Is it possible for a person to change? What influences them to change? Not only Jamal, but Forrester as well were able to change and they could not have done it without each others' help and guidance. In the film, “Finding Forrester”, the director Gus Van Sant utilizes character development to suggest the idea on how environment influences an individual's pursuits in life. In the opening of the film, we see Jamal as a quiet kid from the Bronx. His grades were average and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He liked to play basketball and he was not half bad. Everything seemed pretty normal, but there was a secret that Jamal was hiding. He kept the secret so well that even his mom didn’t find out until his teacher pointed it out to her. It turns out that Jamal was not only a talented athlete but he was also a gifted writer. The movie …show more content…
does not specifically explain why Jamal kept this secret, but from the context and events that follow, it is clear that Jamal did not want to be singled out and picked on just because he could do things others could not. Jamal wanted to fit in, and that meant playing lots of basketball and having bad grades. If it were not for one exam that everyone had to do then Jamal might not have realized his full potential. There are potentially many events that lead to Jamal changing.
One event is when he meets William Forrester a reclusive novelist. After learning what Jamal is capable of, Forrester teaches Jamal how to harness and use his untrained skill. Around the same time Forrester discovers Jamals potential, Jamal is invited to attend a prestigious private high school. This new school even has a basketball team for Jamal to play on. This is Jamal's big chance to finally do something with his life and start to plan for his future. With the help of Forrester, Jamal is seen doing very well in his courses and even catches the eye of one of the teachers, professor Robert Crawford. Though Crawford marvels at Jamal's work, he quickly jumps to conclusions and accuses Jamal of plagiarism. This was somewhat Jamals fault, though. He took the papers from Forresters apartment, under strict instructions not too, and used them as his assignment. By doing so, Jamal is put under academic probation. Jamal is later given an ultimatum: win the basketball tournament and come to school next year as if nothing happened or risk being kicked out of school for
cheating. By the end of the film, it is shown just how honest and trustworthy Jamal is by protecting Forrester’s secret. As professor Matthews states, “I have been a teacher for more than thirty years, thats long enough to know that integrity counts for something.” meaning you can be the smartest person on Earth, but if you aren’t a good person than what’s the point. But Jamal is not the only person to change throughout the film; Forrester also showed development. At the beginning of the film, Forrester was too afraid to go out of his house. He hired a man to go get all of his groceries for him. Then at the end of the film, Forrester makes the conscience decision to get out of his apartment and help Jamal when he is in desperate need. Before Jamal came into his life, Forrester would have never even thought of traveling past his front door, but at the end Forrester tells Jamal that he is going back to his homeland. So in short, a person is capable of change. They may not be able to do it on their own, as we see with Forrester, but nonetheless one can accomplish great things with the help of outside influences. Changing is not always a bad thing. William cowper once said “Variety is the spice of life”, meaning that you need to shake things up every once in awhile to get life full experience. Change occurs naturally, all a person has to do is let it happen and it will all end well.
People change everyday, whether it is from good to bad or for the better. People often say to themselves, maybe, if I didn't do “blank” this wouldn't have happened. However, the reality is, it happened, and there is no way to change that. Why go around throwing maybe’s around if you cannot change it? Authors purposefully make readers ask those questions. Authors love to create complex characters, characters that go through change. In Ellen Hopkins’ book, Crank, is the perfect example. Ellen Hopkins writes from her own daughter's perspective, Kristina, on how “the monster” changed her own life and her family's life.
The Changeable nature of life affects us all somehow. Whether it be moving to a new city, having children, or losing people that we love, it can affect people in many different ways. For example, in the novel, the main character Taylor Greer changes her name from Marietta and moves...
Jamal’s friends dare him to break into William’s house, and while he is there, he accidentally leaves behind his backpack containing his writings. Later, William throws the backpack out of the window back at Jamal. However, when Jamal looks at his writings, he finds that William had revised all of them. Jamal, filled with amazement, goes back to William’s apartment and asks him to look at more of his papers. William is skeptical at first, but as they become better friends William sees Jamal’s potential and teaches him to write because expressing himself through writing is in the best interest of Jamal.
People can change their ways overtime in a positive way. Everyone has experienced change once in their life. Some people have acknowledged change over the course of life in a positive way or a negative way. Throughout the novel “The First Stone” by Don Aker, the main character Reef alters his ways a lot positively. Reef is a teenager who changes his lifestyle and makes a huge impact in his life after he meets Leeza. This novel develops the fact that people can change in a beneficial way, no matter what situation they are in.
