It is commonly assumed that the main character plays a critical role in the protagonist’s character development. Will Grayson, Will Grayson written by John Green and David Levithan defies these assumptions. Will Grayson, one of the protagonists, befriends Gideon, a minor character introduced in the twelfth chapter . Their friendship changes the way Will acts and thinks. Minor characters such as Gideon are significant to the plot of the story because they affect the protagonist’s characterization.
Some people may suggest that Gideon may not be responsible for Will’s change in personality. They argue that various events before his personality change allowed him to reflect on his past actions and break his old habits. When his acquaintance, Maura, faked the profile of a close internet friend, it caused emotional distress to Will. As a result of this pain and suffering, he had to resort to new ways of making friends. His discovery of a fake internet friend also caused him to be helped by Tiny, his soon to be boyfriend. Tiny teaches Will lifelong lessons about love and happiness that could’ve contributed to Will’s personality change. However, further evidence
…show more content…
Will and Tiny broke up in bad terms, with both sides not having complete closure between one another. Because of that, Gideon made a plan that caused Will to do things he wouldn’t normally do. The plan called for Will to “[talk] with strangers, asking strangers for favors, to be willing to make a complete fool of [himself], and to let someone else (gideon) help [him]” (Levithan 294-295). When Will accepts this plan by Gideon, he takes into account that this is for the benefit of Tiny. This is a sign that Will is becoming to think of other people besides himself. Will couldn’t believe that he was even doing this. This plan was so radical and uncalled for that he said it was “both insane and genius” (Levithan
Will is an innocent, level-headed child who's only goal in the beginning of the novel is to relish in childhood. Jim, on the other hand, is impulsive, reckless and usually thinks about himself before others. For instance, when the train came bearing the carnival, Jim stole off in the middle of the night to go investigate, leaving Will behind all alone. This shows that Jim thinks he is independent enough to venture off by himself. Jim is also inquisitive and in some cases, more mature than Will, who is content with staying
He constantly tries to defy the laws of nature. Will is not scared of anything and believes he is the greatest pilot and nothing could ever happen to him. He lacks a respect for the natural world. Will exclaims, “You know I was a bush pilot. The best. But the best have to crash. And I’ve crashed a plane, me. Three times. I need to explain this all to you. I was a young man when I crashed the first time. The world was wide open. I was scared of nothing” (Boyden, 1). Will also has complication with his inner violence. He tries to kill Marius out of fear and anger, which goes against his Native morals. Their families have hated each other for years and out of revenge he commits such an act he justifies by the violence Marius inflicts on his family. Will explains, “This wasn’t the best plan go do what I did to Marius. An act of revenge, an act of anger, and especially of fear. The cold fire of payback was the warmest that drove me to do it” (Boyden, 211). Fortunately, it is when Will runs away from Moosonee where he discovers that nature will get the better of him. During the time on the island, he becomes humble as he realizes he needs the help of others to survive. This contrasts his pride and allows Will to reconnect with the Native world once again. Evidence of this is when Will kills a moose and thanks the animal for its meat stating “meegwetch,” which can be translated to “thank you.” Animals in the Native world are highly respected and they play a significant role in the novel as they are reflected through human characters. The moose represents Will’s family and his dependency on them to survive. Will states, “Meegwetch for your life, I whispered. I am sorry for the bad kill. I was scared you’d run off and die alone far in the bush. Your death alone would be useless, and I, too, might end up starving this winter without you. Meegwatch” (Boyden, 306). Will is able to overcome his challenges of
Instead, he went to work construction with Chuckie, his unrelated brother. Will is a troubled orphan and is the product of his environment. He does janitorial work at MIT or works on construction sites to almost blend in with his surroundings. However, that is until his mentor discovered his genius-level intelligence for solving mathematical problems. I will analyze how Will is confused with his future and does not want to follow in his mentor’s footsteps and “sit in a room and do long division for the next fifty years.”
...erhaps in another social location, with different social forces, Will may not have become a deviant but rather took on another role. If Will had been socialized properly, with normal parents and friends, perhaps his role and identity would be different. In different social locations, there are different institutions what require different roles and there are different social forces to control these roles. The sociological perspective has many concepts that examine the underlying reasons for why Will’s actions and identity are the way they are. Social location determines all aspects of one’s life, how they are going to be socialized, what friends they are going to have, what career, what role they will take on, etc.
(Erikson, 1980) Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development theory are in my opinion one of the best ways to look at Will Hunting’s changing personality and behaviour in the movie. Will’s avoidant and defensive personality is due to his abusive foster parents, he never received sympathy from his foster parents which made him accept the abuse as well as him becoming the abuser, as we see in the film when Will fights a former classmate that bullied him in kindergarten years ago. Another example of abuse is in the form of psychological abuse towards the marriage of Macguire and his deceased wife in which Will continually insults. Will seems to fluctuate stages throughout the movie, due to being an orphan and abuse from his foster parents he is fluctuating between the stages of basic trust vs. mistrust, and Initiative vs. guilt. Then when he meets Skylar (Minnie Driver) his development shifts to intimacy vs. isolation. (Erikson,
Looking back over the past 18 months of Will’s life, there has been tremendous personal growth. Counseling has helped Will to not place blame on himself for his past and to look forward to new opportunities in his life. It has helped him not to end relationships before he can get hurt and instead to have a positive outlook and cherish an important part of life. As far as what he intends to do in the future, it is good that he is involved with something that caters to his special abilities and hopefully will provide him a stepping stone to something he figures out he wants to do.
