My Story vs. Forest Gump

I've made a lot of changes on my story from the last mentor text. After reading Ellen Foster I came up with new ideas about my story. I decided to re-name my story to "Dear Mommy" and write the book in diary entry form. Those changes were made based off of my first mentor text. For my second mentor text I chose to watch the movie Forest Gump.
The main character in my story, Brooke, has just lost her mother to cancer. She’s too young to understand what is going on and is confused about what has happened. Brooke’s mother dies on July 7th 1994 when Brooke is only 7 years old. Each year on July 7th Brooke writes to her mother starting each letter with Dear Mommy. As Brooke grows up she must battle many struggles, dealing with the loss of her mother, supporting her twin brothers while her dad slowly eases into a drinking depression, and trying to find herself. Each year on July 7th, the anniversary of her mother’s death, Brooke writes her mother, explaining what has happened throughout the years. As she ages Brooke falls in love with a man named Adian. She meets him at a very young age and they both become the best of friends. Later on in her early adult hood years Brooke and Adian marry and decide to get full custody of her twin brothers in order to get them away from their bum, abusive father.
In the movie Forest Gump, Forest is a slow thinking man dealing with similar struggles as Brooke. For one thing, Forest also must deal with the death of his mother. After Forest’s mother dies Forest see’s the world differently. As a young boy Forest befriends a girl named Jenny and later on in the movie Forest and Jenny fall in love and get married, just like Brooke and Adian. Jenny is an outgoing girl with dreams far beyond her reach. Jenny lives with her abusive father and is always struggling to find herself, similar to Brooke’s situation. Forest is also trying to find himself throughout the movie. Going from fighting in Vietnam, fishing for shrimp, or running across America Forest is constantly trying to find himself.
There are many similar features between Forest and Brooke, but there are also some differences. Brooke is a shy young girl, always doing what she’s told, terrified of her father. Adian is the one who finally breaks her shell and convinces her to stand up to her father and get custody of her brothers. Forest on the other hand has an ongoing mind of his own. It is shown from the very beginning of the movie that Forest is a very slow thinker, but overall Forest does things that not many people would do. Yes it’s true that Jenny somewhat breaks Forest’s shell, but overall Forest is already shown to be a confident independent human being.