The novel Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor, perfectly demonstrates how a character can change their ways and learn lessons. When the protagonist, Paul Fisher, was first introduced, he was a shy, quiet kid, who never tried to change his situation. He has a terrible relationship with his brother, Erik, and is literally terrified of him and what he will do to him. In the beginning of the book, he was moving from Houston, Texas to his new home in Tangerine, Florida. In his fresh start to life in Tangerine, he learns that he shouldn’t be scared, and that he needs to start standing up for himself and letting his voice, thoughts, and opinions be heard. Even though Paul starts off scared, afraid, intimidated, and full of self doubt, he learns that he needs to change his ways and attitude towards his life, and to take action to make things right.
The film, Finding Forrester, characterizes the unlikely relationship formed, between a withdrawn, hermit writer William Forrester, and Jamal Wallace, a basketball star from the Bronx, through their mutual proclivity for the art of writing. The plot of the film revolves around Jamal’s transitions to a highly prestigious private school and the events that led to Forrester becoming a mentor towards Jamal’s writing. Both reclusive in nature, for Jamal his academic endeavors, and Forrester nearly all aspects of his life; together, their shared bond opens them up further to the world. The title, Finding Forrester, refers to the mutualistic beneficial nature of their friendship, in that Jamal helps Forrester find himself, in addition to Forrester
Many people have transformed, or changed, throughout their lives, either in a positive or a negative way. But what does it mean to transform? That can be different between people and the way they think. Some think it's something unacceptable and you should try avoiding it, others want to transform themselves. To transform, you just need to see the true meaning of things and be happy. It is possible to change, but you need a reason to change. You need motivation, just like how you need the motivation to do the things you love to do.
It all began when Jammal had the chance to transfer schools for better opportunities from grades to how he played on the basketball court. His old school never really thought about how different Jamal was from the others because Jamal never wanted to show how wise, or knowledgeable he was. As a community today, people are judged from where they come from and what they look like. To me, this shouldn’t matter; everyone should have the same amount of opportunities as one another. People may never know what someone is capable of if you don’t get to know who they are. Just as Berardinell (2000) says, “Although his streetwise background makes him a social outsider amidst a sear of rich, pampered kids, Jamal's performance on the court and in the classroom earns him the respect of many of his teachers and peers” (p. 1). Since he started this new school, he has been misjudged for his capabilities and creativeness on writing. Not only was Jamal the type of guy that liked to show his intelligence with others, but he always wanted to fit in with the crowd; therefore, he shut down the better opportunities he was given
A person who realizes his life's mistakes and has a desire for change, can change the course of his life in the other direction, leaving behind their bad dependencies and habits.
Especially the audience motivates him because every time he plays they start to yell at him, but they don’t see why he is doing so. Finally, his hard work to win the game. This story seems a little bit of an external conflict because this story is all about the black man and the audience.
Jamal Wallace is introduced in the film as a typical black teenage male who goes to a low class school in the Bronx and really excels on the court as a basketball player. He always plays basketball with his friends in the parking lot. Jamal is dared to go into the apartment of a recluse who watches them play through binoculars. Jamal is caught, running away in fright. Not too many people thought of him as being anything more than that, due to the fact that Jamal makes mediocre grades in his school in the Bronx, he does just enough to get by and to maintain a “C” average.
That’s when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artist, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers”(Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). African Americans writers during this time was capturing the beauty of black lives. Blacks were discovering many reasons to have pride in their race. Racial pride was helping them achieve equality in society. People were starting to write the way they wanted, instead of the ways whites wanted. Creating their
When you are born people are there to take care of you, love you, and guide you through life. As you grow up and life changes, you must take charge of your own life and not become so dependent on others. Throughout the course of life a person will encounter many changes, whether good or bad. In 'A&P';, 'The Secret Lion';, and 'A Rose for Emily';, the main characters in the stories are Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily who face changes during their lives. All of these characters are in need of change. Because of their need for change, their lives will become much better. They are filled with wonder and awe about the world around them. No matter what type of person, everyone will encounter changes. It is part of the natural process. A person is encouraged to make these changes for the good. Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily all encounter changes in their lives that fulfill their need to become something different.
In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, the author uses character development to contrast the two different societies present in the novel.He shows the importance of morality, or an increase in wisdom in the character of humankind. The author contrasts a society full of static and flat characters and another society full of round characters. In order to show the importance of life experiences in changing the character of individuals in the society.
Frederick Buechner uses Mrs. Schroeder to develop the idea that a person’s ability to change is heavily dependant on past experiences and the inability to do so can often lead to people having unrealistic