Finding Forrester Trust

Trust is one of the most fragile relationships individuals have between one another, and it is a dynamic that is constantly changing. From the start of Finding Forrester, after meeting one of the main characters named William , one is able to tell the theme is trust. In the beginning Jamal meets a man named William by breaking into his apartment one night after playing basketball with his buddies, and accidentally leaving his bag on the way out the door. Jamal starts visiting William daily to get help with his writing and they become friends through this. As their friendship develops through trust, Jamal learns his true identity of how he is a famous author of a well known book published decades ago. William makes a deal with Jamal stating

Developing this relationship of trust between two individuals is key in a friendship. One example of this would be when William trusted Jamal to not tell others that he was working on writing with him. Jamal did not know William at first and vice versa but by spending time with one another through writing, they began to trust each other. Trusting other people can ease one's mind in certain times. Likewise when Jamal encouraged Forrester to shake off his fear of the outside world, trust was the only thing that got William to leave his apartment. (Bernardelli, 2001, 2). Friendships based on trust are solid friendships. Another movie example would be how Claire walked with Jamal to his classes and showed him around because he was a new student. Being new to any school nobody is familiar with other people so by her spending time with Jamal he began to trust her. According to Bernardelli (2001), Claire was a special character who becomes a special love interest for Jamal. (p.2). Through their friendly relationship they shared Jamal gained Claire’s trust because she was kind and nice to him. One can develop trust by spending time with

Throughout the film there were multiple conflicts such as when Jamal was going to get in trouble for plagiarism of a paper he turned in. Professor Crawford thought he had finally nailed Jamal but William came at an opportune time and helped him not only get out of trouble, but prove to Crawford and the other students how talented in writing he truly is. Since Jamal did not tell the professor about working with Forrester, William knew he could trust him again. According to Paul Clinton (2001), Jamal had the choice between following his dream or betraying a friend. (p.1). Jamal stood strong and went with his gut feeling by not telling Crawford about his secret alliance with his friend in order to maintain his athletic scholarship. Another instance of conflict would be when Jamal and William first met each other and started working with one another. William was skeptical of Jamal since he recently broke into his apartment, but by getting to know him they developed a deep friendship that erased the fact of him breaking into his property. This trust they developed solved the previous conflict between them. Movielocity (2001) stated, Jamal has a talent he hides from the world for fear of not fitting in. (p.1). Jamal has a special gift given to him from God, but he faced the conflict of being himself around his friends from the public school. Being yourself and trusting not only others, but trusting yourself is one