FILM NOTES: FINDING FORRESTER
NAME:
SCORE:
CLASS:
DATE:
DIRECTIONS: AT THE LEFT OF EACH QUESTION, MARK “FO” IF THE QUESTION IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO FORRESTER HELPING JAMAL, “JA” IF THE QUESTION IS RELATED
TO JAMAL HELPING FORRESTER, AND
FO / JA / NR
“NR” IF THE QUESTION IS RELATED TO NEITHER SIDE OF THE ISSUE.
KEY EVENT FROM THE FILM
1. During an English class on Poe’s “The Raven,” why does Jamal refuse to recite by
saying that he had not read the poem ?
2. Why is Mrs. Wallace told by Jamal’s English teacher that her son is a C student with
an A on the state assessment test?
3. Why did Jamal turn to reading and writing after his father abandoned his family?
4. When Jamal finds his backpack in the street, why does he discover comments in
red ink in his journals?
5. By “constipated thinking” does Forrester mean that Jamal’s writing is not clear?
6. When Jamal first knocks on Forrester’s door, why does he take up the challenge to
write 5,000 words on why he should stay away?
7. After professor Crawford tells his students that William Forrester wrote a
masterpiece at 23, why is his first assignment to find out why Forrester wrote only one
book rather than questions about the book itself?
8. Why does Forrester not want anyone to know about Jamal’s visits to his apartment?
9. When Jamal asks if Forrester will keep helping him with his writing, why does
Forrester agree only if Jamal asks no questions about him, his family, or hwy he worte
only one book?
10. What does Forrester mean when he tells Jamal, “People are always talking about
my book but never saying anything about it”?
11. When Jamal tells Forrester that his book means that “Life never works out,” why
does Forrester reply that he didn’t have to read a book to learn that?
12. What does Forrester mean when he says that “The first step to writing is
writing—not thinking about what you are going to write”?
13. What does Forrester mean when he says to write the first draft with your heart
but then to rewrite with your head”?
14. How does Forrester’s having Jamal type out a copy of his “A Season of Faith’s
Perfection” help Jamal to “discover his own words”?
15. Why does Forrester insist that whatever he and Jamal write must stay in his
apartment?
16. Why does Forrester warn Jamal that “Bitterly disappointed teachers [of writing like
Robert Crawford] are either good or very dangerous?
17. Why does Jamal take Forrester to a stadium on his birthday?
18. After Forrester tells Jamal about his brother’s drunk-driving death, why does Jamal
quote Forrester’s words, “The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady
the unrest of those who follow”?
19. When Jamal realizes that Forrester will not defend him publicly, is he (Jamal)
serious about giving up writing?
20. Why is Jamal presented with the choice of winning a championship to retain his
scholarship?
21. Why does Jamal ignore Forrester’s question about missed foul shots?
22. When Jamal goes to the writing contest awards, why does he tell Clare that
Maylor will have to kick him out of school—that he will not just walk away?
23. Why does Forrester come out of retirement to defend Jamal?
24. How did Jamal’s writing contest entry, “Losing Family,” make Forrester realize that
“the one wish that [he] was granted so late in life was the gift of friendship”?
25. Even after Forrester convincingly demonstrates that Jamal’s “Losing Family” was
his own work, why does Professor Crawford still want Jamal disqualified?
25. After his death from cancer, why does Forrester want Jamal to have his
apartment?
26. In his final letter to Jamal, what does Forrester mean when he says, “I never
imagined that I would realize my own dream once again”?
27. Why does Forrester credit Jamal’s coming into his life for realizing his dream so
late in life?
28. Why does Forrester leave to Jamal the manuscript of Sunset with “the forward to
be written by Jamal Wallace?
29. What did William Forrester learn from Jamal Wallace?
30. What has Jamal learned from William Forrester?
DAVID N CHUNG, LANGUAGE ARTS, VALENCIA HS, PYLUSD
EMAIL:
dnchung@pylusd.org
MY RESPONSE