Nebraska Analysis Part III

David is Woody’s youngest son. He is an insecure man with no self-esteem, no self-confidence. At one point when his girlfriend leaves him, he asks pathetically and with uncertainty if there will still be sex between them. He is equally misguided like his father. When you see David, he looks like someone stepped on him a long time ago and left him down with all the problems of the world on his shoulders. But David is kind, thoughtful and caring. He is the only one who listens to Woody when he rants about his million dollar win. He’s the one who takes his silent, hostile dad on a long journey to get his money. He is the son who establishes a relationship with his angry dad in this long, misguided trip. He tries very hard to communicate with his dad. At a bar, his father taunts him to drink a beer with ‘his dad.’ David gives in and drinks a beer with his dad, even though he’s no longer drinking. Woody didn’t understand or care why his son didn’t want to drink anymore. He just taunted him. Through this moment drinking beer, you see that a relationship is developing between father and son. Another time, David makes a joke about Woody’s dentures, and Woody responds with a joke. Even though his father doesn’t make this trip easier and keeps running away, David patiently follows him, brings him back and treats his wound or illness. David gains assurance in this trip as he tries to protect his dad from ridicule over the million dollar win. When two men steal Woody’s flier, David courageously confronts his two brawny twin cousins about it. When he sees his father despondent over the loss of the flier, he suggests that perhaps the thieves dropped it and to go search for it. In the movie, David walks into the town bar and hears Ed, Woody’s friend, showing the flier to his friends, making fun of Woody’s confusion. David does something he wouldn’t have done earlier in his life before this journey, he takes the flier from Ed and punches Ed on the face, knocking him down. It is such a compelling story when son David becomes the ‘dad’ for his father, becoming very protective of hi, therefore growing in confidence and self-esteem while doing it. He even confronts his dad when he find out some information through Ed, one of Woody’s friends. Ed tells David that Woody was going to leave Kay and his brother because he was having an affair with the ‘half breed.’ He tells David that he, Ed, talked Woody out of it and to return to his wife and child. When David and Woody reach Jackson, Nebraska, they go to the place of business that originated the fliers. The secretary tells Woody that he didn’t win. He gets to choose a cap that says ‘winner’ on it. David sees the disappointment on his father’s face and he does one magnanimous thing. Remembering his dad wanted to buy a truck to leave to his sons, he trades a great car, his car, for a truck and has his father’s name put on the title. Somehow, David understood Woody’s feelings of insecurity, of rejection and lack of achievement, and he stepped up to the plate to give his dad his heart’s desire: a truck and a compressor Woody kept complaining about. One can say that during this journey with his father, David reaches his majority, his manhood. He bonds with his dad in a touching scene where Woody drives the truck through his town’s main street and lets his friends see him with the truck and the ‘winner’ cap on. He tells David to get down so his friends will think he’s driving the truck by himself, and David does it. When Woody sees the truck that he wished for and in this moment of conspiracy when David goes under the dashboard to please his father’s ego, the two men bond deeply. A true relationship is established between the two men. This journey has done what all of the years living with his dad did not do and that is bond them as father and son.