The movie, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, takes place in a small town, Endora, Iowa. From the beginning of the movie, it is evident that a boy named Arnie, suffers from autism. Arnie has an older brother named Gilbert, who is the main character and narrator of the movie. The entire movie spans a week leading up to Arnie’s eighteenth birthday; Gilbert explains that many doctors have told the Grape family that Arnie would never make it to his eighteenth birthday, so the family is more than excited to celebrate.
Other than Gilbert and Arnie, the Grape family consisted of two sisters and a mother. Before the youngest sister was born, the Grape family faced tragedy when their father committed suicide. Following the suicide of their father, their mother, Bonnie, began to suffer from severe depression, leading to her spending all of her time in front of the television and eating. Because of this, Bonnie is a very obese woman who never leaves the house and, therefore, cannot make a living. Because of this, Gilbert had no choice but to take care of and provide for the family.
…show more content…
They watched the trailers come through town, with Becky being in one of them yet again, but this time Arnie and Gilbert climb into her trailer.
In the movie, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, the mother, Bonnie, portrays major symptoms of depression, which leads to her being a burden on the family. The symptoms of depression Bonnie displays throughout the film includes: having little to no energy and little to no interest in partaking in any activities, irritability, excessive eating, and feelings of worthlessness and of a burden to her family.
We see an example of her feelings of worthlessness when Bonnie tells her children that she didn’t mean to be a humiliation or to be ridiculed, even though her kids tell her she’s not, she she still believes that she