Review 06: Forrest Gump, the Narrator

The author of Forrest Gump, Winston Groom, was indeed successful in creating a character named Forrest to have qualities that make the readers laugh. However, sometimes the actions of Forrest in the novel were shown to be rather aggressive, especially in the very language he uses. Thus, despite all the achievements that he has made in the book, he is easily dismissed as a strange, inappropriate autistic savant. In a bigger sense, this prohibits the readers from understanding Forrest as a reliable narrator.

The movie version of Forrest is not all that reliable as well. He is, practically, depicted even dumber than his novel version counterpart. But this Forrest has a unique trait, which is to make people feel what he might have felt when an incident happened to him. Telling the stories with precision and honesty, Forrest of the movie naturally makes people rely on him, making them wanting to hear more of his stories. And this quality – regarding precision and honesty – that Forrest has is significant especially regarding the elaboration of the historical events that he was involved with.

Numerous historical events were reinstated in a “Forrest Gump version” during the runtime of the movie. From the University of Alabama case of racial equality regarding education, to the issue of modern consumerism, Forrest Gump just happened to be there – and this is perhaps what makes us able to think. For example, in the case of educational equality, Forrest seems to be very indifferent to the issue. Despite the nation being shook up by the intensity of this event, Forrest simply minds his own business, which is to be simply inquisitive about what is going on. In reality, there were federal troops sent to University of Alabama to protect the African American students, and there was a huge controversy regarding being “separate but equal.” However, all these events are made somewhat embarrassing through Forrest Gump’s single action – picking up a dropped item for an African American lady. Perhaps Forrest is suggesting that we should be, regarding racial issues at least, “color-blind” and simply take individual cultures as something to add more flavors to the big salad bowl that we call Earth.

Yes, it can be truly said that Forrest may not be the most reliable person to ask history about. He is dumb, after all. He even worries that his son might have the deficiencies that he has. But in the very acceptance that he makes, regarding his capacities of his intelligence, he is able to persuade the people’s minds and allow them to understand events from his point of view – which is, surprisingly, very moderate and sometimes thought-provoking. Perhaps we can say that Forrest Gump is the best kind of narrator one can meet in life.