What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Later in the morning, Gilbert is trying to take a nap on the couch, but Ellen, his 16-year-old sister, is painting her nails, and the smell bothers him. He asks her to move, and she says he doesn’t understand how hard life is for a teenage girl. Amy, Gilbert’s 34-year-old sister, comes to drag him off the couch. She is a teacher’s aide during the school year and runs the household year-round. She’s worried she’s becoming like their mother because she’s gained some noticeable weight. Their mother, Bonnie, is morbidly obese. She began eating in excess 17 years ago when Albert, her husband and Gilbert’s father, died of suicide. Gilbert has tried to point out that her behavior is also a type of suicide, but Bonnie won’t listen to him.

Amy pulls Gilbert into the living room because she is concerned about the way the floor is beginning to bow under the chair their mother sits in day and night. Gilbert briefly thinks about how nice it would be if Bonnie fell through and they no longer had to worry about her, but it’s a brief thought. He tells Amy he will figure out a solution with Tucker. Gilbert steps outside and finds Arnie attempting to play hide-and-seek in the bushes. He plays along until Arnie goes inside with Amy to make breakfast. Ellen is in the driveway sunning herself in a lawn chair. Gilbert gets into his truck to go to work, and Ellen responds rudely to his goodbye, so he runs over her chair.

Gilbert works at Lamson Grocery, one of two grocery stores in Endora. The other is Food Land, a modern grocery store on the edge of town that he refuses to set foot in due to his loyalty to Mr. Lamson. Mrs. Betty Carver comes into the store to buy oats. She reminds Gilbert that he hasn’t paid his insurance premium to her husband, Mr. Ken Carver. Gilbert agrees to make an appointment to pay the bill that day. Forty minutes later, Gilbert purposely breaks a few eggs. Mr. Lamson tells Gilbert to clean the mess and go home, as he is clearly having a difficult day. Gilbert agrees, promising to deal with his insurance problem that afternoon.

Gilbert goes to Carver’s Insurance and speaks to Melanie, Mr. Carver’s secretary. Melanie used to be a library assistant at Gilbert’s school. She arranges for him to come back at two o’clock. Gilbert slips out the door as Melanie attempts to ask about his family.

Gilbert drives through downtown, pausing at Dave Allen’s gas station because he likes that the cable there that normally makes a ringing sound when a car arrives does not work. He then drives outside of town to the cemetery. He visits his father’s grave, stretches out on the grass, and accidentally falls asleep. When he wakes, it is four o’clock, and workers have arrived to dig a new grave. Gilbert learns the grave is for Mrs. Brainer.

Gilbert drives home and finds Arnie lying on the street a few houses up from theirs. He stops and pretends he believes Arnie is dead. Arnie climbs into the truck, and they go home. Gilbert reflects that of her six children, his mother cares most for Arnie. Her conversation topics include only three things: food, cigarettes, and her desire to “let me see my boy turn eighteen” (29).

Amy sees Gilbert’s sunburn from sleeping in the cemetery and chastises him for taking a full day off work when they need money. She also tells him that Melanie called about his missed appointment with Mr. Carver. He promises to make another one. Finally, Amy asks him to stop provoking Ellen, even though she agrees that Ellen is frustrating. During dinner, Gilbert makes a comment about Satan that makes Bonnie ask Amy to chastise him for yelling. Gilbert finds himself wishing he had a different family.

Gilbert visits Tucker in the apartment his parents built in the garage for him. Tucker is excited at the news that Burger Barn is building a restaurant near Food Land. He sees it as an opportunity to do something more with his life. Gilbert can’t help but compare Tucker’s relatively easy life with his own. Tucker’s parents bought him a new truck, but Gilbert had to struggle for his old, beaten-up truck. Gilbert tells him about the floor under Bonnie. Tucker loves Gilbert's mother, so he agrees to help fix it. He takes a look at the floor and goes with Gilbert to the basement. Tucker asks if this is where Gilbert’s dad died. Gilbert describes the day it happened, and Tucker comments that Gilbert seems unemotional about the death. Tucker then tells Gilbert that his mother could fall through the floor at any moment, so they will have to get right to work.

Gilbert goes to Dairy Dream to pick Ellen up from work after dropping Tucker off. While waiting for her in the parking lot, he sees a pretty girl he doesn’t recognize. He speaks to her briefly and learns her name is Becky, and she’s visiting her grandmother from her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gilbert is so flustered by the girl that he drives off when she enters the restaurant.

Gilbert grills Ellen over Becky, but she has no information. Ellen tells Gilbert his only concern should be fixing the floor under their mother. They arrive home, and Ellen goes in first while Gilbert takes a moment. When he goes inside, he finds Amy watching television with Bonnie. Gilbert discovers Arnie asleep in the closet, so he carries him upstairs and tucks him into bed. When he goes back downstairs, Bonnie briefly mistakes him for Albert. She stomps on the floor, and Gilbert tells her not to. She tells him it’s her house and she can do whatever she wants. When Gilbert apologizes, she says Albert always apologized, too.

Gilbert speaks to Tucker from the bathroom. Ellen screams at him to let her in because she needs a tampon, but Gilbert just pushes one under the door. Arnie comes in and thinks it is funny to flush the toilet. All the while, Tucker is telling Gilbert how dangerous the bowing floor is and how important it is to fix it. Gilbert tucks Arnie back into bed, promising to take him to the carnival the following day. Gilbert lies in his own bed in a bedroom with no decorations and wishes he didn’t exist. He thinks of his father; people say he was always cheerful and kind. There are no pictures of his father because Amy keeps them hidden under her bed. Gilbert doesn’t like that he looks like his father. After he falls asleep, he dreams that Arnie and Becky are trying to convince him to eat at Burger Barn, but he doesn’t want to. Amy wakes him because he is screaming in his sleep.