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3.1 The life as a child
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Winston Groom does not give many information about Forrest's childhood. He is characterised as shy,
reserved and quiet, and looking back on his years in \"nut-school\" he is completely aware of his mental
disability. Forrest shortly describes his first relation to Jenny and the physical changes of his body caused by
puberty.
The movie however gives a wider, longer and slightly different view on young Forrest. The first
characterisation remains almost unchanged, but there are lots of decisive events that Groom does not
mention.
The fact that Forrest has to wear leg-braces is the starting point of many newly added details to Forrest's life.
Another example is that Forrest's mother bribes the principal of the primary school so that he forgets about
her son's too low IQ. Furthermore we can see Forrest dancing for Elvis Presley, finally bursting his leg-braces
and being chased together with Jenny by her abusive father. Those events do not contribute to Forrest's
characterisation though, they only show that the life of the title character is very spectacular already in his
childhood.
But the decisive element Groom considered important was completely left out in the screenplay: The years in
\"nut-school\". Groom's first person narrator - Forrest Gump himself - describes those years and in the further
course of his story he refers to that school several times. This important chapter of the novel Forrest Gump
was replaced by a participation in a \"normal\" school in the film Forrest Gump. However, the justified question
how Forrest - being so mentally handicapped - is able to graduate from a \"normal\" school remains
unanswered in the screenplay.
3.2 The football career - high school and college years
After the short exposition of Forrest (by describing his years as a child) the action of the novel begins when
he is sixteen years old. Because of his stature and strength the teenager is \"drafted\" into the high school
football team. In the beginning Forrest does not understand the different rules and tactics of the game,
whereas in the further course of his career Forrest even recognises the mistakes of his fellow players.
Groom uses this football episode as a starting point to show the development of Forrest's character, his
attitude and his views towards different social and moral matters. To show that influence the author describes
Gump's first contacts with sexuality (he has an affair with one of his private teachers), and especially with
force and violence. Since football is a tough and sometimes dangerous game Forrest learns to react on certain
offences and assaults in real life, and so for the first time he hits back when he is beaten by another teenager
(compare p. 18 l. 21).
The author of the novel intended football to be an important influence on Forrest's growth of character,
whereas the screenplay writer does not emphasise this game to show a change of personality at all. Therefore,
the adoption of Gump's football career from novel to movie appears very superficial - only the cinematic
aspects seem to be relevant. This can be observed in the way the filmmakers had Forrest come to play football
in the first place: The extraordinary ability that Forrest seems to be the fastest boy all around his home town
(and probably throughout America) provided the creators of the movie with quite a few great shots that look
wonderful on the big screen.
Added to that, the makers of the film obviously wanted an innocent and \"immaculate\" main character and
therefore the sexual component is diminished to a short \"incident\" with Jenny - and Gump's newly obtained
will to defend himself is transformed into an instinct of protecting her.
Again, the problem of having an imbecile graduating from high school (and later on even from college) arises
- in both novel and movie. Groom treated this problem by showing that teachers give private lessons to
Forrest - justified by good contributions to the football team - and in college Forrest has to live in a
dormitory together with other pupils that have equal mental handicaps.
The movie however shows none of Forrest Gump's school activities, in fact, there is yet another contrast to
the novel: Forrest is not allowed to go to high school because he plays football, he comes to high school in
the \"normal\" way, graduating from primary school. But maybe Groom's idea was taken over one step later:
Although it is not said directly, football seems to be the reason for Gump's enrolment at college.
But the otherwise standard education is a sign of one of the big errors made in the transformation: Forgetting
about the original title character's enormous logical capabilities, Forrest Gump is made generally smarter in
the movie than he is in the novel.
3.3 Military service and the Vietnam War
Winston Groom decided to describe Forrest Gump's time in the army and in Vietnam in a very detailed way,
and so he emphasises one of the most cruel and unnecessary chapters in American history through the eyes
of the title character.
In his naive way of experiencing and judging things Forrest does not see a reason to his training, but he does
not question it either. His descriptions of the time in Fort Benning show his impressions: \"It was just doin
what they tole us an getting yelled at in the months to come. They taught us to shoot guns, thow hand
grenades an crawl aroun on our bellies.\" (p. 57, l.21-25). The screenplay shows that same attitude very
convincingly, and Gump's naive acceptance that things just are the way they are shows in two dialogs
between Private Gump and his drill sergeant. The sergeant asks Gump \"What's your sole purpose in this
army?\". Gump's prompt answer is: \"To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!\". Another time Forrest is the
first who assembles his gun, and the astonished sergeant wants to know: \"Why have you put that weapon
together so quickly Gump?\" - \"You've told me to, drill sergeant.\" Although Groom's Forrest Gump gives
more information about his views on the training, these scenes show that the conversion into the movie is
done appropriately.
