why Pooh shot Garp? - The World According to Garp (1982) Discussion

[–] mathan-syd 10 years ago

What a coincidence. I just finished watching this movie and i was looking for the same answer as you. I can only guess... May be she was irritated with him right from childhood when he was "close" with cushy that she let the dog bite him. Then there was this second incident when he was making out with Cushy, she calls up Helen to show her the whole thing (May be she knew there was something going between Helen and Garp and wanted their relationship to end). She never liked him at first place

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[–] HikerBoy57 10 years ago

Don't forget that by the end Pooh has become an Ellen Jamesian and is the one to point out Garp at Jenny's funeral. She always hated Garp (for no apparent reason, true), but this incident probably pushed her over the edge.

To get less literal and more subjective, Pooh seems to be symbolic of joylessness, or people with no sense of the subtleties of life. Kind of like the Ellen Jamesians in general. Even early in the film, she refuses to smile for her family photo and her parents both comment on it. The only time Pooh is seen smiling is when she can bring pain to someone, as when she shows Helen Garp & Cushie getting sexual in the bushes.

The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.

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[–] jodesbrindle 10 years ago

I thought it might have been because she always liked him, that she was jealous of whatever girl he was with

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[–] karawolf 10 years ago

I wonder if it was covered in the novel (haven't read it...don't plan to, unless it falls in my lap). Maybe someone who has will enlighten us.

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[–] ohhkayfolks 9 years ago

In the novel, it is hinted that Pooh resented Garp for fornicating with Cushie. Pooh believed this shared lust ultimately led to her sister Cushies death, as she died giving birth (not to an offspring of Garp, to be clear)

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[–] angelx 10 years ago

I always interpreted it as she was madly in love with him but he always ignored her.

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[–] Tylercosgrove1989 10 years ago

I'm embarrassed to say that I just now watched the movie for the first time. (What an amazing film by the way.) I interpreted it the same way. It seems like she was jealous of her sister and everyone else he ever showed attention to.

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[–] jtrichey13 10 years ago

No, no, no people, one of the answers above gets it right. She is an Ellen Jamesian, pure and simple.

Downwards is the only way forwards.

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[–] ArizonaKnightWolf 9 years ago

As with most film adaptions of great novels, much of the background story that can be presented in the book is left out of the movie for the purpose of saving time. In SIMON BIRCH, half of the novel it was based on (A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY) was chopped off. In THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, a subplot with a female orphan, and a lot of the relationship between Candy and Homer is not in the movie. In GARP, the background information on the Percy family is not as fully developed in the film as in the novel. The novel explains why Pooh has disliked, even hated, Garp throughout her life. The whole Percy clan is shown as very dysfunctional, and Pooh even more so than the rest of her family.

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Intellect and Romance Triumph Over Brute Force and Cynicism

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[–] kittylove15 8 years ago

shes not right in the head

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[–] rorystevens 7 years ago

I think a lot of it was motivated by him writing the book "Ellen" and criticizing the Ellen Jamesian movement. She's a terrorist.

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[–] mondobrin 7 years ago

In the book she blamed Garp for *beep* her sister to death". The logic behind this is shady since her sister died during childbirth a several years after Garp got married and moved away. My only guess is that she never liked him and her involvement with the Ellen Jamesian cult fueled her hatred.

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