Gran Torino Essay Questions

What role does self-reliance play in Gran Torino?

As one of the film's most important themes, self-reliance plays a major role in Gran Torino. From the beginning of the film, Eastwood depicts Walt as a man who only trusts and depends upon himself. Following his wife's death, Walt refuses any support or even conversation from his priest, his children, and his grandchildren. Walt passes his days maintaining his house, drinking alone, and grumbling at the world. Even when Hmong gang activity intrudes upon his life, Walt declines to involve the police, choosing to point his gun rather than seek outside help to preserve his property and peace. The disadvantages of his self-reliance become clear in the way Walt is alienated from social life, lacks a community, and declines in health because of a stubborn denial that smoking has made him ill. Walt's self-reliance also bears grave consequences when he assaults a member of Spider's gang. In retaliation, the gang targets not Walt but Sue and Thao. In his usual fashion, Walt relies on himself to seek a resolution to the conflict, refusing to tell the priest or Thao what he plans to do to get revenge. In the end, Walt gives his own life so that the gang will be imprisoned. In this way, his self-reliance directly leads to self-sacrifice.

Why is it significant that Walt keeps his war memorabilia in a chest in the basement?

The fact that Walt keeps his photographs, medals, and keepsakes from his time as a soldier in the Korean War in a chest in the basement is significant because the chest symbolizes his repression and PTSD. Traumatized by his experience as a government-sanctioned killer, Walt admits to the priest that there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think about the thirteen men he killed. Having been a soldier at a time when there was less awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder, Walt is left to deal with the emotional pain on his own. He instinctively represses his feelings by isolating himself from others while drinking and smoking. Rather than proudly display his war memorabilia, Walt keeps the chest tucked away in the basement, revealing through this choice that he is ashamed of what he did. However, the shame and trauma he experiences have become fundamental components of his identity. He cannot dispose of the chest, just as he cannot rid himself of the memories that haunt him.

What initially makes Walt angry about the Hmong people in his neighborhood? What eventually makes them appealing to him?

When the Vang Lors move in next door to Walt, his first reaction is to mutter racist insults about them while glowering. To Walt, they are another Asian family moving into his once-white neighborhood. However, Walt gradually develops an affection for the Vang Lors and the Hmong community they introduce him to. This change occurs because Walt's radical self-reliance has meant he is estranged from his surviving family members and alone in his last days without his wife. The Vang Lors are part of a close-knit community guided by care for one another and a certain social ease that Walt is lacking in his life. Walt even discovers that Sue and Thao know how to play along with his abusive style of talking, making him feel more connected to them than his own grandchildren. Toward the end of the film, Walt's demeanor has changed entirely, and he is depicted happily spending time with Sue, Thao, and other Hmong people. This affection translates to a sense of protectiveness that precipitates Walt's eventual sacrifice of his life so that the community may be safe from gang violence.

What role does masculinity play in the film?

Masculinity—behavior and an attitude associated with maleness—is a major driver of plot and character in Gran Torino. As an icon of masculinity in cinema, Eastwood makes use of masculine tropes in his portrayal of Walt. However, unlike the masculine characters Eastwood became famous for playing, Eastwood's advanced age colors Walt's masculinity. Having been self-reliant and repressed for so long, Walt discovers he is alone in the world, bitter about the changes he sees around him, and incapable of vulnerability. Walt's masculine inability to ask for outside help means his attempt to protect Thao from Spider's gang backfires terribly. The gang, driven to violence by their own masculine insecurity, refuse to be intimidated by a lone old man and strike back with a level of violence Walt had not predicted. However, Eastwood also explores the lighter side of masculine behavior in the scenes where he tries to instill confidence in Thao. With his barber, Walt shows his affection through the ironic use of abusive language. When Thao tries to emulate the way the men speak to each other, he inadvertently makes it sound as though he has been engaging in gay sex with his construction coworkers. Walt's lessons and Thao's humorous failed performance of masculinity go some way to exposing how masculinity is socially constructed, perpetuated by learned behavior.

Does Gran Torino depict violence in a positive or negative light?

Often used in the film as a flawed solution to conflicts, violence appears in a negative light. The theme of the consequences of violence arises in the story when Walt speaks of his haunting memories of having killed thirteen men in the Korean War. Rather than proudly display his war memorabilia, Walt tries to repress his shameful memories by hiding anything related to the war in a chest in the basement. Although violence only led to painful memories, Walt continues to rely on violence later in life as he seeks to defend his property. He also puts his gun to use when protecting Thao and Sue from harassment. However, the consequences of his assault against a member of Spider's gang come not in the form of violence against him but in violence against the young people he had sought to protect. Finally realizing that violence only leads to more violence, Walt doesn't hit back against the gang with the force they are anticipating. Rather, he stands unarmed on their lawn and pretends to have a gun, leading them to murder him with no defensible cause. In this way, the violence he welcomes upon himself brings about the positive result of the gang members being taken on the streets and locked away. However, this bittersweet ending can do nothing to undo the trauma experienced by Sue, Thao, and other members of the Hmong community.