'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' Essay

A personal crisis can be defined as ‘a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger’ in one’s life. People in a situation of crisis need to find ways to overcome this period of their life, whether it is a simple solution or a gradual process. In the movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, Johnny Depp plays the character of Gilbert, who must take on the role of the father in his house after his own father hangs himself. For Gilbert, this is not an easy job, and between caring for his mentally disabled brother and morbidly obese, couch bound mother, he has no time left for himself. Gilbert is not truly happy, and could be said to be in a personal crisis. The way that Gilbert copes with the situation he’s in, and continues to be selfless and responsible for his family, can demonstrate many valuable life lessons to the viewer.

One priceless life lesson that can be learnt from Gilbert Grape is that no matter what happens, your family are the most important people in your life. Gilbert loves his family with all his heart, and although he might not always say it, we can see it through his actions. After the suicide of Mr Grape, father to the four Grape children, and loving husband of Mrs Grape, the whole Grape family were in a state of crisis. Gilbert had to put his own grieving aside to help the family to cope. He got a dead-end job at the local grocery store to support them, and looked after his younger brother Arnie, who needed constant supervision. This is hard for Gilbert, because instead of starting his own life and leaving his boring small country town, like other young men his age, he has to live the same tedious routine every day. Although he gets frustrated at times, he never gives up on them, like many people would. As the viewer we see Gilberts actions towards his family as admirable and inspiring, which indirectly ‘teaches’ us to want to behave in the way that he would. We are gaining useful knowledge and principles that we can apply to our own lives,