Smoke Signals

Forgiveness
Forgiveness is something that comes easy to some and hard to others. Most people struggle with the thought of forgiving someone, especially when they don’t ask for forgiveness. In the movie “Smoke Signals”, Victor’s father Arnold leaves his family when Victor is still a young boy. Victor is enraged that his father has left the family and his absence shapes the person that Victor becomes. Before Victor’s father leaves, his father is very abusive towards his wife and son, and is very dependent on alcohol. Victor resents his father and is embarrassed by his outbursts of drunken domestic violence. Then, eight years since Victor has seen his father, he finds out that he has died. As he embarks on a journey to Arizona to pick up his father’s remains, he learns that forgiveness is about more than just forgiving the person that hurt you most. Forgiveness is important in the movie “Smoke Signals” because it brings Victor closer to his old friend Thomas which in turn lets him learn about his father’s other side, and sets himself free from all the pain he has been holding in for so long.
When Victor hears of his father’s death, he knows he needs to find a way to get to Arizona to pick up his father’s body and belongings. However, Victor does not have enough money to do so. His friend Thomas Builds-the-Fire has enough money to make the trip there, and he wants to go along for the ride. Victor is hesitant to let Thomas come because he does not get along with Thomas anymore and does not want to be seen with him. However, the fact that Victor lets Thomas come changes Victor forever. On the trip there Victor learns about another side of his father that he never saw before. This open ups the door for forgiveness. Thomas’s stories show Victor that his father wasn’t all bad, and make him feels like forgiving him will be the next step to getting over his death. Thomas’s stories are important, because they help Victor forgive his father. Victor and Thomas’s new friendship is important for forgiveness because it helps Victor get over the fire that happened when they were young. Deep down Victor blames Thomas for his father’s downfall because he did not start abusing his wife and drinking heavily until after the fire. Victor lets his guard down and begins to form a new friendship with Thomas, which shows that with forgiveness comes friendship.
Thomas’s stories about Victor’s father give Victor insight to another side of his father that he never knew. Thomas portrays Arnold as a kind man with good intentions, but Victor remembers him as a monster that beat his wife and liked drinking and his truck more than his son. As Thomas describes the day that he walked to Spokane Falls looking for a sign, and realizing that Arnold was his sign, Victor sees his father in a whole new light. Perhaps the most symbolic part of the movie that displays Victor’s forgiveness towards his father is when he gives Thomas half of his father’s ashes. This shows that Victor is ready to forgive his father’s years of abuse and help put him to rest with the one person that knew the side of his father that he wishes he knew. The forgiveness of his father and of his friend help Victor connect deeply with Thomas and with himself.
Last but not least, forgiveness is important in this story because it gives Victor a chance to set himself free. His father’s abuse and then absence turned Victor into a tightly-wound, closed-off individual. The fact that his father was very loving one minute and very abusive the other makes Victor skeptical to trust anyone or anything. As he learns about his father, he begins to forgive himself as well. Going to his father’s residence and finding a family photo really makes Victor re-evaluate his father. He realizes that his father’s biggest downfall was cowardice, and that it was not that he didn’t love him and his mother, but that he could not fix the damage he already created. This makes Victor realize that he does not want to be the same way, and he does not want to create damage that he cannot fix. In the same moment he forgives his father, his life changes for the better. He realizes that he cannot be bitter about it any longer, and that his father was not a bad man after all. His father just got caught too far down the wrong path, and this makes Victor stops in his tracks and turn around forever.
Overall, Victor’s road to forgiveness was a long process, and one that was put off for too long. However, since he waited so long to grant forgiveness of his father it is more meaningful when it actually happens. Victor’s forgiveness brings him closer to someone who used to be a close friend, Thomas, and lets him see another side to his father. Ultimately, forgiveness is important in this story because it lets Victor finally become the person he was destined to be. As he lets go of all the anger and resentment, he finally grows as a person and sees things in a less convoluted light.