When Milly and Lewis argue about not giving up, and Lewis wants to sit on the sill like Eric; and so she pulls him back and he runs out and starts digging up his "dead" G.I.Joes.
What's the meaning behind that? That he wasn't giving up? Was it that simple?
The way I saw it (and I read reviews from others who said what they thought) was that Lewis's constant interest in soldiers, war, fighting, and death was the way he was dealing with his father's death. I don't really know but maybe since he knew that his father didn't fight the cancer but killed himself instead, maybe Lewis felt like him playing with his soldiers, having them fighting was his way also of fighting the fight his father should have done to beat the cancer. But then Lewis had graveyards he made in his backyard to bury his "dead" soldiers. Maybe he felt like he was loosing the battle like his father did. (I don't know, I'm not good at explaining things myself. LOL!)
But the scene where he runs out in the storm to dig up his soldiers, to me showed how Lewis was deciding to no longer focus on death anymore and he was taking his first step to get over the grief of loosing his father and to start to move forward again by doing this.
I also loved how Milly and the Mom started to help him dig and find the buried soldiers. I saw that as a step the whole family was going to take together to help start the healing they needed, not just Lewis alone but the family taking the steps together. That's what I think might be the meaning in that part of the scene.
(Sometimes I'm not good at explaining things but I'd like for someone else to come and post what they thought of the scene.)
I'm still confused at the part where Lewis suddenly wanted to start doing what Eric did by sitting on the window sill. Not sure the meaning of that one. Because right before that Lewis was telling Milly that all this "don't give up" junk doesn't work..and that she should tell that advice to people like Eric, because Eric's always messed up and doesn't have any brains. Or whatever it was he said.
Anyway...where's Nick Castle to explain these things when we need him. Heh heh! :0)
Thanks; that's a great explanation. :D
I was a huge war, army, G.I.Joe fan growing up, and both my parents are alive; so I guess I never thought of Lewis' G.I.Joe love as a way of fighting against the cancer that his father hadn't fought. And yes, having his action figures die, like Duke (my favorite growing up) was his way of losing hope.
That's why I think he wanted to sit on the roof like Eric, who Lewis saw as having given up.
What I didn't understand was his sudden change of heart- he's on the roof, Milly pulls him back into his room; and then he bolts from her and runs down the stairs and outside to dig out his G.I.Joes
I think you did a great job of explaining things. :D
Thanks! I was hoping I worded it and explained it ok. :0)
As for how Louis had a sudden change of heart? I too am wondering about that one. I'm not exactly sure what made him have the change.
One idea I happened to think about was, maybe since Louis decided to sit on the roof and be like Eric, maybe he realized what happened to Eric...that Eric was put into an institution. So maybe Louis suddenly thought maybe he would be put into and institution too...(remember he's 8..sometimes kids get ideas that we know would never really happen.) Maybe he did have that thought, (since he mentioned it to Milly, that Eric was in a "loony bin.") maybe it scared him enough till he felt he had to go do something about it and start to make a change in his life. But that might not be it at all! That's just a guess I happened to think up.
I'm really not sure to be honest. Still, I'd love to be a friend of Nick Castle and I could just call him up and ask him since he was the one who wrote the story. LOL! I think I'd have many other questions to ask him too. LOL! :0P
That scene is my favorite scene and one that expresses more compassion and family togetherness than just about anything else. No actual GI Joe movie could convey that kind of camaraderie for fellow soldiers.
I just thought Lewis was a typical kid of the time. Everyone I knew was into GI Joe and war toys. The significance of the scene is simply to show the family coming together and helping each other. Lewis snapped back into reality and wanted his toys. He didn't go to dig them up; he went to gather them as they were being washed out by the rain. Even though they were buried, he didn't consider them lost. Remember, when they moved there he was "starting another graveyard", so that was already his method when playing and he surely dug them up from there before they moved.