Crazy people have the taste of madness, not enough for outsiders. - Dryden
Forrest Gump is a novel by American writer Winston Grimm about Forrest Gump, a small-town boy who has been demented since childhood. Published in 1986 and later adapted into a film of the same name in 1994, it caused a huge hit in the United States and was a great success.
Frost Gan was an incompetent child with an IQ of less than seventy who, as an adult, was only close to the intelligence of children aged three to seven, or slightly better, was mentally retarded to a child with an intelligence close to eight to twelve years of age. However, it is such an idiot in the eyes of everyone, but it has a vigorous, seemingly absurd, but in fact meaningful life.
Forrest Gump's life is a legend, he has achieved many achievements, and won a number of honors that are difficult for ordinary people to obtain. Such as university American football stars, Congress awarded the Medal of Honor for Heroes, world-class table tennis players, professional wrestlers, American astronauts, chess masters, and later finally returned to their hometown, and then from the "novelty seafood experiment to find the future", became a business tycoon, and then ran for the United States Senator.
Unfortunately, however, every success has no special significance for Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump said, "I'm just a poor idiot."
In the book "Forrest Gump", the author lets us see what is most precious behind the absurdity and bizarre through the perspective of a fool.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >1, the fool Forrest Gump's success cheats: life does not need too much intelligence</h1>
I would say this: Being an idiot doesn't taste like chocolate. Others will laugh at you, be impatient with you, and treat you badly. Well, people say be kind to the unfortunate, but I tell you - it's not always the case. But having said that, I don't complain, because I think my life can be said to be interesting.
"Forrest Gump" is a work that meets readers in the first person from the perspective of forrest gump the fool. The above passage is Forrest Gump's confession, and from this beginning, the author brings this Forrest Gump with a legendary life to us.
As I just said, Forrest Gump has achieved many achievements in his life and achieved too many honors that ordinary people cannot reach. These seemingly "inadvertent" crooked successes are actually not what you and I think of as "divine favor" or "foolish blessings", but benefit from two precious things he has: one is derived from others: family affection, love, friendship; the other is from oneself: sincerity, simplicity, and frankness.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (1) The priceless treasure in the life of forrest Gump the fool: family, love, friendship</h3>
The greatest blessing in Forrest Gump's life is that although he has been stupid since childhood, he has the most precious affection in the world.
First of all, it is the affection from the mother.
When I was a child, she always locked me in the house so that other children wouldn't harass me. On summer afternoons, when the weather was bad, she would settle me in the living room, close the curtains, make the room a little darker and cooler, and get me a glass of lemon juice. Then, she sat there and talked to me, and she kept talking non-stop, and there was no special topic, just like the average person talking to cats and dogs. However, I am used to it, and I like it, because her voice makes me feel very safe and comfortable.
I don't think Forrest Gump's mom is a strong woman because she always seems to be crying her nose, every time Forrest Gump leaves her. It may be because the child is not sound, and has to leave her again and again, and the mother is very worried and powerless.
In a way, we seem to feel that my mother didn't help Forrest Gump, especially after he left home for school, there were too many life changes. But in Forrest Gump, Mom has always been a concern. He missed his mother, worried that her mother would be sad because she couldn't see him. No matter where he was, what his mother mailed and the letters he wrote were a form of satisfaction and comfort for him.
Then, it is the love that comes from one's own heart.
I've known you since first grade, Forrest Gump—almost thirty years—and I've watched you grow tall and strong and kind. By the time I finally realized how much I liked you—when you came to Boston—I was the happiest girl in the world.
Jenny has been Forrest Gump's friend and only friend since the first grade of elementary school. Forrest Gump has liked her since childhood. Since Jenny did not love Forrest Gump, and Forrest Gump felt that she was just an idiot, Forrest Gump never thought that Jenny would marry him.
But Jenny's feelings for Forrest Gump are mixed. She and Forrest Gump are divided, and each time it makes Forrest Gump feel that he has offended her, but he surprises Forrest Gump the next time they meet. Especially for the last time, Jenny appeared in front of him with Forrest Gump's son, whose presence made Forrest Gump's life tend to be complete.
Finally, there is the rare friendship of life.
Forrest Gump has three friends. One is Buba, one is Dan, and the other is Gongsu. Buba was forrest Gump's first friend, and they played the harmonica together, and later met in the Vietnam War, saying that they would get a shrimp fishing boat after the war and run a shrimp farming business together. Dan is Forrest Gump's second friend. In his eyes, he didn't think Forrest Gump was an idiot at all. And he decided that no matter what kind of person Forrest Gump wanted to be, what kind of thing he wanted to do, he would be able to do it. Gong Su, the ape who went to outer space with Forrest Gump, was Forrest Gump's special friend. It was he who accompanied Forrest Gump to Buba's hometown after Buba's death to do shrimp farming business.
These three friends in Forrest Gump's life gave Forrest Gump continuous warmth and strength.
Lu Yao said in "Ordinary World" that people are alive, how important is this kind of affection between relatives, even if people's lives are full of ups and downs and hardships, as long as there is such feelings, they will feel a warm comfort.
Yes, for Forrest Gump, he not only has the feelings between relatives, but also has the sincere friendship between lovers and friends, they are his strong backing, even if they are stupid, they are extremely happy.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (2) The precious qualities of forrest Gump the Fool: sincerity, simplicity, and frankness</h3>
I may be an idiot, but at least I'm not stupid.
If Forrest Gump's misfortune is due to his stupidity, then Forrest Gump's luck is also because of his stupidity. And life doesn't need to be too smart.
