ENG 1D1
12 October 2018 Jamal Wallace
In the movie ‘Finding Forrester’, Jamal Wallace is focused, intelligent and persistent. Jamal Wallace is not a studied literary writer, but he has the ability to do great things. He will never be doubted for his abilities as he continues to write even when he faces difficulties.
Firstly, Jamal shows his focus and willingness by receiving great educational offers and instruction. Through the movie, we learned that Jamal is a C student who surprisingly does well on tests. As it was shown in the movie, Jamal's mom was surprised when she was told that Jamal excels his test greatly while being a C student. Although Jamal was a C student, he was also a great athlete. Next, when Jamal is at Mr. Forresters home he only asked questions about literature and being in a writing contest. When Jamal asked to bring his writing over to have it checked by Mr. Forrester he got a reply of “How about 5,000 words on why you should stay the f*** out of my house”. Mr. Forester didn't think Jamal would come back with what he said sarcastically. Although, he did do so. He is dedicated to his learning of literature.
Secondly, Jamal shows his intelligence by excelling athletically and academically. In the movie, Jamal has shown his intelligence in various situations. For an example, Jamal is approached by a private school because of his remarkable basketball talent. No one at the school believed that Jamal had academic capabilities. They only believe that he was there to play basketball. Another example of Jamal’s intelligence was at a class. A teacher had accused Jamal of plagiarism. However, Jamal proved he was innocent of plagiarism. During his free time, he reads quite often so he achieved good literature. Another example would be when Professor Crawford was talking about famous quotes from authors. Jamal caught the errors the Professor was making. Jamal knew the quotes. Professor Crawford did not like the fact that Jamal knew the quotes.
“ Perhaps the challenge should have been directed elsewhere.”
“ It is a melancholy truth that even” - gets interrupted by Jamal.
“Great men have poor relations”
“Dickens.” Professor Crawford then says
“Man is the only animal”- Jamal interrupts
“That blushes… or needs to”
“That’s Mark Twain”
“Come on Professor Crawford,” said Jamal
“Get out!” said Professor
Lastly, Jamal is persistent since he knows who he is and whom he wants to be. He did not let the society decide for him. Jamal did not want to be recognized as a basketball player; he wanted to be more than that and pursued his passion for writing. To relate to the example, when Mr. Forrester told him to “F*** off,” many would have done that, however, Jamal knew that Mr. Forrester would be the one to help pursue his career in literature. Therefore, he became Mr. Forrester’s friend. Jamal never failed to show his intelligence whenever he could which lead to being persistent but also determined as he did not let others think that he could not be more than just a basketball player.
In conclusion, we learn that Jamal is focused, intelligent and persistent. Jamal shows his persistence and willingness by receiving great educational offers and instruction. Secondly, Jamal shows his intelligence by excelling athletically and academically. Lastly, Jamal is persistent as he knows who he is and whom he wants to be. We also know that Jamal is a beginner in writing. His difficulties won’t stop him from achieving his goals of becoming a writer just like William Forrester whom he looked up to for inspiration.
