Interpersonal Communication in Forrest Gump

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Jenny and Forrest’s relationship is based heavily on the presence of autonomy/connection. This is a relationship dialect where the partners want to be separate but at the same time together (Wood 1998). This relates to Jenny always pushing back away from Forrest. Whenever they are reunited Jenny ends up running away right as they are about to hit a turning point in their relationship. The first time Forrest asks Jenny to marry him, she leaves without notice the next day. Jenny is afraid things will fall apart if she stays with Forrest for too long. On the other hand, Forrest wants nothing else than to be with Jenny all the time. Whenever or wherever Forrest is, he is thinking about Jenny. He even names his shrimp fishing boat Jenny so he can always be with her. This contrast creates strain in their relationship because while Jenny is trying to run away, Forrest is pushing forward with their relationship. The challenges they face is being on the same page at the same time. When Jenny finally marries Forrest, she dies shortly after due to an illness (Jiang, 2013).

Another thing Forrest struggles with is personal construct. This is the boundaries and judgements we set for ourselves in situations (Wood, 1998). Forrest’s “mental yardstick” is very short, it is hard for him to pick up on social cues. It is hard for Forrest to see the bad in people, which can be a good and bad thing. For example, when he is fighting in the Vietnam war, Forrest thinks they are looking for guy named Charlie. He doesn’t fully understand what is going on in his surroundings but he takes direction extremely well. Along with Forrest interacting with others, personal construct influences his relationship with Jenny. Whenever Jenny tells Forrest to leave her alone, even though he is hesitant he does whatever she says. Jenny helps Forrest with his mental yardstick by teaching him right from wrong. A lot of their relationship is based off of Jenny helping Forrest whether she is there or not.

Relationship listening plays a big role in Jenny and Forrest’s relationship. More specifically, Forrest has the tendency to literal listen. This is when someone only takes in the baseline meaning of the statement and doesn’t fully interpret it (Wood 1998). This can also go back to cognitive complexity and how Forrest interacts when he is being told to do something. An example of literal listening is when Forrest is first being bullied as him and Jenny are walking home. Jenny yells at Forrest to run and simply, that is what he does. He doesn’t stop running until he can’t anymore. In this we can see him take the command literally and not interpret it in his own way. Forrest’s literal listening makes him the successful worker that he is. When in the army, he could very easily follow the directions because they were so straight forward and to the point.

Lastly, nonverbal communication weakened Jenny and Forrest’s relationship. Nonverbal communication is all other forms of communication that is not words themselves (Wood, 1998). While Forrest was in the war, he wrote Jenny almost every single day. That was Forrest communicating with Jenny while they weren’t together. Even though Jenny didn’t receive the letters it still built their relationship on Forrest’s side. This could be another reason Forrest has a lot more feelings for Jenny than she has for him. While Jenny was building walls to protect herself, Forrest thought he was communicating with her while he was away. Nonverbal communication did not work in their relationship because it was hard for both of them to be one hundred percent committed at the same time.

In conclusion, Jenny and Forrest have a very complicated relationship but when you analyze it with interpersonal communication it starts to make sense. Jenny runs away from Forrest because of her abusive childhood and fears of being hurt like she has been in the past. Forrest never gives up on loving Jenny and that payed off in the end because she finally realizes she loves him too. While Forrest might not have normal interpersonal communication skills, he is able to interact with others by the help and advice from Jenny and his other close friends. Throughout his life, he learns competent communication and this is what makes him so successful.

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Works Cited

Crystal Jiang, L., & Hancock, J. T. (2013). Absence Makes the Communication Grow Fonder:

Geographic Separation, Interpersonal Media, and Intimacy in Dating Relationships.

Journal Of Communication, 63(3), 556-577. doi:10.1111/jcom.12029

SASAYAMA, S. (2016). Is a 'Complex' Task Really Complex? Validating the Assumption of

Cognitive Task Complexity. Modern Language Journal, 100(1), 231-254.

doi:10.1111/modl.12313

Wood, J. T. (1998). Communication mosaics: A new introduction to the field of communication.

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.

Wright, C. N., & Roloff, M. E. (2015). You Should Just Know Why I'm Upset: Expectancy

Violation Theory and the Influence of Mind Reading Expectations (MRE) on Responses

to Relational Problems. Communication Research Reports, 32(1), 10-19.

doi:10.1080/08824096.2014.989969

Zemeckis, R. (Director), & Roth, E. (Writer). (1994). Forrest Gump [Motion picture]. United

: Paramount Pictures.

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