GOOD WILL HUNTING: Choose a question below. Aspire to be boldly creative, vulnerable if appropriate, and authentic. We appreciate, we do not judge. WRITE YOUR NAME AT THE TOP. 1. Think about a time when someone believed in you, even when you doubted yourself. How did their belief impact your decisions or outlook, similar to how Sean mentors Will in the film? What did it teach you about trust or self-worth? 2.Will struggles with opening up to others and confronting his fears. Reflect on a moment when you either faced a similar challenge or witnessed someone else doing so. How did vulnerability play a role in growth or change? 3. Write a pitch for an alternative ending to GWH where Will decides to stay in Boston and take a different path than the one he chose. How do his relationships and sense of self evolve in this version? 4. Do you see any similarities yet between Holden and Will? Differences? Use examples. by Tyke O'Brien

Oliver Ferry

2025-04-03 15:28:36 UTC

When I was little I was very stubborn, in the way that i would always think I was right, and being wrong was never an answer. The only way I could grow out of this was by letting myself be vulnerable and let myself be taught while putting my self-esteem aside. I think that sometimes you must go forwards to go backwards, by being vulnerable you let yourself admit to failure, so that you can grow from it.

Nate Lavichant

2025-04-03 15:29:04 UTC

In 8th grade, I had a debate tournament, where we were going into the finals. I was super nervous and I was not ready for the round whatsoever. Around 15 minutes before the round, my sister and I were walking together to our rounds and told her that I was super scared, I didn't think that I would do well. Yet, Kaitlyn told me that I had spent the last 2 years preparing and practicing debate, and that Jackie(my partner) and I were better than anyone else at the tournament. Looking at this after the round, I realize that I was super nervous and scared before, and this sort-of calmed my nerves. By believing in me and encouraging me, Kaitlyn helped me do better and win the tournament.

Emilyn

2025-04-03 15:30:07 UTC

2.) Many times, I close myself off to my close relatives. Though I believe that you don't need to know anything about a person to find comfort in them, I still know that some should know your life. Playing basketball is when I am at my most vulnerable state. A few times, I've crashed out about my life when something triggers me in basketball. In basketball, I feel most like myself. I don't necessarily think about my life outside of the game. Typically, I don't tell anyone what I do or what I'm feeling. However, when this trigger hits me in basketball, everything comes out. It's like a rock was thrown 100 mph at your face. Luckily, I have teammates who do know me and help calm me down in situations like these. Through this I also experienced growth. I've learned to control my emotions and write them instead

Tiffany Lee

2025-04-03 15:30:08 UTC

Q1: A time when someone believed in me even when I doubted myself was when I decided I was transferring to Prep. The whole application process, my mom supported me and reminded that everything was my decision. As I got accepted and had to make a decision wether to stay at my old school or commit to Prep, I was stuck. My mom didn't say anything to convince me to make either decision and let me be while I chose to come. This is similar to how Sean mentors Will since in the beginning, Sean and Will just sat in silence until Will decided to speak up. Like this, my mom knew if she let me make my own choice independently, I would make the right one.

Elizabeth

28clarke1 — 2025-04-03 15:30:31 UTC

This softball season, I became very nervous when I stepped into the box because I had been hit so many times in the leg. But most of that fear was driven by the thought of letting my team down and feeling as though I needed to perform perfectly. I doubted my ability even to make contact. My team and coaches saw me constantly nervous, and even when I doubted myself, they told me just to have fun and breathe. The pressure had been lifted off my back, and now I can have fun while playing without those unreasonable expectations. My teammates have helped me the most, showing me that everyone has each others' backs.

Sofia Perera

2025-04-03 15:32:38 UTC

Answer to Q3: How about this, Matt: Will stays in Boston. As he chooses this path, he realizes he must learn to be vulnerable and open his heart. Through this process, Will begins his new job and begins to make new friends, he knows how to open up and fully love. As he goes through this journey of rehabilitation, he finds someone new. Someone that makes him unafraid to share these scary parts of himself. They break up, and Will realizes, opening up isn't all that bad, but also maintaining a good relationship is good too. At this point, it's been a while since the last scenes with Skylar and Sean. So, Sean comes back from his big trip and settles down with someone new. Will and Sean become even stronger friends than before as he returns. Sean himself has gone through a change as he realizes he already met his one true love, but having someone to spend time with his awesome too. Will becomes more and more focused on his work as he becomes more successful. Then, Skyler moves back to work at the best hospital in the city. She's more successful now, and they are setting. up a banquet, and unknowingly, Will was invited too. They find each other again and get married since they now can open up more, and Will can truly love himself and Skylar. Together, they start as a family with Sean and his new girlfriend as the grandparents. Teaching and helping others with emotional trauma from their situations. THE END

