In the end, Forrest ultimately realizes his interpretation of the meaning of life. Bombarded with different notions of the meaning of life, as Candide was, Forrest realizes that ?you make your own destiny?. It is not until Jenny dies that he actually gets it! When he has her childhood home bulldozed to the ground we know that he understands the corruption that originated within. It is during this emotional scene that Zemeckis allows Forrest?s true character to show. He is still compassionate, kind, and reserved, yet he possesses an understanding that can hardly be described in words. Forrest has suffered through a multitude of character defining events, yet it is when he discovers his son?s intelligence, and Jenny?s death, that he ?awakens? unknowingly.
Character defining ?awakenings? are all too common but not always documented. Some critics believe that the message of ?Forrest Gump? was to show ?that a man doesn?t have to be rich or smart to be dignified? (Ryan 4). While that may seem a fair assumption, it misses the entire message of the film. Matthew Giunti believes that ?the message is clear: you can do good?or you can do well, but to do both, simply turn off your mind and go with the flow? (3). Though that also seems to be a fair assumption, both lack a connection to Voltaire?s Candide. Candide is a fantastic advocate for philosophical skepticism. What Voltaire and Zemeckis are trying to say in these works is that life is cruel. We are all pawns in the malicious chess game orchestrated by the almighty. The difference however being that by exercising our choice to either fulfill our life or aimlessly float about, we in fact free ourselves from the constraints of ?the game?. It is in this choice, and freedom associated with it, that enables us (Jenny, Lt. Dan, Forrest, Candide, Lady Cunegonde, etc?) to live the rest of our lives content and fulfilled.
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