Headscratchers / The Whale

• If Liz is such a good nurse and one who cares for Charlie (the only one who loved her brother), why is she feeding him all the unhealthy food? Fried Chicken, a submarine sandwich (which he nearly chokes and dies from) and all the candy bars? AND SHE'S A NURSE??? Is she enabling him for her own psychological reasons? She shows tough love, but that is inconsistent with giving him what he wants instead of what he needs.
  • Either she knows he'll find ways to buy the unhealthy food anyway, or she really is monopolizing his care for her own reasons. She says as much in her conversation with Thomas.
  • At this point, Liz and Charlie both give voice to the fact that Charlie doesn't have long to live. Maybe she feels like there's no point in keeping his food healthy.
  • This happens in real life. Morbidly obese people who can no longer take care of themselves have people who care for them and yet perpetuate their self-destructive lifestyle.

• Also: what was up with the scenes were the tray for the food for birds? A couple of scenes, we see the tray of (I think) bread for the birds to eat is uneaten. Then, later in the movie, the tray is broken - someone broke it. Who and why? What is the scene about?
  • My interpretation is that Ellie broke the plate after realizing that Charlie gave the birds at his window more care and devotion than he'd given to her in nearly ten years. Just like how he had had her number the entire time, it's another sign that he was always capable of being there for her but never was. Which hurts her badly and deepens her sense of betrayal.
  • Ellie broke the plate. In the end, as Charlie is near death, he looks at the window and starts ranting that "she broke it to send it home" or something like that. Charlie believes that Ellie thought that the food dish was drawing the bird away from its family, so she broke the dish to send the bird back home. This fills him with emotion because he sees it as proof that Ellie is a good person. This also strikes a particular chord because familial estrangement is a theme in the story.

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