Essay 3: Forgiveness

Kelsey Tucker

Lauren Servais

Online English 100

November 8, 2010

Forgiveness

            Sometimes forgiving someone who hurt you can be the hardest thing.  Some people have an easier time getting past those hurtful or disrespectful things done to them and others struggle with the hurt for longer time. There are also the people who never forgive the people who put them through hell because it’s too hard.

            In “Smoke Signals”, there is a young boy named Victor.  Growing up, he had an alcoholic dad, named Arnold, who also abused his wife and Victor.  Arnold soon figured out that he was hurting his family along with his actions and so he got up and left his family behind.  Throughout the coming years, Victor had to grow up on his own.  He had to teach himself to be a man since he didn’t have the help from a father figure. 

            Going back to the beginning of the movie, there is a house fire and Arnold saves a baby boy named Thomas. Victor and Thomas grew up being childhood friends.  Thomas, as he got older, always had good things to say about Arnold and creative stories to tell and Victor didn’t like it.  The only thoughts Victor carried with him were bad thoughts; thoughts of being abused by his father and his father’s addiction to alcohol.  Victor didn’t believe his father could be a good person after getting up and walking away from his family. 

            Throughout the film, Victor has flashbacks of his memories with his father.  Victor seems to angry about his father and let the past bother him for so long that he never got any time with his father years later.  There is a part of me that feels like he regretted this and like he missed out on a bond.  Because of everything that happened with his father, Victor lets it shape the way he thinks of everything because he didn’t get the feeling of love or someone caring for him.

            Arnold was soon to be found dead in his trailer and Victor got the call.  Victor and Thomas both went together to pick up the remains of the body.  Going to Arnolds home, he met his neighbor Suzy.  She let them inside the trailer where the body was found.  Inside, Victor found his dads belongings.  Inside his father’s wallet he found pictures and a picture of his family with the word “home” written on it.  Suzy then told them what Arnold had told her.  He was planning on coming back to Victor and his mother.  She said how proud Arnold was of his son and that he always had stories to tell about him.  Come to find out, Arnold admitted to Suzy that he was the one who started the fire that took the lives of Thomas’ parents. She said the guilt he felt made the drinking worse and soon to leave the reservation which meant leaving his family. Arnold had quit drinking once he left.  After talking with Suzy and being told information that he was never aware of, Victor finally comes to realize that it wasn’t him or his mother that made his father leave and that he loved them dearly.

            After the boys’ journey to get Arnolds ashes, Victor soon learned to forgive his father for leaving.  Victor forgiving his father would soon mean he could get on with his life and not think so negatively about it.  Meaning he could find happiness and live a good life.  There really is no excuse to leave your family behind and that can’t be easy for someone to be able to forgive that person who left.  Because Victor hadn’t forgiven his dad for leaving, he wasn’t happy with himself or in general. Victor realized that his dad was a good person and he needed to let go of the past.  I think that when Victor went to dump his father’s ashes out in the river, it helped him let go of all the anger and hurt he had inside of him for years because of his father leaving.

            Smoke Signals is a great movie and it teaches viewers about life and some of the struggles that come a long with it.  It shows relationships and how you really shouldn’t let something that was good for someone and bad for the other get between you and the other person.  In order for a person to be happy with who they are, sometimes they need to forgive the people or person who hurt them most so they can move past that experience and get on with their life.