History TearJerker / TheFisherKing

** The realization that Jack's question itself, while flippantly phrased, is completely sincere. This is a man who was recently interrupted in a suicide attempt, and who has been suffering a serious depression for years while watching his former life fall apart. He's basically asking "will there ever be a point when I'm so far gone that it doesn't hurt anymore? Does it happen all at once or do I have to go through a whole lifetime of agony, the way you have?" Jack's later interactions with mentally ill homeless people, particularly Parry, show him that there's no real refuge in being insane, only a different sort of pain.

-->And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded. Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn't love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die. One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you, friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."

** The realization that Jack's question itself, while flippantly phrased, is completely sincere. This is a man who was recently interrupted in a suicide attempt, and who has been suffering a serious depression for years while watching his former life fall apart. He's basically asking "will there ever be a point when I'm so far gone that it doesn't hurt anymore? Does it happen all at once or do I have to go through a whole lifetime of agony, the way you have?" Jack's later interactions with mentally ill homeless people, particularly Perry, show him that there's no real refuge in being insane, only a different sort of pain.

--> '''Parry''': I had this dream Jack. I was married. I was married to this beautiful woman. And you were there too. [Silence] I really miss her Jack. Is that okay? Can I miss her now? [More silence] Thank you.

* A broken, dejected Jack sitting on the streets and drunkenly monologuing to a wooden puppet about how most people amount to nothing and are only good for cannon fodder. Then he follows it up with a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]].

* A broken, dejected Jack sitting on the streets and drunkenly monologuing to a wooden puppet about how most people amount to nothing and are only good for cannon fodder. It's obvious that he counts himself among the latter. Then he follows it with a [[DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]].

* A broken, dejected Jack sitting on the streets and drunkenly monologuing to a wooden puppet about how most people amount to nothing and are only good for cannon fodder. It's obvious that he counts himself among the latter. Then he follows it with a [DrivenToSuicide suicide attempt]].

--> '''Parry''': I had this dream Jack. I was married. I was married to this beautiful woman. And you were there too. [Silence] I really miss her Jack. Is that okay? Can I miss her now? [More silence] Thank you.

--> '''Parry''': I had this dream Jack. I dreamt that I was married to this beautiful woman. You were in it too. [Silence] I really miss her Jack. Is that okay? Can I miss her now? [More silence] Thank you.

* When Jack asks the homeless cabaret singer he and Parry rescue "did you lose your mind all at once, or was it a gradual thing?" the man gives a flippant answer, then appends that he watched all of his friends die. It's New York City in the 1980s, the singer is very camp, and appears substantially underweight; it's not hard to infer that his friends were victims of the AIDS epidemic.

-->And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded. Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn't love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die. One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you, friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."

* Once you really understand Parry's situation, it's time to reach for the tissues.