Forrest Gump (novel)
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| Author | Winston Groom |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Pocket Books (November 1994) |
Publication date | 1986 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 239 |
| ISBN | 0671526065 |
| Followed by | Gump and Co. |
Forrest Gump is a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The title character experiences adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships to thinking about his childhood love. The Vietnam War and college football are all part of the story. Throughout his life, Gump views the world simply and truthfully. Throughout the course of the book, he really doesn't know what he wants to do in life. Author and narrator Groom uses intonations that capture Gump's personality. Gump is full of wisdom, but is considered an "idiot" because of his low IQ and disability. According to him, he "can think things pretty good", but when he tries "sayin or writin them, it kinda come out like Jello". He is also physically strong and falls into amazing adventures.
Plot
Forrest Gump, named after General Nathan Bedford Forrest, narrates the story of his life. He mentions that his father worked on a dock and was crushed "like a pancake" by a crane full of bananas. While living in Mobile, Alabama, Forrest meets Jenny Curran during first grade. He enjoys walking home with her. After finishing that grade, he is put in a class for students with low IQ numbers (his IQ number being 70).
Six years later, when Forrest is thirteen years old, he has a height of 6.5 feet and a weight of 242 pounds. He plays for a football team coached by Coach Feller. Miss Henderson, a teacher whom Forrest is infatuated with, gives him reading assignments. He reads The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and two other books that he cannot remember. While he enjoys the books, he does not do well on tests. Around the same time, Jenny meets Forrest again and recognizes him from first grade. He sits next to her during lunch (described by him as his "favorite class") and is picked on by a boy who is around the age of fourteen. One day, Forrest fights back when the boy pokes him in the stomach with a stick.
Forrest gains popularity as a football player. Before his fourteenth birthday, he joins the All State Football team. The next year, he receives a package containing a baseball signed by the New York Yankees (it is later chewed up by a dog). One day, Forrest is called to the principal's office, where he meets Bear Bryant. He asks Forrest if he has considered playing college football. Forrest responds by shaking his head since he hadn't thought of it. Forrest takes a test, which he doesn't pass. In 1968, Forrest is given a "special diploma" when everyone else graduates from high school. Forrest takes a test at a local draft board for the United States Army. After taking a test, he is told that he is "Temporarily Deferred."
That week, a telephone operator named Miss French brings Forrest to her room to eat from a box of "divinity". She strokes him in a personal way that he would have preferred Jenny to have done. Forrest and Jenny go to the movies and see Bonnie and Clyde. In August, Forrest goes to the university and sleeps in "Ape Dorm", where he meets his room-mate Curtis from Opp, Alabama. Forrest doesn't understand the football plays and gets them wrong at first. The first football game takes place on Saturday a few weeks later. Forrest scores four touch-downs and his team beats University of Georgia 35 to 3. As other players go to parties, Forrest meets Bubba, who couldn't play in the game because he broke his foot during practice. The two of them play the mouth organ. The next day (Sunday), Bubba lets Forrest keep the harmonica and acquires another one. That afternoon, Jenny finds Forrest and tells him that she saw him at the game. She takes classes in music and drama, dreams of becoming an actress or a singer, and plays guitar in a folk music band. On Friday, Forrest sees Jenny and the rest of the band perform in front of the Student Union building. They play covers of songs by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary. Forrest plays his harmonica while they play "Blowin' in the Wind". Forrest starts playing with the band every Friday and makes $25 a gig.
A week later, English teacher Mister Boone tells Forrest that he should stop being amusing and start getting serious. Forrest has to write about the poet Wordsworth. One day, his guidance counselor at the athletics department excuses him from other classes. Forrest reports to Doctor Mills at the University Medical Center. Doctor Mills examines him.
Forrest flunks out of UA after one semester. He and Bubba join the army. Bubba dies in the Vietnam War. Forrest's mother loses everything when her inn burns and is driven to a poorhouse. Forrest meets Lieutenent Dan, who has lost his legs, in the infirmary. At a later point in the book, Jenny says, "Forrest, I'm ready for you to fuck me now", and the two have sexual intercourse on a kitchen sink. Forrest breaks Jenny's heart a couple of times. Jenny ends up marrying another man and raises Forrest Gump's child with him. At the end of the book, Forrest honors Bubba's memory by starting a shrimp business.
Film Adaptation
The novel was turned into a film by Paramount Pictures in 1994. The film version, placing Tom Hanks in the title role, won several Academy Awards and became, at the time, the fourth highest-grossing film ever. The novel contains many plot lines not included in the film. The novel was republished by Pocket Books (an imprint of Paramount's then-sister company Simon & Schuster) to tie in with the release of the film.
In the film, Forrest's mother tells him, "life is like a box of chocolates." In the novel, he says "bein a idiot is no box of chocolates."
References
External links
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