Forrest Gump's congenital mental retardation makes him look dull, but in some ways he is gifted. For example, he is extremely talented in music, chess, and mathematics, and is considered an "idiot genius" by people. In other aspects, such as rugby, table tennis, wrestling, in addition to his height and weight advantages, more importantly, it is due to his natural qualities.
What is even more precious is that when he reaches the peak of his career with the same qualities and gradually feels that something is wrong, he can freely let go of everything and "go wandering" with Gong Su without any worries.
This is the essential difference between a fool and a smart person. An intellectually sound person is always obsessed with hard work, intoxicated by endless challenges and achievements, and can't stop. Many people do not understand the wisdom of "stopping at the right time" and "being able to take it and put it down".
The so-called "smart is mistaken by smart", the more you want, the more you lose. And only like the fool Forrest Gump, letting go again and again, emptying again and again, can we exchange more opportunities and possibilities.
His sincerity makes others defenseless against him, and thus closer to the goal; his frankness is exchanged for the honesty of others, so that he can get more opportunities; his simplicity makes him have no intention of utilitarianism, and he can do a lot by doing nothing.
Many times, it's hard to tell what's smart and what's stupid. And only integrity and honesty are the greatest intelligence. Just like in "The Emperor's New Clothes", people who are smart are often shameful fools. From this point of view, having a child's IQ is Forrest Gump's greatest luck, if Forrest Gump is a lucky person.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >2, the legendary life of forrest Gump the Fool: Behind the perspective of the fool, behind the absurdity, is the true meaning of "doing nothing"</h1>
I may be an idiot, but, in any case, I've spent most of my years trying to do the right thing – dreams are just dreams after all, aren't they? So, leaving aside the rest, I think: I can always look back and tell myself that at least my life is not boring.
Through Forrest Gump's perspective, we see a lot of things that we can't see in ordinary times. For example, the sinister complexity of the world, such as the necessity of returning to authenticity.
There are a lot of absurd things in Forrest Gump's life. One of the most striking ones is that when he needs to face the public to achieve something, and someone asks him", "What do you want to say" or "How did you do it", six times he says the same thing - I want to pee.
Yes, he has nothing to say. In the fool Forrest Gump, most of the time, he is free to do as he pleases, to be at ease with the situation, and to do nothing. He didn't do anything with a utilitarian purpose.
In the crowd, there must be a reason for doing anything, and in the process of doing it, we must try our best to eliminate all kinds of temptations and interferences, and we also need willpower to support it. In this case, the more eager it is, the more difficult it is to achieve it.
Speaking of which, we naturally think of Lao Tzu's idea of "doing nothing".
The core of the tao te ching is the "Tao", "Tao" is inaction, but the "Tao" has laws, with laws to constrain the operation of everything in the universe, and everything follows the law.
Extending it to governing the country is "ruling by doing nothing", and extending to being a person is to let go of vanity and utilitarianism, and not to be too smart.
The innocence and frankness of the fool Forrest Gump are the pedantry and absurdity of the people of the world. Leaving aside the anomalous behavior of people during Forrest Gump's previous unexpected success, the last time he was invited to run for the U.S. Senate is a big farce.
"Listen to me," I told him, "I'm just an idiot. I don't know anything about politics. ”
"That would be more appropriate!" Mr Clarston said, "We need good people like you. ”
Yes, idiots are more suitable. Forrest Gump's story does prove it. After all, many examples in the book show that Forrest Gump is more suitable for achieving many wishes that people can't ask for.
I think that when the author wrote this story, it is not so much that the deeds of the fool are somewhat absurd, but that the actions of normal people against the background of this absurdity are really absurd.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >3, a brief analysis of the "idiot" role in literature</h1>
I'm unresponsive—I agree, but I'm probably much smarter than others think, because what's going on in my head is very different from what other people see with their eyes.
The "idiot" character, we are not strangers. In many literary works, there are such people. Obviously, idiots are not just useless people, they come into this world with a mission.
Let's first look at the literature in which the writer arranges a fool in the book, so that the fool can appear in the foreign world, and at the same time let the reader understand the deeper meaning of stupidity. Occasionally, a great writer like Shakespeare would make a fool make one of his protagonists look out of the ordinary, thus providing a twist to inspire the reader. For example, in King Lear, the mad man played by Joe, and a really crazy king.
There is another situation, many times, the philosophical language is spoken through the mouth of a fool, making people suddenly have an epiphany. For example, in "Resurrection", the crazy and nameless old man who appears at the end, Tolstoy used his mouth to carry out a profound and fierce critique of religion, law, prisons, and bureaucracy.
At the same time, in the book, there are not a few fools who have done things. In addition to Forrest Gump in "Forrest Gump", there is also the foolish young master of Mai Qi Toast in "The Dust Settles" in Ah Lai. He has made the right suggestions to toast many times and is the only one who has witnessed the collapse of the toast system with a sober mind.
In addition, in real life, there are also some "crazy" people who live more freely and understandably than ordinary people. They have no other pursuits, only food, clothing and warmth, and almost no shame.
And sometimes, what we identify is often wrong. For example, in Gao Ming's "Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right", there is such a sentence: Sometimes you see that I am crazy, but in fact you are crazy.
We often fail to accept counterintuitive views and assertions, and always think without thinking that they are wrong, which is known in psychology as the social stereotype effect. In "Genius on the Left, Madman on the Right", Gao Ming came into contact with many mentally ill patients, and some of them were "cared for" as crazy people because they were active in their thinking and different from ordinary people.
Isn't that a stupid and ridiculous act? In the world of the unknown, all of us may be a child who has not yet escaped, so why not maintain a rare childlike heart in the hope of accepting more different thoughts? Just like Forrest Gump, simple, like a child, is actually happy.