Thomas Cole’s Struggle and Weakness

[Cristian Statescu]

While watching the movie, I found all three of the characters to have very interesting stories. What all of these three characters have in common is their struggles. Auggie with his daughter and ex, Paul with the death of his wife that happened a while ago, and Thomas Cole with the struggle of wanting to see and know his father, Cyrus Cole. The ending of the movie ended happily, with all three characters having a positive ending. However, I wanted specifically to focus on Thomas Cole in this post because I was drawn to his story. Throughout the movie, Thomas Cole slowly warms up to his father at his father’s new (but also not so new) gas station. As time passes, his father, unknowing that Thomas is really his son, offers Thomas a job at his gas station. I really think that this was part of Thomas’ plan to get closer to his father and possibly find out more about him. This is proven by when Thomas asks his father about his hand while they were eating together, and his father explains how he lost his hand in almost this mystical, biblical story. Thomas kept getting closer and closer to his father throughout the movie, even though so many other things were occurring throughout the movie (the money he stole from the thieves attracting the thieves and getting Paul physically harmed). Of course, without the help of Auggie and Paul, I doubt that the movie would’ve ended the same way. As Thomas said, he was going to tell his father that he is his son “on his own time” which, who knows, may have been never. Can we really blame Thomas? Telling a long-lost parent that was torn (physically and mentally) about the fact that his wife died due to his own actions, that you are his son, wouldn’t be a walk in the park. Auggie and Paul pushed Thomas to speak up, and even though a little confrontation occurred, it died down pretty quickly. After the confrontation, Thomas is seen admiring (what I assume) is his half sibling while his father is staring at him, and so that ends Thomas’ story and issue. All three characters came together to fix Thomas’ issue. While Thomas was the leading force to solving his issue, he needed help in one of his weaknesses: being able to ask for help or speaking out about an issue he had. Thomas never spoke about his issue with the money stolen from the thieves until Paul found out about the money, nor his issue with his father, but Paul and Auggie came and pushed Thomas to speak up, ultimately giving Thomas what he wanted. (Word count: 448)

[Chalmers Mathew]

I agree with much of your assessment of Thomas and you touch upon a great point of his story that connects to much of the real world. In life it becomes difficult to open up about the problems you are facing especially when growing up and trying to prove yourself as an adult that can solve their own problems. Without a healthy way to vent such frustrations, it can make solving those problems harder and more solitary than they need be. In Thomas’ situation, he has grown up with a long dead mother and a father whom he has only heard hearsay about. Though he has his aunt and uncle, there is still that feeling of being deprived of a guiding hand and a fatherly presence. Having to learn what it is like to entrust your problems with another is just as integral to Thomas’ story as is figuring out his relationship to his father

[theleondracraig]

I love your response because I feel like this movie does a good job of showing that everyone has something they struggle with. Everyone is going through their own battle and fighting their own demons every single day. The fact that Thomas is young adds on to the reason why he needed that extra push from Auggie and Paul to accomplish different things. It also adds to his naive nature and innocence. I also really liked how you involved Thomas’ character development of him warming up to his father. Thomas gets closer and closer but needs help when revealing who he really is. It was like a wake up call for Thomas because his lies are starting to catch up to him and he needs to learn how to be himself.

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