Jenny Curran | Main Character
Jenny is a main character to Forrest Gump’s story. Jenny is Forrest’s best friend and later love interest. At the start of the movie Jenny is seen as a kind, beautiful young girl who offers Forrest a seat on his first school bus trip. Ever since that moment they’ve been best friends or as Forrest likes to say, “Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots.” Despite being directly characterised as a kind girl the first time she meets Forrest she asks him “Are you stupid or something?” indirectly characterising her as though she doesn’t quite care all that much about Forrest’s feelings and realises that he’s not the same as everyone else. This is a reoccurring aspect of Jenny’s character. "Dear God, make me a bird. So I could fly far. Far far away from here". - Jenny Curran |
As Jenny gets older she continues to teach and inspire Forrest particularly to run through “Run Forrest, Run”. Jenny is soon expelled from her college and this seems to start the descent into the life of drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Often throughout the story Forrest comes back to see Jenny and finds her despite her not wanting his presence. Jenny is a drug addict and possibly a prostitute as well as being depressed to the point of her having suicidal tendencies examples include her wanting to jump of the bridge and almost jumping out of the hotels balcony.
“Run, Forrest! Run!” - Jenny Curran
Throughout the film Jenny can be indirectly characterised as unthoughtful, unreliable and trouble to herself as well as Forrest. In short Jenny is seen to be kind and lovely young girl at the beginning of the story but as the film continues she seems to drag herself into more trouble eventually leaving Forrest with their son after her death from a virus possibly AIDS or Hepatitis C from her drug use.
Character Growth -
Jenny is first seen as a beautiful young girl, with a pretty face, nice long hair and wearing a charming white dress. She comes across as a very appealing and delicate girl, especially in Forrest’s eyes quoting “I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel”.
As she gets older instead of being a pretty young girl she is a beautiful young woman. Jenny has almost remained the same during her teens but begins to change during her time at college. She begins to act more like a young adult and starts to do things that aren’t really seen in a positive light like when she models for a playboy magazine. This seems to start her descent into the life of drugs, partying and prostitution.
Jenny falls into many popular movements throughout the 70’s and 80’s like the hippy movement, where she hitches rides with her crew and travels all over the place trying to sing and become famous. Within this era, she is reunited with Forrest again and seems to become a nice lovely girl towards Forrest, despite at their last meeting telling him to leave her alone and not returning his letters from Vietnam.
In what seems to be in the 70’s with the wild partying and drug addiction, on top of that seems to have delved into prostitution and not really caring about the current affairs in the world. Multiple times she has implied that she wants to commit suicide.
Towards the end of the movie she appears to have cleaned herself up, she has short hair like a housewife, a steady job working at a diner, a nice clean house and looks clean and organised in comparison to her former self.
In the end I think Jenny is the character that went through the most change during the film and not necessarily for the best. Although how she ended up was better than her 60’s or 70’s self I can’t say that she was the kindest or most considerate character at any point in the film and could’ve been a better friend and lover to Forrest.
As she gets older instead of being a pretty young girl she is a beautiful young woman. Jenny has almost remained the same during her teens but begins to change during her time at college. She begins to act more like a young adult and starts to do things that aren’t really seen in a positive light like when she models for a playboy magazine. This seems to start her descent into the life of drugs, partying and prostitution.
Jenny falls into many popular movements throughout the 70’s and 80’s like the hippy movement, where she hitches rides with her crew and travels all over the place trying to sing and become famous. Within this era, she is reunited with Forrest again and seems to become a nice lovely girl towards Forrest, despite at their last meeting telling him to leave her alone and not returning his letters from Vietnam.
In what seems to be in the 70’s with the wild partying and drug addiction, on top of that seems to have delved into prostitution and not really caring about the current affairs in the world. Multiple times she has implied that she wants to commit suicide.
Towards the end of the movie she appears to have cleaned herself up, she has short hair like a housewife, a steady job working at a diner, a nice clean house and looks clean and organised in comparison to her former self.
In the end I think Jenny is the character that went through the most change during the film and not necessarily for the best. Although how she ended up was better than her 60’s or 70’s self I can’t say that she was the kindest or most considerate character at any point in the film and could’ve been a better friend and lover to Forrest.