10 March 2011

A box of questions...

One of the most famous quotes from Forrest Gump is, "Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get." What does that actually mean? Can this quote grant you access to Forrest's sociological imagination? What does it say about Gump's imagination and maybe Mrs. Gump's imagination?

25 comments:

SeaBassFortuna said...

That famous quote simply compares life to a box of assorted chocolates. His mother initially says that because she believes that no matter how you go about in life you never know what tomorrow will bring. For example, nobody can predict what will happen next until it happens. This opens up a clear view into Forrest's sociological imagination because it shows that Forrest has somewhat of an interactionist because he focuses more on how we react to one another and how most people react to everyday situations. He views reacting to others and everyday situations by thinking about how life is random and not knowing what you'll get until you experience it. Therefore this one quote demonstrates how the Gumps go about their lives by living it knowing they'll never know what they're going to get.

Dee-Marie said...

LIFE IS AN ASSORTED BOX OF CHOCOLATES. you bite into one and probably don't expect what you end up eating. Just like life, you're caught up in school, work, friends, boyfriends, etc and then BAM something happens that you didn't expect. Life is all about experiences, the only way you KNOW and LEARN is if you've experienced something for YOURSELF. Forrest's sociological imagination tells me that even though he is a little slow and not the brightest crayon in the box, he still managed to be a billionaire! People are so busy planning with there lives now a days, Gump never planned he knew what he wanted and got it every time! The bullys that made fun of him will see Gump on the television, magazines, and hear him over the radio, then feel real dumb for ever making fun of him, because he became VERY SUCCESSFUL, and he did not let anyone stand in his way. He was a man of his word. People think it's ridiculous that i say i'm going to be a famous make up artist and hair designer...hahah..just watch! If you put your mind to what you love and not expect anything from it, you will achieve tremendously just as Forrest did. As Bob Marley said, everything will be alright and if you think life is really sucking RIGHT NOW, just wait because something will happen and you won't expect it, just like that coconut chocolate you ate that thought was Carmel, don't live inside the box, have an open mind to everything because you never know what's around the corner.

mtancredi said...

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." This iconic quote was a comparison that Mrs. Gump used to explain to Forrest how life works. This is also her way of saying life is a delightful treat, and sometimes you get the ones you like and dislike. Forrest metaphorically ate every chocolate. He went through life not analyzing the details of every situation he just did it, without questions. This is an attribute that many people admired about him. He achieved everything he wanted and things some people desired, but at the end of the day he did it for himself no matter what life threw his way. Ultimately, this showed that Forrest's sociological imagination was just right. He took pride in his closest relationships and it spoke volumes in his imagination. Forrest may have been slow, but he didnt let life's bad candy, ruin his craving for something sweet in return. Forrest Gump lived a "box of chocolates" life.

Foster said...
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Foster said...

This quote actually means that life is random. Just like when you pick a chocolate from a box, you never know which flavor you are getting. This relates to life because you never know what hand you will be dealt, whether it is good, or sometimes bad. This quote helps you access Forrest's sociological imagination by showing you he just takes what is thrown at him; whatever the situation, Forrest always found a way to make the best of it. It says a lot about Forrest's imagination. He is not one of those people who are stuck over-analyzing everything in life, and end up missing out on half of it. Gump is alright with going with the flow and just seeing where the road will take him. This is the type of life to live. If you don't question everything, you might just be surprised with what comes your way.

chongo said...

When Forrest's mother says this, she is trying to explain to Forrest that you never know what life will bring you. Sometimes it may even be a shock, like when you crack a piece of chocolate that you think is caramel and you get dissapointed when it turns out to be coconut. Sometimes you just can't figure out how it happened! For Forrest, life is like that. He never knows what is going to happen next and has a hard time explaining why or how other things happened. This shows that both Forrest and his mother have underdeveloped sociological imaginations. They both have a hard time making connections between thier actions and the actions of the larger world. For example, Forrest doesn't understand what is goingon when he sees Jenny kissing another boy in the car. He thinks the boy is taking advantage of her and runs to break them up. Forrest has no idea that this might have been Jenny's choice. forrest has no understanding that Jenny does not wnat to be 'rescured'. this goes to show that his sociological imagination is underdeveloped.

chelseaoliveira said...

"Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get." I think this quote from the movie forest gump is saying that there is so much that can come from life and that there is so much to experience. They compare it to a box of chocolate because you never really know what you are going to bite into, it's a surprise. You can think that one think is going to happen but something else is really the ending result and you should chose carefully. I think this shows that forest and his mom have a well developed social imagination because because they knows that there is more to life than what you can really see and that things come unexpected so he just deals with what is in front of him and goes from there.

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Maisam said...
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Maisam said...

"Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get." This quote means that life is full of surprises and different things. In a box of chocolates, you don't know what's in the chocolate itself. It could be something that you really like and also things you dislike. It's a symbolism for life that things happen and you will like some of them but you won't exactly agree with everything. This says a lot about Forrest's sociological imagination. He went through life without even thinking of the events that were being presented and made the best out of them. He went with whatever life brought him and never worried about anything. This is how life should be lived and Forrest got to experience a lot of historical events in his life along with becoming a billionaire. People should live how Forrest lived, in a "box of chocolates" and live each day like its the last."-- Dan Raza

akuz said...
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akuz said...

This piece of advice that Mrs. Gumps gives to her son serves as a metaphor for the unpredictability of life. But the quote implies that while it is impossible to see what's coming next, every situation, good and bad, has a silver lining. Because afterall, even if you don't grab your favorite flavor, you're still eating chocolate (kind of sucks if you're a diabetic i guess..) The fact that Forrest lives devotedly by this advice shows that he has a rather weak sociological imagination. He does not connect the events in his life to the world around him nor evaluate individuals, personal histories, or specific relationships; he simply takes life as it comes becuase, the way he figures, he has no control over "what [he's] gonna get."

Demetri Savvidis said...

I feel like the quote relates to how you get a box a chocolates. When you're buying them, you really don't know what to expect but you take a chance anyways. In life we are always going to run in to situations where we have to make a split decision and take a chance. After getting the chocolates and realizing that you like some of them and the other pieces do not appeal to you, that could symbolize how you feel towards certain outcomes of a given situation. But no matter what the end result, you were always in control of what was going to happen because only you are responsible for your own actions... you were always the one in control of "buying the chocolate" from the start.

rpac said...

This quote explains life as a box of chocolates, which is unexpected and you don't know what will happen tomorrow. It gives an insight to Forrest's and his mother's imagination that they didn't go through their lives planning every second and even though Forrest was slow he didn't plan on anything happening in his life and he just floated through and went with anything that happened and his life turned out good. This quotes also describes that some things in life can be good and some things can be bad like getting a piece of chocolate that you don't like or your favorite ones. Forrest is a perfect example of the life to live.

KPelkowski!!!omg!!! said...

This quote relates the randomness of life to a box of chocolates. Life is so unexpected at times that you can never see whats coming. You take one out and when you eat it, it's a surprise. Sometimes you expect one flavor, but you eat another. That is just like what life is. You go somewhere expecting something but end up getting something totally different. This is a good example of Forrest's sociological imagination. He might not have the highest IQ but he is able to understand that no matter what life throws your way, you just have to deal with it and move on.

CASSIE ! said...

This quote simply means that in life there are always surprises and that not everything that happens will be expected. We should not always be looking for answers because sometimes they will just find you. If you have an open mind and are willing to except the many different possibilities that are waiting for you, then life will be much better. This quote shows that Forrest Gump is very connected with the rest of the world. He doesn't focus on what is going to happen in his life, but instead he just takes life one day at a time seeing what happens. Throughout the entire movie you see that he doesn't ever really go looking for the experiences he goes through- the football scholarship, going to the war, becoming a rich shrimp boat captain, etc. He just simply focuses on the present and ends up finding much happiness and fortune. He also ends up helping so many people in the world just because of how he was raised, and that one quote had a huge impact in all of that. Mrs. Gump's sociological imagination works just as Forrest's does. She, too, lives only in the present and focuses on more than just her own life. She impacts many lives by opening her home to those in need of a place to stay when traveling. She helps out people in the world, no matter who they may be and that shows that she is connected with the rest of the world, and she, in turn, passed that onto her son.

Zach said...

The quote means that life is very unexpecting and that nobody really knows what is going to happen next. The movie showed this by Forrest going through and experiencing many different things through life such as the war, shrimmping, and even ping pong; Forrest had no idea what his life would bring him. This quote does help with understanding Forrest's sociological imagination because like a box of chocolates there were some parts of life that he liked and others that he wasn't too fond of, such as when he was a kid and had to wear braces on his legs and got made fun of and was just looked as a slow kid. Then there were parts of life that Forrest loved such as his Shrimmping or when he was playing ping pong. This quote says that Forrest's imagination is rich and unique because not everyone realizes life's full of good and bad experiences and that Forrest has experiences of both.

