The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Life in Reverse

The curious case of Benjamin Button is a film that narrates the story of the Benjamin Button from the day he was born until he became grown up. Benjamin was given birth in 1918 on the day of victory of world war 1 where her mother dies immediately after giving him birth. Benjamin being an infant look so old like an 80-year-old grandfather because he had sagging skin and wrinkles in the entire body. His condition makes his father abandon him by placing him on the doorstep of the home for elderly people. On the doorstep, an African-American attendant finds him and decided to take care of him because she believed that the child, despite looking old, he is a child of God after all. So, Benjamin at early childhood and middle childhood grows up in the middle of elderly people whom they could share their stories with him.

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The elderly and Benjamin look just like outsiders in that place because they are seen as outdated, whereas the youths are treated as God because they are worshipped. Benjamin, despite being in a wheelchair, was a great listener. He pays a lot of attention to the elderly because they gave him a lot of wisdom, and they as well tell him what they are going through in their lives. In there he was taught to play piano by a wealthy woman who stays by herself. As well, an African bushman who was a visitor introduces Benjamin to sex in bordello despite being in middle childhood. As Benjamin grows towards Adulthood, he started to look slightly younger as compared to the period he was a child. This clearly shows that Benjamin is unlike other children because instead of looking older as he grows, he looks younger. That was the unique part of him.

The Adolescence stage of Benjamin, where he was 12 years, and his entire adulthood is shown in a film as a flashback. The story is narrated by the daisy daughter named Caroline by use of the diary that was complete of postcard and pictures about Benjamin who played a key role in her life. He meets daisy at that age who was one of the granddaughters of one of the occupants at his home. They both became instant and close friends, which became strong and lasted for a long period.

At the middle adulthood where Benjamin was at the age of 17, he turns out to be so young and strong. He decided to leave New Orleans, his place of birth to go and seek a new life abroad. He went to work in a tugboat that was piloted by one of the named Mike. He travels from one city to another and in one of the cities called Murmansk, he met with Elizabeth. Despite Elizabeth being married, she begins an affair with him after finding out that Benjamin had sort of mysteriousness. Elizabeth introduces him to the enjoyment of night-time talk, sex, and caviar. In that time, Benjamin was now at his middle adulthood. As well at that time, Benjamin comes across war when he and his tugboat teammates take on a boat that sunk troop in world war II. In that war, many of his colleagues are killed, and despite that he perceived.

At the late adulthood, Benjamin returns to New Orleans where he encounters his father. His father was a very rich man who runs a lot of businesses. His father was lonely, and he is almost dying but at least needed to reunite with his son, who had ditched years back. As his father could expect his son to show anger as a result of the fact that he ditched him, it took the other way around. Benjamin treats him with a lot of concern and compassion because of the deep inside; he knows very well that death is a crucial thing that needs to be treated with a lot of dignity and respect. In that period, Daisy had become one of the great and renown dancers in New York and could stop and pay a visit to Benjamin. She tried very much to seduce Benjamin, but he was not ready because of the changes that daisy had exhibited. Daisy was now popular dancer across the entire New York. However, after he inherits his fathers' properties, her travels to New York to be with her. In that, there was more to there relationship as the new turn and twist joined them as Benjamin continues to grows handsome and younger.

In the story, it very clear that Benjamin shows theories of human development in his entire development despite being born looking old. This is because as he grows old, Benjamin grows wiser and wiser. In the theories of development, for example, Piaget highlighted stages of cognitive development that can be incorporated in the life of Benjamin as he grows from early childhood to late adulthood. Piaget developed his cognitive -development theory grounded on the fact that children get knowledge as they discover and manipulate the world that surrounds them. Benjamin from childhood was built from the learning he acquires from the elderly people. The stages that Piaget Highlighted include the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. The sensorimotor stage is normally characterized by the idea of the infant to think as a result of manipulating the world that surrounds them, and it occurs in birth to the age of 2(LOWRY-LEHNEN, 2015)

Consequently, the preoperational stage occurs from the age of 2 to the age of 7, and the concrete operational stage occurs from 7 to the age of 11. The formal operational stage occurs from 11 to entire adulthood, and it is normally characterized by the fact that children develop the capability to think in abstract ways. All those are what Benjamin goes through in his entire life.

References

LOWRY-LEHNEN, T. H. E. R. E. S. A. (2015). Theories of human growth and developmental psychology. Place of publication not identified: CREATESPACE.