The Characters in ‘Whats eating Gilbert Grape’ made the film into the undying classic it is today.
Without the interesting and authentic characters featured in this film,‘Whats eating Gilbert Grape’ would be as obscure and unheard of as Endora itself. Three characters that held great significance to the story were Gilbert,Arnie and Bonnie. Every one of these characters had a part in making this movie memorable and moving. Bonnie,Gilbert and Arnie belong to a dysfunctional family, a mother who is chronically obese, a mentally retarded teenager with the brain of a five year old and Gilbert the deeply depressed son; who was left …show more content…
Arnie had not bathed in days and pressured by Bonnie, Gilbert took him upstairs to have a bath. Arnie was his usual impossible self and Gilbert lost patience shoving him into the bath with his clothes on. Arnie got up and continued to fight, at his wits end Gilbert slaps him hard against his face; drawing blood. Gilbert feels very guilty and regretful about the whole incident and confesses to Becky in the voice of a broken man “ I hit him, damn I hit him so hard”.
Gilbert is significant to the story because he is the main character who plays along the theme of unconditional love and caring. Even though his mother has left him to pick up the pieces and look after the family he still loves her. Gilbert feels like he is sacrificing his youth for his family, and yet he continues to let life pass him by. Gilbert does this because he is the responsible person in the family, he earns the money, looks after the house and most importantly takes care of Arnie like a real