Jenny's Impact on Forrest Gump

Forrest was born with an IQ of 75. Because of this, he was isolated by all the boys and girls, many of which called him by names such as “dummy” or “stupid”. And yet at the movie’s end, he had turned into a loving son, husband and father, a friend, a soldier, a millionaire, an inspiration. How could he manage to do that? As the movie goes on, it is revealed that he was changed by each person he met in his life. The most influential person in Forrest’s life is Jenny. Meeting Jenny was the first turning point in his life. For the first time, Forrest knew what friendship was. They spent many time together playing around the trees, waiting for the stars, teaching each other how to climb, how to read. Forrest always said they was like “peas and carrots”. Jenny was the first person to open her heart to Forrest and accept him as the person he was. Thanks to her, Forrest became more sociable. Before meeting Jenny, he found it hard to speak to other people. Now, he wasn’t even afraid to talk to strangers. Jenny became his best friend for the rest of his life. In the movie, Forrest was a really fast runner. It was actually Jenny who made Forrest run in the first place. From Jenny, Forrest learnt how to deal with bullies: he ran. Those simple words of Jenny had greatly affected his life. They helped him get into college by scholarship to play for the football team. When he was in the army and they were ambushed, at first, remembering what Jenny said, Forrest ran for his life. After that, however, he realized others were still in danger. He ran back and helped anyone he saw out of the forrest, then came back for others. After this brave action, he was awarded Medal of Honor by the President himself. He even ran a coast to coast marathon in 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours, attracting many followers and inspiring many people to success. His action had proved that just because he was born with a low IQ did not mean he could not do anything. All of this were started by Jenny’s simple words: “run, Forrest, run”. Another thing that Jenny gave Forrest was the taste of love. Growing up together with Jenny, he always had a special feeling for her. He always saw the best in her, no matter how many crazy things she did. When she got into trouble, he came and helped her out. He wasn’t afraid to show Jenny his feeling. He told her he loved her many times, but Jenny always refused because she thought he could not understand love. So one time, after he had proposed but was refused, Forrest said: “I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is”. He was fully aware of his low-IQ condition, but he believed he would make a good husband for her. His love for Jenny had been his biggest motivation. He thought about her everytime, and he would do anything to make her happy. It also turned him into a loving father to their son at the end of the movie.