Holden/Will - Skye

2025-04-03 15:32:50 UTC

4.) Already from the 20 or so pages we have seen of Holden, he shows many similarities to Will in multiple facets of their personalities. One similar characteristic is their ability to be brutally honest about others, yet not themselves. Both point out deep truths about others around them using their intellect but don't seem to understand themselves at all. For example throughout Holden's narrative while he is talking to his teacher, he points out quite gross and seemingly small aspects about his teacher such as him picking his nose or the way he speaks. Despite this Holden fails to ever mention anything substantial about himself, and definitely anything that could be perceived as a flaw he has. Furthermore when Will talks with Sean when they first meet each other, Will tries to point out Sean's every flaw and even figures out that Sean has trauma connected to his wife. It is quite showing of Will's character that he is not talking about himself in his own therapy session and rather deflecting the conversation to someone else, making us believe that this is a sort of defense mechanism. We haven't read far enough in Holden's story to see any change, but in Good Will Hunting he eventually sees the error of his deflections and Sean helps him see his own flaws. I believe that Holden will follow in Will's footsteps and see that he has flaws, and that he can still change that.

Stella L

2025-04-03 15:32:55 UTC

There are some similarities between Will Hunting and Holden Caulfield I noticed when reading The Catcher in the Rye. They both could be seen as rebellious or not fitting into the societal standards, with Holden getting kicked out of multiple schools and Will never pursuing any higher-paying jobs beyond what was in his comfort zone. Both also holds some sort of resentment towards their parents, Will still traumatized by abuse. I feel Holden is afraid of his, describing them as "nice people" but not telling them about him getting kicked out. A difference between them is class. Holden's parents are wealthy and Will's were poor, leaving him to grow up in foster homes alone.

Zara L

2025-04-03 15:33:06 UTC

When my brother and I were younger, we went to summer camp every year. It was always a good experience and we came back year after year. In this camp, we went to a pool every day. There were routine lifeguard drills, but we were always warned that there would be one so we didn't get too surprised. One day, my brother missed the warning for the lifeguard drill and it caught him by surprise. He totally freaked out and came home that day saying he never wanted to go to camp again because there might be another lifeguard drill. My brother had to open up about what was bothering him and be vulnerable by taking the risk of going back to camp when there may be a drill at any moment. Once he put himself out there, he was able to fully enjoy the experience of camp with no worries, and is still going to this day.

Hugh Robinson

2025-04-03 15:33:10 UTC

Q1: When I was in seventh grade, I was struggling with getting my pieces in piano class learned on time. I was really starting to have doubts on whether I would be able to go up on the day of the recital and not mess up. My next lesson, I was 1 week out of the recital, and I told my teacher I do not know if I will have it done. My teacher stopped me before and was done talking and said, "Hugh, let me hear you play and then we will see." I started to play and it started off really well, but then I got to the part where I always messed up a faltered. I stopped playing and for the next 45 minutes my piano teacher and I just worked on this song, non stop. At the very end of the lesson, I was told, "Hugh I believe you can do this, just spend 45 minutes to an hour on this song everyday and you will be ok."

For that next week, I was practicing every night. Then the recital came around, and as I walked up my teacher gave me a nod. I sat down, took a deep breath, and for the next 3 minutes I played the song better than I ever have. After, I realized that all I needed was someone to have a little trust in me that I will be able to do it.

Sapna Pradhan #2

2025-04-03 15:33:27 UTC

The fear of vulnerability holds people back from opening up and confronting their fears, as they think it portrays them as weak, which is something no one wants. Last year, my friend was struggling to memorize her poem and was scared to perform it in front of the class. Yet, when the day came, she went up on that stage and recited her speech with ease. She pushed past her fear of presenting the poem and opened up to others this way. Additionally, during this school year there were a lot of new kids. Some of my friends felt overwhelmed by the new number of kids and closed themselves off from them. They found it hard to open it since they didn't want their first impression to be as vulnerable. However, as time went on, they slowly eased into the new feel.

