The Feather (Symbol)
The film opens and closes with the image of a feather floating aimlessly on the wind. During the opening titles, as the feather makes it way down from its heights, it briefly lands on one person’s shoulder and then is almost carried off by a car before finally reaching a soft landing between Forrest’s feet as he sits on a bench. The film ends with exactly the opposite image: a feather on the ground between Forrest’s feet is suddenly swept off the ground and into the air by an invisible current of air. The feather symbolizes the spiritual lesson that Forrest learns in the course of the film, and hearkens back to his line, "I don't know if we each have a destiny or we're all just floatin' around accidental like on a breeze. Maybe both happening at the same time." The feather represents the ways that fate and chance work in tandem with one another. In one way, life is as random as the course of a feather floating in the air, but sometimes feathers have a course that resembles something like destiny.
The Box of Chocolates (Symbol)
Forrest addresses exactly what the box of chocolates symbolizes early on in the film when he says, "Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." The box chocolates represents the variety and unpredictability of life. Chocolates are all different and represents the different surprises that life has in store.
Running (Motif)
Jenny's insistent "Run, Forrest, run!" becomes a kind of motif in the film. Forrest's initial escape from the bullies launches him into his future, sends him running towards his specific fate. First, he runs on the All-American football team, then he runs in the Vietnam War. Finally, after Jenny leaves him unexpectedly, he runs across the country, becoming a celebrity in the news for his determination and endurance.
Birds chirping (Symbol)
After Forrest visits Jenny's grave, he walks away from the tree under which the grave sits and hears the chirping of a large group of birds in the tree. Early in the film, Jenny prays to be turned into a bird so she can fly away from her abusive household. The moment of the birds chirping in the tree symbolize the fact that Jenny has finally turned into a bird, and that she heard what Forrest had to say at her grave.
Seat's Taken (Motif)
On the first day of school, Forrest boards the school bus and struggles to find a seat, since none of the other kids will make room for him to sit down. This represents the ways that Forrest doesn't fit in with his peers, and is somehow out of place in the world. Then later, the exact same scenario repeats itself when Forrest boards a bus after joining the military. He cannot find a seat, and it shows that he is once again lonely and feeling out of place.
