives to compete in that sport to earn money to support his family. He has a great relationship with

his wife and kids even if he’s seems busy with work.

The movie explores the daily struggles that Jimmy and Mae go through like keeping the electricity in the home on, making sure the family has food and that their health isn’t in danger.His son also steals meat in the process but it anything, Jimmy’s relationship with his wife is tested through this struggles. Unfortunately one of Jimmy’s kids come down with a nasty cold and Mae believing that it was their last option, sends the kids to stay with her sister who has a better living environment to take care of them compared to the small basement they had to live in.Jimmy finds out about this and is shocked by her deed. He eventually brings them home after getting enough money to get the electricity on. The setting of the film is New York in the 1930s, the Great Depression causes many people to fall into poverty and little jobs exists. One of these families that suffer from this is the Braddock Family. The mood at the beginning of the movie is lively because how well Jimmy and his family are living financially but during the majority of the movie it turned sober because of their poor living condition.There are times when Mae had to add water to stretch the milk because they didn’t pay the

milkman. During the final days before Jimmy’s daunting fight, the suspense of whether he would get killed by the champ Max Baer caused his wife to plead that he would drop out and the audience to fear for his life. The audience gets a first hand look on how dangerous his opponent is and what he has done in the past.In the end, Jimmy wins the match and his family isn’t poor anymore. The characterization of Jimmy was that he was a man that was very passionate about boxing and his family. He always preserved through difficult times of making little money to take care of his family or keeping his household together and eventually finds his way out of poverty.