Will romanticizes about life, and fears that if he does not conform to society’s paradigms and stereotypes, it could lead to alienation and societal rejection. However, his perspective is gradually altered through the experiences incurred upon him. Sean, his psychologist is a major catalyst for this. Will is able to comfortably express his concealed emotions to Sean, which initially spurs him on his journey to self-discovery. This is represented through the symbol of the boat on the painting, representing the initiation to his journey of self-discovery.
To elaborate, minor characters exemplifies a contrast of actions and choices between them and a major character, such as when Hamlet becomes a tragic hero due to his flaws while his foil succeeds. Moreover, minor characters contain such traits that gain a protagonist’s approval, where in Hamlet, the hero admires loyalty and rationality. Finally, Shakespeare demonstrates the influence that the minor characters have towards their opposites; through the moral choices that Hamlet makes while attempting to avenge his father.
In the film, Will, the main character is a teenage boy who feels he should be a good superhero because his parents The Commander and Jetstream are the world's best superheros. Will’s parents want to become the Stronghold three the best superhero family, but his parents don't know that Will doesn't have powers yet. Will’s initial objective is to gain his powers and become a good superhero like his parents. The first day of high school is Will’s call to adventure. In order for this to happen, he must depart from the comfort of his home and go to a school he has never been to before with a bunch of other superheroes, sidekicks, and villains. While on his first day of high school, Will faces some trials and challenges. His first challenge was power placement, which is where the freshmans show Coach Boomer their superpower and depending on their power they will be placed either in the superhero group or the sidekick group. Since Will doesn't have his powers yet he was placed in the sidekick group, which is embarrassing because his parents are the world’s best super heros. After the power placement Will goes to nurse only to find out he might not ever get his
Will Hunting epitomises a punk prodigy. The 20-year-old delinquent works as a janitor at MIT, solving impossible equations, meant for students, in his spare time. He is soon recruited by one of MIT’s professors and made to participate in a rehabilitation programme with the hope of being employed by the university. Rehabilitation is made challenging as Will is a troubled individual; having grown up in abusive environments and jumping from different foster homes.
As time went by, will's outlook on life changed for the better. Joining the butterfly circus was the best thing for him! Even though he couldn't perform due to them not having a side show, I was happy he was no longer being ridiculed. It made me smile a little as he watched them perform with a glow in his eyes.
In Will’s therapy sessions, Sean conveyed his empathy for Will. According to Myers, “Empathy is the Vicarious experience of another’s feelings; putting oneself in another’s shoes” (Myer, 2002, p.473). Since Sean demonstrated the ability to recognize Will 's indignity and fear, it helped subdue Will 's anxiety and promoted Will’s realistic connection with himself and others. In the Movie, Will recognizes the commonality with Sean allowing him to acknowledge the nurturing relationship that Sean offers. It appears that Sean was the surrogate caregiver that Will never had, satisfying the gaps of Will 's development. Sean 's experiences provided Will with a sense of belonging as Will was provided with insight as to how life should be in an unbroken/normal home. Since Will was never exposed to recognize real intimacy between a man and woman, Sean often shared his loved and experiences from his marriage. This allowed Will to reflect on the closeness of Sean’s marriage and the splendor found in trusting and loving others with all their
According to Erickson’s stage theory, there are stages in life where one must resolve conflicts, called ego crisis that start in infancy and end when one dies. When the ego crisis is unresolved, the crisis continues on to the next stage and so on. According to Erickson the successful resolved stages are essential for a person’s growth. The first stage is infancy where the ego crisis is trust versus mistrust. Will seems to have not resolved this stage do to his mistrust in romantic relationships. In addition to his pessimistic views and fear
In my perspective when my friends go through a hard time I comfort them. Also by feeling that security it takes all the pain away and replaces it with a pleasant one. I have been through this situation before it helps going through a rough time. It sets the mood when Tris stayed close to Will it helped him go through his problem of feeling alone and weak with being against all the Dauntless
A significant relationship in this text is the relationship between will and Marcus, will and Marcus develop a relationship throughout the text that help them function as human beings. Both characters need this relationship because will has no purpose for his life and Marcus needs the support from a male figure. Will is a 36 years old male who is single, selfish, Immature, is looking for single parents to take advantage of. Marcus on the other hand is a 12 year old boy, lives with his single mum, is bullied, abandoned by his friends, and finds it hard to fit in. These two characters are completely different in all aspects, but this only brings them closer. Will is reluctant to commit to a relationship and so when he finds Rachael who is just as reluctant as himself he has to start lying to her about him having a child so he can join a single parents group called SPAT, this is how Marcus is introduced to Will. Wills first impression of Marcus are that he is “weird kid”(Pg 46), he also thinks that Marcus acts older than he actually is whereas Will is an immature adult and people believe that he is just a child in a grownups body. As the text progresses the relationship that Marcus and will establish grows stronger and stronger. Because Marcus has no father f...