Chase Liston

2025-04-03 15:33:59 UTC

Q.3: How about this for the ending Matt, As Skylar leaves for LA, Will is convinced by his friend to go after it too, as his friend does not want to see him waste his potential. He makes the long car ride all the to San Francisco. As he arrives, he makes a phone call to Skylar, and she doesn't want to hear it, because of what happened in Boston, and she doesn't take the time to listen to Will. Since she didn't listen to him, he didn't get to talk about how he drove out to San Francisco for her. He is very disappointed about this and goes to a bar. When he arrives, he sees Skylar through the window and runs in. He goes up to her, and she is shocked to see him. She's excited for a second, but then it happens. Another man walks into the bar, and says, "Hey Skylar, thanks for going out with me again". Will looks at Skylar stunned, and walks out of the bar angrily. Skylar goes to chase after him, but he doesn't want her explanation. He goes back to his hotel room, and Skylar calls him. She explains how she thought he was never coming to LA, and needed someone new, but she wants him and only him now. Will laughs at her, hangs up the phone, and drives back to Boston

Jasper question 4

28yooj — 2025-04-03 15:34:02 UTC

similarities: Both Will and Holden are troubled kids who struggle listening to others that try to help them. For Will this is the people around him like his friends and therapist Sean. For Holden this is his history teacher. They both are unusually smart in their own ways. Will is a mathematical genius and Holden critiques and makes observations on the world around him. They both share a rebellious nature, with Will at first pushing and scaring away all the therapists who try and help him and Holden getting kicked out multiple schools within a few years.

Differences: Will has a mentor (Sean) who helps him change and open up about his issues and past trauma while Holden refuses help from people around him. Will expresses his anger and grief by getting into street fights while Holden doesn't seem to have a way of coping with grief.

Ali Cotte

2025-04-03 15:35:08 UTC

Question 4: Just from the first couple of chapters of "Catcher in the Rye", it is very evident that there are similarities between Holden and Will. Starting on page 1 of Catcher, we can see how Holden struggles to open up and talk about his parents with the reader. Similarly, in Good Will Hunting, Will struggles in the begging to open up to Sean, and never takes anything very seriously. We later learn that this is because he is afraid of abandonment, he still struggles with letting people into his life. While it has not been revealed yet, i believe that Holden may experience similar issues with his parents. Both have a tendency to be a little bit careless, however, I believe that the motivation behind the reasons why they do it are different. We are not quite sure why Holden pushes people away yet, however, I predict that it could be about his rebellious ways, or being a "teenager". In comparison, Will is scared of vulnerability and abandonment.

Topic 3 - Cayden Wu

2025-04-03 15:36:03 UTC

Right before Will leaves his new found job to hunt down Skylar, Lambeau rushes to him, desperately begging him to stay in Boston and live out his fullest life. Lambeau sees the genius in him, and wants him to achieve success, or at least Lambeau's idea of it. He tells Will that the reason Sean never became successful was because he went "to see about a girl." Lambeau explains how although smarter than him, Sean threw away his potential by chasing after a girl he had just met. Furthermore, when she died, it hit Sean so hard that he would never be able to get over it. He implores Will to stay in Boston and keep working to achieve success. Thus, Will stays in Boston, telling himself that maybe Skylar would never forgive him. Maybe he would never be good enough for her. Maybe Boston was where he belonged. Maybe it was irrational to let someone into his heart. Therefore, he lives out his life, there in Boston. Working hard alongside Lambeau, learning and achieve until he is awarded a Fields Medal, just like Lambeau. He finds other women as well, but never gets into a long-lasting relationship. Nevertheless, he lives a successful life. However, as he goes on, he repeatedly thinks of Skylar. And as he breathes his last breath, he thinks of her, what might've been, who they could've been together. Everywhere he looks he sees her, but he knows she'll never be there. And thus, he lays on his deathbed and dies in regret.

Delilah M.

2025-04-03 22:20:34 UTC

Question 3.

Instead of driving to California to see Skylar, Will moves on in life without her. Although this is pretty hard for him, he doesn't tell anyone about it but Sean, who e continues to meet with because he is still kind of scared of reality. Sean helps Will realize he can become passionate about math and pursue it in the future. So Will applies to MIT and gets in to get a proper education in advanced classes made for people with gifts like him. This kind of ending would help Will get even closer to Sean who would guide him to opening up more little by little, so he could eventually branch out to new relationships and become less stubborn