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Charlie Fineman is lonely, suffering from post-traumatic stress, and an altered/depressed mindset. It is nearly impossible to completely recover from such a tragedy, and Charlie is greatly behind on the recovery process. A mental dilemma causes him to remodel his kitchen every few months. Also, he believes that everyone who interacts with him wants to obtain information about the tragedy. Finally, he is haunted daily by his lost loved ones, but does not mention it to anyone. Charlie is attached to the life that he once had, and seems unable to let go. But Alan Johnson enters his life, and makes Charlie confront his unfortunate situation.
Why does Charlie remodel his kitchen so often? As he reveals later in the movie, it is because remodeling the kitchen is the last thing his wife wanted him to do. Charlie felt so bad about refusing to change the kitchen, that he began to do it obsessively every few months. Charlie is unable to let go of the final words he said to his wife, so this is how he tries to rid the guilt. But just because Charlie’s last words to his wife were not so nice, does not mean it is what she will remember at the end of her life. A positive notion has so much more weight than a negative one. The order of events in life is not important. It is most important that you perform good deeds in life, out of love and kindness. Charlie was loving an kind to his family, but he was so preoccupied by the last thing he said to his wife, that he forgot about all of his other loving actions towards his family.
Charlie believes that everyone who previously knew about his family would make him feel worse, so he avoided most people altogether. He is a very weak at social interaction, and only talks to a few people. If you don’t up to others about a tragedy, it will continue to torment you. This also led to sudden strikes of anger, and a general feeling of social rejection for Charlie.
Seeing his family every day made Charlie even more upset. He saw himself and his family through the happy couples on the street, with kids and a dog. This does not allow him to live anything resembling a normal life, and Charlie is unable to do anything about it. Then, Alan sees him and recognizes Charlie as his roommate in college. Charlie is in complete denial about knowing Alan, until he finds out that Alan will not ask about his family. At a club, Alan makes an inference to Charlie about starting a new relationship, which marks the beginning of Charlie’s healing process. He eventually agrees to see a psychologist, and opens up to Alan about his family. Charlie has immense difficulty through the healing, but is always supported by his best friend, Alan.
By the end of the movie, Charlie starts to live his life again, all because of his ability to confront a terrible tragedy. He lets go of the last words he said to his wife, and moves out of his apartment. Charlie’s social relations improve, and he continues to be best friends with Alan. Although it took several years, Charlie was able to turn his life around with the support of the right people, and his own willingness.
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