Mohamed Taha
Dr. Janice Heiges
ENG 112
January 20, 2015
The Pursuit of Happyness The movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” is one of a handful of movies that bucks the trend. The movie shows, on the one hand, the darkest year in Chris Gardner’s life at the beginning of the 1980s. On the other hand, his personal fulfilment of the American Dream. The title of the movie is derived from the Declaration of Independence but is deliberately misspelled. The unusual spelling of the film's title is on the wall outside the daycare facility his son attends. The film shows Chris Gardner struggling to give his family a better future. Chris invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris' life. Chris lives at home with his dispirited girlfriend, Linda, and their 5-year-old son, Christopher. Linda leaves him and his son Christopher because of them being in financial difficulties. He is left to raise the 5-year-old boy on his own, and he tries his best because Christopher is the apple of daddy's eye. One day Chris meets a stockbroker with a red Ferrari at a parking lot and asks him two questions “What do you do? And how do you do that?”. This is to be the turning point in his life. Chris fights for an unpaid trainee program at a stockbroker firm, but only the best one out of many applicants will get the job. Despite the financial risk, Chris decides to go for it, frantically juggling his schedule to get Christopher to and from day care each day. Gardner is further set back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and his young son are evicted. Since he cannot pay his rent; Chris and his son become homeless and have to sleep in a church shelter or sometimes in the restroom of an underground station. Despite his troubles, Chris continues to honor his commitment as a loving and caring father, using the affection and trust his son has placed in him as an impetus to overcome the obstacles he faces. In the end, Chris passes the exam because he has worked harder than all the others and becomes a stockbroker. Furthermore, this autobiographical story is very interesting, and on top of that an appropriate story to explain and to analyse the American Dream. This is the beginning of his wonderful career, which has ended up in his being a multi-millionaire with his own business firm nowadays. Chris Gardner is a bright and talented, but marginally employed salesman. He was a man who suffered from a lack of personal fulfilment. He had problems in his family, had lost his job, and had to sleep in an underground station with his son because he had no money for a room. He was struggling in his business selling bone density scanners to hospitals, while taking care of his five year old son following his wife's departure. Although, he is not disappointed until he has ended up in his being a multi-millionaire with his own business firm. Chris has an awesome personality because he was trying to face all the problems that he has till he achieved his dream, and he accomplished his ambition. And one of the film's most powerful scenes comes when Christopher is trying to shoot hoops with his new ball. Chris encourages his son by telling him "Don't ever let somebody tell you. You can't do something. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. If you want something, go get it. Period."
The failure gender roles is the mother because she was weak. She left her only son and her boyfriend to