Plato
"A Rebel Without A Cause"
Plato's challenges
Plato's challenges are that he is really lonely because he has doesn't have parents around to support him and help him. His parents are either on vacation or his dad just really never talks to him, but just sent him child support. Another challenge that he faces is his condition that he is in. For example, his mom went to Hawaii instead of letting Plato get the treatment that he needs for his condition. Therefore, he went without his treatment for that period of time just so his mom could go on vacation. He is probably thinking that his parents really don't care about him that much because they never seem to spend time with him. These challenges impact the things that he does in the movie because he is only a teenager, his parents are never around, and he is not on his medication. These challenges are impacting him in a bad way because he starts hanging out with Jim and his friends, since he has no other ones. Plato also has to face his puppy killing schemes. I don't think that he realizes that he should feel remorse for the puppy or anything because he probably is really mentally there when this situation happened because he was not getting the treatment that he needed. This impacts Plato because he is really not aware of his actions and he is a teenager.
Scared
Plato shows that he is scared in the movie a "Rebel without a Cause". He is scared because when he is sitting in the police department waiting to be questioned he is really scared and not himself. He is really scared when he gets pulled into the room to go get questioned about the reason why he killed the puppy. His body language showed that he was scared because he was slouching in his seat, quiet, his hands were together and was looking away from the policeman asking the questions. He also showed that he was scared when he wouldn't walk into the lights of the cop cars because the light was too bright.
Lonely
Plato also shows in the movie that he is very lonely. He shows that he is very lonely because he went with Jim to the bluff competition because Jim was his only friend. Also, when Plato is at the Planetarium with Jim; Jim was the only one that talked to Plato and he then followed Jim out to the knife fight. Plato was following Jim because he didn't know what else to do because no one was around for him. His parents are never really in his life so he doesn't know what it is like to have parents and to not be lonely. He struggles with this character trait throughout the movie and seems to never overcome it.
Childish
Plato shows that he is very childish in the movie. For example, when he was sitting in the police station and he can't look at the police officer. He has to shy away and not look at anyone. He also shows that he is very childish when he is the only one around and he is doing all these rebellious things. He is childish when he is at the Planetarium trying to get out because he won't go outside because the lights from the cop cars are too bright and he doesn't like the powerful beams they reflect. Another example is when he is wearing mismatched socks. It shows that he can't wear the same color of socks at that age. He seems to never grow out of that stage throughout the movie so that is a thing that makes him childish.
Did Plato change or learn something throughout the movie or not?
I don't think that Plato changed throughout the movie because he was the same person that he was in the beginning of the movie. For example, he was always scared at the beginning of the movie and he didn't change all the way from the beginning to the end, because he was still scared to go out into the lights of the cop cars. He showed that he didn't change also because he was still doing rebellious things such as taking the gun, going to the bluff competition and also by sneaking out away from home since his parents were gone. Plato also did change out of his childish ways throughout the movie. He still wore his mismatched socks and never learned from his mistakes.
Would you go to the police if your parents told you not to? Why or why not?
It depends on the circumstance. For example, I would if my parents were doing something really awful such as killing someone or beating on me. I would have to feel really bad about it in order for me to work up enough courage to go against my parents and turn them in for something they did. If it was for a good reason then I would not go to them, but if I did something terribly wrong I would want to fix it and confess to what I did. When you get older you learn to love your parents and respect them in what they do, and if they did something against the law I would turn them in after I thought about it and talked it over with them in what they did. If my parents told me not to go to the police I would believe them and most likely not do it because they are older than me and they know what could happen to me. I probably would think about for a while and then go to the police if the situation was really bothering me.
Theme
A theme in this book is belongingness and family. Belongingness plays a huge role in this movie because all of the teens are feeling like they aren't accepted and or left out in their families. The three teenagers get together to talk about what bothers them most and they stick to each other and become friends. All of these teenagers seem to have a bad relationship with their parents. They all seem to either not get along with them, feel excepted or feel like they are never around for them. Belongingness and family are big things in this movie because everyone wants to feel accepted into their families.
Symbol
A symbol in "Rebel Without A Cause" is Plato's mismatched socks. I think this symbol means that he wants to be different in this society. I also think that it could represent the freedom that he wants to seek and get because he is always so lonely and has no friends. Plato seems to have no one around to take care of him because his dad only sends him child support and never talks to him, while his mom is on vacation in Hawaii. I think that he is trying to get some freedom in his life, even though his parents are always gone. Plato's mismatched socks mean that he is never going to grow up because he is still not wearing the same socks and he is not getting taught the things that other children their age should now because his parents are gone.