Forrest Gump

“He takes a carton of milk and pours it in my lap an I jump up and run because it scares me” 

As a child, Forrest is enormous and strong, but fighting doesn’t present itself as an option to him. Even though he will eventually fight in Vietnam, this relatively gentle conflict scares him when he’s young. 

“I got to pee” 

This becomes Forrest’s catchphrase, surfacing in everything from his brief stint as an astronaut, to becoming his campaign slogan during his Senate run. Every time he says it, he means it literally, but everyone else finds a way to invest it with some other meaning. He tells the truth, and people turn it into something else. 

“Forrest, you gotta be careful, because they gonna put you away” 

Forrest’s mother lives in fear of him being taken away from her. She knows that he would suffer if put into a situation that he couldn’t understand or control, like an asylum. 

“I ain’t never drank a beer, but I can see how a feller could acquire a taste for it” 

Forrest never seems interested in vices, but when someone offers him a beer or marijuana, he immediately accepts in good faith and isn’t able to see the harm in indulging, which can lead to dangerous amounts of consumption. 

“It didn’t hurt me none” 

Forrest is carrying a lot of extra gear for the men in his platoon. Because it’s not difficult for him, it makes sense to him that he should help, simply because he can. 

“It is something I simply cannot understand—why in hell is we doing this, anyway?” 

Forrest’s observation during a firefight in Vietnam is an accurate summary of the public sentiment about the war. If there was something right or necessary in it, Forrest would have been able to see it. 

“You are a good fellow, Forrest, and you have a good heart” 

When Forrest is asked his opinion on the war, even though he is speaking as a military recruiter, he can’t help but answer honestly. His scruples do not allow him to say things he knows aren’t true. 

“It is a bunch of shit”

When Forrest is asked his opinion on the war, even though he is speaking as a military recruiter, he can’t help but answer honestly. His scruples do not allow him to say things he knows aren’t true.

“The idiot has played an important role in history and in literature for many years” 

In Professor Quackenbrush’s lecture, the idiot is held up as an object of reverence. It was the idiot or fool through whom playwrights tended to reveal the most significant truths. 

“All of the sudden things start to change for me—like my whole life jus begun, and I am the happiest feller in the world” 

Despite all the things that have happened to him so far, it is after he has sex with Jenny for the first time that Forrest feels as if his life is actually starting. 

“The only problem was, it kind of made me stupider after a while” 

Forrest realizes the effect that marijuana is having on him, but it makes him feel so good not to worry about anything that he is willing to sacrifice even more of his wits to smoke. It’s a reminder that he lacks confidence in many areas. 

“Finally, I am ‘put away’” 

After hitting the Senate clerk with the medal, Forrest is committed to a psychiatric institute. Although he has always felt separated from other people, now he is literally being set apart from normal society, which makes him more self-conscious about his limitations. 

“I guess I’m just waiting to die or somethin’” 

Dan expresses a similar existential plight to most of the characters besides Forrest. Sometimes they are fully aware that they are going through the motions, but can’t seem to find a way to make choices that would actually improve their lives. 

“Something is telling me that he’s the one who needs some help, but that’s all right with me” 

Forrest has enough insight into Dan’s character to know that, even though he’s offering to help Forrest, he might subconsciously be aware that Forrest’s company will help him. 

“I even tried to fall in love with him, but I just couldn’t cus I was thinkin’ of you”

Forrest meets a need of Jenny’s that she can’t seem to find with anyone else. He is the only one who loves her for exactly who she is, and not just for the pleasures her body can provide. She seems to know this. 

“I am goin out there and hearin’ them cheer. An they is cheering me—idiot or not” 

Despite the relatively demeaning role he plays as a wrestler, Forrest enjoys having the support of the crowd. His ego isn’t anywhere close to that of many of the other characters, but it’s there. 

“Well, I ain’t gonna wait around forever,’ said Jenny, but I didn’t believe she meant it” 

Once Forrest is in a steady relationship with Jenny, he gives himself permission to ignore some of the things she says. He cannot fathom that she would actually leave him. This is one of the few times he pays a heavy price for doing what comes naturally to him. 

“I let it drop to the floor and just stood there, realizin’ for the first time in my life what it truly means to be a idiot” 

Forrest reacts to the letter in which Jenny says she has left him for not listening to her. This is as close as he comes to having an awareness of his low intelligence directed inwardas a form of self-loathing. 

“She is cryin an twistin her hands and snifflin like always. Good ole Mama” 

It’s ironic that Forrest’s most consistent image of his mother is her crying with worry at his troubles, and her relief over his continued deliverance from the dangers he exposes himself to. She was always crying because she always cared. 

“How is a po idiot gonna have a plan?” 

Forrest’s mother is supportive, but when even she views him as (and calls him) an idiot, it’s obvious that he would never be able to conceive of himself in any other way. 

“It is all I can do” 

After Forrest learns that Jenny is married, he cries all night. But the next day, he gets back to work and vows to try harder than ever. He will control what he can control and not spend too much time dwelling on what he cannot change, a lesson that most of the other characters do not learn. 

“Maybe you ought to axe your daddy bout that. I’m sure he knows a lot more than me” 

Forrest meets his son, who is interested in becoming an astronaut and a football player. Even though he has been both of those things, Forrest doesn’t boast. He gives the boy a chance to look up to his father, even though he is actually Forrest’s son. 

“I may be a idiot, but most of the time, anyway, I tried to do the right thing” 

If someone of Forrest’s mental ability can see that doing the right thing is obviously something to strive for, people of greater intelligence have even less excuse for failing to do the right thing.