Analysis Of Hushpuppy In The Film 'Beasts Of The Southern Wild'

In the film Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin, the main character, six-year-old Hushpuppy, admires her father Wink greatly, to the point where she tries to be exactly like him. Similarly, in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s creature longs to impersonate the villagers he watches and praises. Having a role model is crucial because these figures exemplify ideals in which young individuals strive to mimic.
Typically, a girl idolizes her mother, constantly wanting to imitate her, but in the film Beasts of the Southern Wild, this is not the case for Hushpuppy. Since her mother left when she was young, Hushpuppy’s only true family is her father, Wink, which results in her understandable adoration of him. Hushpuppy acts more like a son than a daughter to Wink
All alone, the creature wanders through the woods, learning about fire, sunlight, and resources along the way. He arrives at a village and hides in a shed, which is attached to the cottage of a family of three. He begins to observe this family’s behavior and everyday activities, seeing how they converse with one another and what they do to help each other. Although no one knows of his existence besides Victor, the creature feels like he is a part of these cottagers’ lives. The creature “[discovers] the names that were given to some of the most familiar objects of discourse… and the names of the cottagers” (Shelley 78). Slowly, he begins to learn the English language by listening to the family, whose names he learns are Felix, Agatha, and De Lacey. He mimics the sounds and words they pronounce with his own voice, allowing him to improve his skills in the language spoken by his role models. As he acquires more knowledge, his longing to interact with the cottagers he has admired for months