Finding Forrester Character Analysis

Transformation becomes something that everyone needs to have happen, and Jamal and Forrester are able to do this in a way that will benefit their lives forever. In Finding Forrester a young man by the name of Jamal, a 16 year old from the Bronx turns out to be an extremely gifted writer and basketball player. He decides to hide his talent in writing from others until a dare comes up where he goes into a mysterious man's house to take something when in reality this became one of the most important moments of his life. He in a way meets William Forrester who wrote one book which happens to be extremely popular even after 40 years, although after this first book he went into hiding and no one ever saw him again. As this moves on a true friendship

is bonded over even the toughest of times and the viewer is able to see a real growth and transformation in characters. In Finding Forrester the characters needed to transform to be able to succeed otherwise they would have never gotten anything done and not gone anywhere.
Some people will not know where to go, this results in them going away unless someone can come in and help them excel. Forrester went into seclusion immediately after his book due to family. Jamal ended up going to his house and made a friendship out of writing experience. Jamal can transform Forrester into a teacher and able to make him go outside, and because of this William realized how much he had missed at Yankee Stadium with all of his memories. In Finding Forrester by Berardinelli he states “thus begins a peculiar mentor/student relationship, with Jamal agreeing not to reveal Forresters whereabouts in return to help him in the craft of writing.”This shows that Jamal has been ready to make a deal to improve his writing, and Forrester only needed one favor, to be kept hidden. This is important because they needed each other to thrive, Forrester could stay a secret and Jamal’s writing ability would only get better as long as they worked together to transform. This becomes significant that they can have a true bond since they will later find out they do need each other. although they could have ruined each other they didn’t due to the fact that they had become close. Jamal always had certainty on what he wanted to do, while being dedicated and blocking out the ones close to them even if they had good intentions. Even in some cases Jamal would leave his friends to be able to focus on writing. He had the ability to transform into an established writer once he got rid of all the people wanting him to play basketball the entire time. Even getting rid of some close friends to improve his abilities. (Levy pg2) “A turning point occurs when an exclusive Manhattan prep school recruits Jamal for his basketball talent and his academic achievement, and he seeks Forresters help in dealing with the new environment.” Jamal moved up in the world with this school recruiting him; however, he had no idea how the new school would treat him. He knew that William would have his back during a problem, and because of this he decided that everything would become better if he decided to help. This would become where he went for anything that he needed, and that shows that people need others to excel, without Forrester Jamal did not know what to do and would have gotten lost and not done as good of work. But William always had his back and could lead him to the correct decision. This shows how when trying to succeed, but close friends become extremely helpful when trying to succeed, and that the people close to each other have to be there in order for them to do well. Jamal and Forrester were the perfect pair and were able to bring out new talents and the best of each other.
An individual will have a life changing experience, whether they were good or bad.

Jamal got a dare to raid a man’s apartment, faced with the conflict of raiding a mystery man’s house he decided to go up and do it. This lead to the best decision of his life since in the apartment he meets William Forrester. Who would transform him into a great author and affect him forever. Stephen Holden states that(Holden S. 3) “A hotshot on the court sneaks into Forresters apartment and surprises the author, who scares him off with a roar,” this becomes important due to the fact that this created the relationship that will be needed. Now that they can help each other, one being with writing and the other with getting out into the world. This meant a great deal since Jamal can now focus on his writing and show more of himself. This relates since he needed someone to show him the way of writing and William became the pathway to success in writing. Jamal had a gift in basketball and helped his team get to the state championship, where the game became extremely close. Then after the game ended, he had two free throws to win or lose, where he decided to miss to prove that he can do more than basketball, that he has exceptional writing abilities as well. Which showed others him transforming from a basketball star to him becoming an author which surprised everyone else. (Paul C. pg2) “The only fellow student who reaches out is Clair.” This means that people wouldn’t get near him since he had his differences from the students surrounding him, and only Clair took the time to get close to him. This shows that an experience like moving to a new place requires others to help them. Then only Clair in the school helps while everyone else dislikes him and wants him to fail, not just not acknowledge them as a person. This influenced Jamal in a bad way most of the time, he had Crawford doing everything he could to make him fail, luckily Forrester and Clair would help him find a way to get over

the setbacks
When a person sees that they need to change something they need to have the ability to change or transform to a new mindset.
Finally, in Finding Forrester they were able to transform, with William finally leaving his house to achieve his dreams and Jamal being able to pursue writing at an extremely high level. Jamal braking in ended up becoming a fantastic choice and he could tell be all of the experiences that came with it. He could also change to become a better person and do much more eventually, like writing an influential book as his mentor did. Finally transformations make a person advance, if people are not able to transform then they cannot advance in society. They will be stuck in the same place instead of going out to have new experiences and meeting new people.