Talk:Jenny Gump

HIV?

I've seen others state that it is heavily implied she has HIV.  How?  There's ways they could imply this, but I see very few ways.  If we go on facts instead of these supposed implications we can only conclude that she likely does NOT have HIV.  It isn't until June of 1982 that doctors believe that AIDS (GRID) is being spread sexually, and she died before that point.  That isn't actually relevant, I present that as a lead in to the next point.  They didn't know until 1983 that it was being spread by a virus.  So if her doctor was able to conclude that she was dying of some unknown virus either he was a miracle doctor who was robbed of the Nobel Prize from those who 'claimed' to have been the first to discover the virus in 1983 or she died of another virus.  On top of that, she doesn't display almost ANY of the typical late stages of AIDS.  It's true that one cannot rule out HIV but based on the facts it is actually highly improbable that she died from AIDS related complications. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.193.18.194 (talk • contribs)

You raise good points, but know that every one of them can be explained by artistic license. It's not uncommon for dates in fictional timelines to be fudged a little bit away from actual historical dates, and in portraying diseases, often some of the more unsavory symptoms can be skipped over to keep it kind of romantic - pretty girl Jenny might not do so well with blotchy sarcoma all over her face.

The emergence of AIDS was a giant event in US and world history - and Forrest Gump definitely tends to explore historical events. I have seen people suggest that maybe the disease was instead hepatitis, which might also be in line with her description - but it lacks that pang of being a historical event, so I think the indication is that AIDS is the culprit. Thisismyrofl (talk) 19:56, April 21, 2014 (UTC)

I've seen others speculate that it was hepatitus but that's not an unknown virus.  And even though Hepatitus C was not yet discovered at this point it was still be diagnosed as Hepatitus non-A non-B.  Also, when Forrest Gump explores historical events it leaves no doubt as to what historical event is being explored.  If the author wanted us to believe that she died of AIDS related complications then the story line should have been that she had some unknown auto-immune deficiency.  From that I could reasonably jump to the conclusion that she probably died of AIDS related complications.  But for some reason the author chose not to take this route which leaves a huge grey area, unlike all other historical events explored in Forrest Gump, which may mean this is not, in fact, an exploration of an historical event - especially since this was not how things occurred in the book.  The route the author chose leaves a big whole as to what she actually died of and, if real world facts are to be applied, makes it unlikely that she died of AIDS.  Poetic license is all fine and dandy, but I think you use that when the author actually is leading us in a direction that doesn't quite fit with the facts.