Has nothing to do with the plot at all but sometimes I wonder just how Marie felt about having Henry so young
Obviously like, the more pressing issue is that his father fucking died and she has to raise him alone. But like take that part out for a second. Do you think she was ashamed and harsh on herself for being so promiscuous and so careless? Do you think she was just like eh shit happens? Do you think she was proud to have found a relationship she knew would be forever even at such a young age, and believed that while a surprise, this was (insert whatever power she believed in)‘s way of letting her know she made the right choice and should start to create a life with him?
When she introduces Henry, after Forrest responds, the way she says “he and I had a son” has so much emotion behind it. Like she was speaking through gritted teeth or holding back tears. Now most likely this is just because she’s being brought back to that incredibly terrible time in her life where she just lost her partner and is mourning the life she could have had with him and their son. But part of me wonders if part of that emotion was also remembering the shame of Henry’s origins. Like she wasn’t proud of it. Obviously she loved Henry and was grateful to have one last connection to George but like she might’ve been ashamed of herself for how he came about. Or maybe she genuinely didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to even process any feeling other than grief. Like she found out she was pregnant and the news didn’t even phase her because how could she think about anything besides George.
I wonder if her feelings would have been different if he had been alive. Like she went to him like “omg what have we done, we’re going to hell for sure, this is so embarrassing I’m so ashamed” and he’s just like “nah it’s not, we are ready. It’s natural. In fact it’s the most natural thing that could possibly happen. Nothing to be ashamed of. We’re just a little earlier than most folks. Maybe that’s not ideal, but the world ain’t ending.”
