Essay #3

What is the importance of forgiveness in “Smoke Signals”? How does Victor learn to forgive his father? There are many reasons why forgiveness is so important. In Victors case, in the movie “Smoke Signals” he is having a hard time forgiving his father. Victor has a wonderful friend named Thomas, who helps him through most of his difficult times. I am a strong believer that you can’t forget until you forgive. Thomas helps Victor forgive his father for some of the bad things he did, which essentially helps him to forget some of the bad and remember the good times he had with his father.
Victor had a really rough childhood. Both Victors parents were alcoholics. Victors father was physically abusive toward him and his mother. Victor never spent much time with his father. When he was just a young boy his father left the reservation. Victor stayed and lived with his mother. All of this combined made Victor very agree with his father. There was a lot that Victor needed to forgive his father for.
Unfortunately, Victor was not able to forgive his father until after he passed away. Victor and Thomas went on a road trip to get Victors fathers ashes. This is what brought Thomas and Victor closer together. Though during the road trip there were a lot of stories that Thomas told that Victor didn’t like very much. I think the reason this upset Victor so much was because he couldn’t think of that many memories with his own father. I think that Thomas had so many memories for two reasons. The first is, Victors dad did spend some quality time with Thomas because he felt guilty that he didn’t have a father. Second, Thomas was not upset with Victors dad so he was able to remember the good times they had together. For some reason it is so much easier to remember the bad memories then the good ones.
It wasn’t until the end of their road trip and with Thomas’s help that Victor was able to start forgiving his father. Once Victor forgave his father he seemed like a much happier person. He became a better friend and seemed to be able to remember some of the better times him and his father shared.
I can relate to Victor in a way. My father was also an alcoholic and abusive at times. Growing up, mainly my teenage years I was not able to think of any good memories with my father. All I could think of was the hell we had to deal with. It wasn’t until later in my life when I was able to forgive my father. I realized that my dad wasn’t going to live forever and I wanted him to know that I forgave him. My father and I have a great relationship now. Because I was able to forgive my father we are able to make great memories. This is why I say you need to forgive in order to forget.
I think the main way that Victor was able to forgive his father was with his passing away. This happens to be a very sad situation. I feel he would not have been able to forgive his father if he didn’t make the road trip with Thomas to go pick up his ashes. I think Victor learning that his father was the cause of the house fire that killed Thomas parents helped him to forgive him. This could have been why his dad was angry and drank all the time, he had to much guilt to deal with. Lastly, I think that his dads girlfriend telling him that he talked about him a lot and that he always wanted to go back to the reservation to see him also helped. She help him remember good times he had with his father like the times they use to play basketball together. I think these all played a part in Victors forgiveness toward his father.
In conclusion, I feel that forgiveness is a very important piece of life. If we didn’t forgive people for the things they did then we would live in a very hateful and cruel world. You need to forgive in order to forget. This is what Victor learned at the end of his journey. He was finally able to forgive his father.