Pulp Fiction: Hope, Rebirth, and Redemption

Essay by jdno7University, Bachelor'sA+, August 2004

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Pulp Fiction

Hope, Rebirth, and Redemption

Pulp Fiction combines characters from seemingly different places and ties them into each other at some point in each story. Each of the four stories intertwines in a complex play of good versus evil, and violence and redemption. The beginning and the end of the film engage two small time thieves, named "Pumpkin" also known as Ringo (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" also known as Yolanda (Amanda Plummer). The two thieves seem to be irrelevant and easily forgotten once the beginning credits and theme roll, that is, until we recognize them at the end when they enter our main character's story.

The main characters of the film are two mob hit men, Vincent Vega (John Travolta), Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), their boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), the boss's wife Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), and a boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis). The characters are over stereotypical yet with surprising dialogue displaying their individuality.

We tend to follow the two 'hit men' trying to understand how their stories fit into the other character's lives and as an added twist---at what time. The explicit information is relayed to the viewer through obscene language and wanton violence appearing outwardly nonchalant for these two hit men. The implicit information, such as the mysterious contents of the briefcase, is the director's purposeful puzzling trademark; only two characters in the film actually view what is in the briefcase and the audience is shown only their reaction.

Based on the display of casual drug use by the characters in the film, an objective observation leads one to believe the drugs are a necessity and commonplace.

The story is not in chronological order. The director, Quentin Tarantino, uses a pioneering style combining flashback with present day, although the audience is left...