Unknown said...

It means that you can't choose whether you'll be born into a rich family or a poor family, or if you're going to be athletic or smart. You never know what life has in store for you, hence, "You never know what you are gonna get." The quote lets us see Forrest's sociological imagination because it shows how he thinks and views ideas from different and sometimes radical perspectives. This tells us that Forrest has a large sociological imagination. It's not meant to be viewed as him being dumb which is what people think in the film and also viewing the film. Mrs. Gump's imagination is good as well. Since he was raised by her and brought up to think this way, she must have just as bright of a sociological imagination as he does.

mtreviso44 said...

I feel that it actually means that life is full of good or bad unexpected events. You never know what the future may hold for you. This quote is a perfect door into Forrest’s sociological imagination because it shows you the way he looks at life and his own personal out look on his own life. Throughout the whole movie he relates his stories to that quote so it just shows his own prospected on life. It shows that Gump can take every situation and relate it to that quote to find a positive side out of everything. It also shows that his mother’s imagination was very positive in any situation and more of a free happy mind rather than worry about things or let things bring her down.

mtreviso44 said...
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Leann said...

"Life is like a box of choclates...you never know what you're gonna get" is such an iconic quote because of its simplicity. Life is filled with different possibilities; with a box of chocolates, each piece has a different possibility, same as every choice you make in life leads to a different outcome.
I believe this quote gives us a peak of how Forest's mind works. His mother makes these abstract connections between small things and the bigger world because Forest's sociological imagination is, in my eyes, overdeveloped; he sees connections not many people can see. I feel that Mrs. Gump started out with a normal sociological imagination, but as she began raising Forest, it became more and more developed because she needed to explain things to him in terms he could understand. By the end, both Forest and his mother have sociological imaginations much more developed than yours or mine; I feel that's the main reason why Forest's life was so worth living.

DOMINIC said...

"Life is like a box of chocolates". In my opinion Forrest's mother as trying to tell him that life is unpredictable and you never know what you’re going to get out of it. When you buy assorted chocolates you never know what’s inside the box, all you know is that you are getting chocolate. You don't know weather they are filled with coconuts, caramel, almonds, etc... On the other hand when you are born into this world you don't know what your going to become, you may have a general idea of what you want to be or a dream, but there is know way to know for sure.

Anita said...

The quote "Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get" this means that life is full of surprises and we never know what will come up next. People have to be prepared for anything becuase we wach have our own destiny that we follow. Yes this quote can grant us acess to Forrest's imagination becuase he is a very surpising man that goes about town doing everything he can. He played football at college and he went to war and he ran for years. He follows his destiny and we see that the chocolates bring him many different surprises. As for Mrs. Gump's imaginatoin, she had been choses to die of cancer and that was her surpise to Forrest. We couldnt stop it and that was abig change in his life becuase he lost someone really close to him.

Unknown said...

I think that this quote means that you never know what your gonna get out of life. You never know what tomorrow will bring so you shouldnt worry or wonder about it. Forrest didnt care about tomorrow, where life would take him or who he would meet, he just enjoyed living. Forrest didnt care about what others thought of him when he helped that girl who dropped her book or when he ran for three years, he just felt like doing them, and then continued on with his life, still not knowing what will happen the next day. I think that this is a good lesson to learn because it means we shouldnt dwell on the small stuff or worry about tomorrow because we should just live life one day at a time.Living one step at a time and being who you and enjoying life is like taking a piece of chocolate and enjoying it while it lasts, one piece at a time.

aannlockery said...

I think the quote means that in a box of assorted chocolates, you never know what flavor will be inside, unless you bite into it. The same thing goes for life, you never know what could happen, or what something would be like if you don't try. I think Forrest has a deeper way of looking at life, not like a psychological deep, but a realistic deep. He doesn't always take things for what it is, he sometimes seems to overcomplicate things. Both him and his mom think the world is a better place than it actually is, she wants to think that everyone is just going to get along, and then that thought gets passed down to Forrest, and since he thinks that way, he doesn't have that perspective of, "oh someone else doesn't think the same way I do"