What’s Eating Gilbert is set in the tranquil and rustic, but waning, town of Endora, Iowa. The family consists of Gilbert Grape, a dual rolled adolescent, playing father figure to Arnie, his disabled sibling and playing son and caretaker to his obese mother Bonnie. Two daughters, Ellen and Amy, complete the Grape family. The family experiences untimely tragedy when Gilbert’s father commits suicide subsequent to Arnie’s birth. Repercussions from said tragic event run deep through the Grape family, as we see early in the film Bonnie’s obesity, the product of her depression and gorging following her husband’s suicide. No only does Gilbert assume the lead male figure in the home he is determined to restore the fiscally disadvantaged Grape