But differences to the novel plot can be found at the beginning of Private Gump's military career. The movie
differs from Groom's original plot in two instances. First, instead of being drafted Forrest is offered to go to
the U.S. Army voluntarily. The reason for that change is not completely clear, it appears unnecessary. And
second, after signing up he finds the new friend on the way to his camp - Bubba. In the novel however the
two of them are friends at the university already and they meet only at a later time in Vietnam. In this case it is
clear why the filmmakers had to find a way to introduce Bubba at later point of time: The school where the two
boys originally met is not mentioned in the screenplay.
The film also differs in many other instances from the novel, especially the duration of Forrest's service in
Vietnam is shorter. Because it is impossible to pack all the different missions and battle situations Gump
experienced together into a comparable short time in the film, the producers had to find priorities again. And
so, they only showed an introduction to the Vietnam chapter and one short battle where Forrest saves the
lives of his comrades.
But the Vietnam time is also a time where we can see the first quotations of the novel that have been used in
the movie as well. One of the funniest scenes is Forrest's description of the weather in Vietnam (although it
was not taken over word by word): \"It commenced rainin one day an did not stop for two months. [...] It came
sidewise an straight down an sometimes even seem to come up from the groun.\" (p. 77, l. 21-26)
The probably most important influence on Forrest's life - Bubba's death in Vietnam - was fortunately almost
completely taken over into the screenplay plot. In fact, the idea of having Forrest save his comrades
\"accidentally\" when searching for Bubba was already an idea of Winston Groom. The movie adapts that
heroic deed and the dialog between the dying Bubba and Forrest remains almost unchanged - especially in
this case the filmmakers made the right choice. As they obviously understood what the death of Bubba meant
to the story, they even tried their everything they could to get the best possible results from that scene.
Generally, the Vietnam War episode of Forrest's life is portrayed well enough to show what Groom intended
to say about this awful time - except for one fact: In the movie, Forrest does not altogether understand what
is going on (e.g. he talks of \"taking this real long walks\" and searching \"this guy named Charlie\"). In
Groom's portrayal of Private Gump's service he becomes more and more aware of what happens around him,
and in the end he sees the war maybe even clearer than many of his comrades.
3.4 The shrimp business
After living through quite a few adventures the Forrest Gump of the novel finally gets the chance to start off
his own little shrimp farm, just the way he had intended to do all the time after Bubba's death. With expanding
and reinvesting money Forrest's little business grows from a one-pond-system to an enormous enterprise
with lots of corporations.
Groom's portrayal however has one disadvantage on the big screen: It would certainly not look very beautiful
if Forrest pulled out a few nets of shrimps out of a little dirty pond and it would not appear very heroic either.
The filmmakers decided to solve that problem by changing the facts a little. They turned the pond facility into
a shrimp boat and additionally gave the scenery emotional weight by showing Lieutenant Dan's fight and
reconciliation with God. In the end the audience is able to see wonderful scenes of a boat on the sea followed
by a great thunderstorm.
But this change is indeed justified, since on the one hand it does not change the plot too dramatically and the
shots on the sea are worth it on the other hand. The only thing one can find fault with is the participation of
the character Dan Taylor, whose last appearance in the novel shows him changed to a homeless and
forgotten veteran of war, who becomes a bitter communist. But since his personality has already been
transformed to a great extent for the screenplay this way of involving the Ex-Lieutenant can be \"overlooked\"
when judging the adapted screenplay.
However, it remains fascinating why the movie shows Dan at Forrest's side, for the author of the novel shows
that Gump employs almost every character the reader already knows in his shrimp enterprise, but not
Lieutenant Dan.
3.5 The continuing relationship with Jenny Curran
The film shows a Forrest who is in love with Jenny from beginning to the end, although they see each other
only in between Forrest's strange adventures. All the time the audience can see that Forrest remembers the
time with Jenny, he writes letters to her, even names all his shrimp boats after her and when he has been
separated for a long time he misses her extremely. When it turns out that the two of them have a son (who
grew up alone with his mother for more than three years), they finally marry. Shortly after the marriage Jenny
dies. Therefore, one of the last scenes of the movie - when Forrest says goodbye to his wife on her grave - is
the most tragic and moving part of the film.
In the novel the reader can pursue a similar relationship, but here the times that Forrest and Jenny spend
together are longer and Jenny returns the love much sooner than in the movie. Although Forrest often thinks
about Jenny, he does not often say that he misses her, and when he finds out that she finally married another
man he is somewhat shocked - but after a while he gets along with it. At the end of the novel, when Forrest is
older, it seems that he has almost forgotten his relation to Jenny and looking back over his life he can say. \"At
least I ain't led no hum-drum life.\" (p.288, l20-21)
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