Daily Dialogue — February 12, 2017

Forrest Gump: What’s the matter, mama?
Mrs. Gump: I’m dyin’, Forrest.

Forrest stunned. She motions to him.

Mrs. Gump: Come on in, sit down over here.

He does.

Forrest Gump: Why are you dyin’, mama?
Mrs. Gump: It’s my time. It’s just my time.

She takes his hand.

Mrs. Gump: Oh, now, don’t you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. Something we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your mama. I did the best I could. 
Forrest Gump: You did good, mama.
Mrs. Gump: Well… I happen to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you. 
Forrest Gump: What’s my destiny, mama?
Mrs. Gump: You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Forrest Gump (V.O.): Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

Mrs. Gump: I’m gonna miss you, Forrest.

Forrest Gump (V.O.): She had got the cancer. She dies on a Tuesday.

— Forrest Gump (1994), screenplay by Eric Roth, novel by Winston Groom

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Deathbed.

Trivia: Warner Bros. gave up the rights to this film in 1988 in exchange for the rights to Executive Decision (1996), because the studio felt that the project had lost its commercial promise in the wake of Rain Man (1988).

Dialogue On Dialogue: This exchange between Forrest and his mother serves a dual purpose: (1) To convey the mother’s death. (2) To tie back into the theme of destiny which is central to the story.