Thursday, April 23, 2020

This Boys Life Essays - English-language Films, This Boys Life

This Boy's Life # # This Boys Life In both the film and the book This Boys Life Tobias Wolff is surrounded by bad role models and terrible father figures. Wolff and his mother are constantly looking for the complete family life and find themselves in a series of bad situations on their quest. In the book Tobys relationship with his mother Rosemary is illustrated in a clear and deeper manner but the movie just didnt seem to focus on it enough. This paper will evaluate the portrayal of Tobys relationship with his mother and the men in their lives as told in the memoir and the film. The relationship that Toby has with his mother is a very strong bond. That is evident in the film and the book. But what Toby lacks in both versions of this story is a good father figure, which his mother seems to be always on a journey to find for him. Early in the book Toby has several misadventures with bad influences, whether they are friends or father-like figures. Roy seems to be one of the first influences to really catch the readers eye. He follows Toby and his mother all the way to Utah from Florida mostly just to be with Rosemary. Roy uses Toby to get to Rosemary in many ways, for example when he buys Toby the rifle or when he takes him to spy on Rosemary at work and follow her home. Roy makes this seem like it is a game to Toby and befriends him this way. This portrayal of Roy is very well done in the film, too. To me this is a very important part of the story in general, because after you read the book and see the film, almost all the men who come into Tobys life treat hi m in some way like Roy treats him. Anything it took to get to his mother seems to be the theme of the story. This behavior would have a very traumatizing effect on any young child at that time in their life, but with the influence Tobys mother has on him he is always trying to find a way out of bad situations. Another example to this theme would be the chapter in the book when Toby and his mother go to Alkai Point to watch the mock naval battle and they run into the two men. They had left Roy not long before that and moved to Seattle so they could escape him again. This must have worked, finally, because Roy does not try to find them for the rest of the story. This chapter is not used in the film and probably could have been omitted from the book, but it described even more the willingness of Rosemary to fall into any relationship that came her way. Toby seems to be jealous of these men giving his mother their attention and when they notice this they channel most of their attention on him. As the reader you automatica lly know what these guys are after, not the love for a boy or his favorite hobbies, but after the mother who just happens to be with him. And by acting like they are interested in Toby, they deceive Rosemary into thinking they are just nice guys. Eventually Rosemary gives in and meets with them that night and the outcome is very similar to her relationship with Roy. She comes home crying, feeling used, and taken advantage of. Moving forward very quickly, like the movie does. Rosemary is very quick to find someone new to be involved with, in comes Dwight. Dwights character is portrayed very well in both the film and the book. Toby still does not have a father figure in his life and you can sense Rosemarys urgency about getting one for him. Toby has now become a real troublemaker at school and on the streets. Wolff describes times when he and his friends would slam bikes into cars and steal and cause various problems. These are normal things for kids to do but some of those instances may have been a little extreme. Rosemary does not feel that Toby is a bad kid, even though she hears

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