Page 68 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

the final scene and in hopes that Carol will continue to give him a chance, he tells her that he
recognizes that he knows the greatest woman he has ever met, and that makes him feel good
about himself.

In the end, Carol and Simon see Udall’s humanity and he is accepted and loved for who
he is. During the scene in which Udall opens his home to Simon when he has nowhere else to go,
Simon tells him, “You overwhelm me” (1:57:46). This expression of feeling demonstrates the
level of gratitude that Simon feels for Udall, followed by Simon telling him that he loves him.

While change was possible for Melvin Udall by taking medication, this is not always the
reality for those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the media, change seems to occur
magically and quickly, which tends to diminish the real struggles that obsessives live with on a
daily basis. It is, of course, the hope for all individuals who suffer from mental disorders: that
people will finally see their humanity, finally accept them for who they are and not reject them
for their deficiencies. But what happens to the individuals where their humanity is not seen or
where it is not revealed? Does that make the person underserving of love; undeserving of
acceptance? It seems a shallow expectation of human regard that is based on imposed
perceptions that when they fail, it compartmentalizes the person into an unfair stereotype. If
someone fails to meet society’s omnipotent expectations that satisfy selfish desires, they are cast
out and subjected to unfair ridicule. What seems to be a notion of care and compassion is no
more than an expectation of what is desired to be seen, and not a true acceptance of an
individual’s inherent traits.

The business of human relationships is not perfect; it requires one to be human. To be
human requires an allowance of humanness and humanness is real and it is messy. While the
evolution of humans’ acceptance of one another is a continual process, there is hope that is

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