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Character Analysis Of Good Will Hunting

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The movie Good Will Hunting an American Drama Film was directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver and Stellan Skarsgard in 1997. This movie is about a man named Good Will Hunting who was a genius but chose not to live as a genius because of fear of past experiences and the ill treatment he received when he was in foster home. Some of the other characters in the movie were supportive and some were not supportive of him. This essay discusses Good Will’s personality traits and his interaction with the other characters in the movie. Good Will Hunting possessed the following personality traits, namely: independence, intense interest in a problem, and the need for stimulation. Good Will Hunting was independent because he chose to live his own way and not conforming himself to society’s pressure. Good Will Hunting proved his independence by self-imposed limitation, meaning limiting his ability to enjoy complete freedom. Throughout the movie, he rejected his natural talents or gifts and initially chose to stay in South Boston with his friends. Like in the case with his girlfriend, Good Will Hunting refused to get close to people with the fear of being rejected at the end. Moreover, he refused to get higher paying jobs as was in the case of Sean Maguire, the psychology professor, who later became his counselor. It was during these counselling sessions with Good Will Hunting that we learned, Sean Maguire, was also talented in advanced mathematics, but rejected the opportunity to teach at Harvard and chose to teach at a local community college instead. Similarly, Good Will Hunting chose to remain a janitor or a construction worker where he was more comfortable. Not just did he poses the trait of independency, he also had the character of intensity of interest in a problem. As per his intensity of interest in a problem, Good Will Hunting would obsess about a problem that was presented to him until he had discovered a solution. Some examples of this in the movie were the initial math problems on the chalkboard where he could not stop working on them until he had a solution. Another is when he completed the complex homework problem for his girlfriend Skylar

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