Uncle Hub's Character Relationships

From time to time that one rare person can leave a mark so great that it can completely alter an individual’s personality and perspective in life. In the movie Secondhand Lions, directed by Tim McCanlies, Hub and his brother Garth take care of their great-nephew Walter for a summer. Mae, Walter’s neglectant mother, ditched him for the summer to ‘attend’ a court reporting school by dropping him off at his great-uncles’ home. Walter spent his whole summer there, after he learned of the white lie his mother devised. Instead, she went to Las Vegas to hunt for a boyfriend because she felt so lonely in life. His great-uncles learned more about him during his stay, and Walter learns of the countless adventures they had in Africa and Uncle Hub’s love of his life. Hub started off as a gruff, cynical man, but over time he develops into the fatherly figure in Walter’s life. As a result of Walter’s stay, Uncle Hub made a walloping change: from a pessimistic, old grump to a loving …show more content…
Hub decided to look after Walter and said, “I'll stick around and be your damn uncle. Don't expect me to be happy about it” (McCanlies,1). Hub realized Walter needed him in his life because Walter’s mother did not take much action to ensure that he gets what he needs. Since Walter did not have such a great parental figure to look up to, Hub decided he would care for him. Afterall, Walter’s own mother just dumped him at Hub’s place when Walter barely even knew who Hub was. Hub felt the urge to care for his great-nephew, even if it meant sacrificing a portion of retirement time to look after him. He even promised to stick around until it was time to give Walter the full version of the “What Every Boy Needs to Know About Being a Man Speech”. In the end, Hub developed affectionate feelings towards Walter as he fulfilled the gap of the fatherly figure in Walter’s