BR1-03: Rain man

“I’ll give you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to have Raymond back now.”

Charlie Babbitt is a man who runs car dealership in Los Angeles, but his business was facing a big problem, and he was agonized over it. When he was in the situation, he heard about the news of his father’s death. He decided to go to a house, in Cincinnati, which he had lived when he was 16 years old, to see his father. He met his father’s lawyer there, and he heard that he will receive antique 1949 Buick Roadmaster and some wonderful roses instead of an inheritance of around 3 million dollars of his father. What’s more, he informed that he had an older brother, and the money is going to go to look after him.

Raymond who is an older brother of Charlie, is autistic. He is a very intelligent person in some ways, however, he can’t have relationships with other people, and also, he can’t feel. Charlie kidnapped him until he gets money for his business. During the long trip from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, Charlie had been irritated Raymond’s unexpected behaviors, but he found his extraordinary skill as well. He was able to count a number of toothpicks on the floor. In addition, he memorized all pages of telephone book.

At first, Charlie intended to get the money by using Raymond as hostage, but throughout the journey, Charlie had changed his mind. He doesn’t need the money, he needs relationship between Raymond. When they reached Los Angeles, Charlie met a doctor who had been taking care of Raymond for many years. Charlie understood himself that he can’t look after Raymond. Raymond wanted not only Charlie, but also facility which he has been lived. The most important thing was to put Raymond happiness first. In the end of the story, Charlie asked the doctor. “Can I visit him?” And the doctor answered “Of course.”

I think that the message of this book is “People can be change”. At first, the doctors said Raymond has no feelings, but he finally showed a kind of feelings to Charlie. And at the beginning, Charlie had been regard Raymond as a negotiating card to acquire the inheritance, but eventually he realized that Raymond is a part of precious thing for himself. If you read the story, you could find the irreplaceable thing than money.

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Fleischer, Leonore. (1999). Rain man. Harlow : Pearson Education.