John Q Scene

In my opinion, the most important scene -- or at least the one that stood out the most to me -- occurred at the end of the film. During this pivotal scene, John's son says goodbye to his father because John was sentenced to serve jail time. Without pausing, John corrects his son's malapropism and says "See you later" to indicate that he will see his son in due time.

This scene was embellished with pathos and logos. The fact that a son has to say goodbye to his father because his father broke the law in order to save his son's life is very emotional. This scene makes the audience regret the fact that John had to break the law because now he has to be separated from his son; at the same time, the audience is also thankful that John broke the law in order to save his son from dying. This scene also evokes some ethos because though John is paying the consequences for committing a crime, he proved that he loved his son and that he was a devoted father by doing whatever it took to make sure that his son survived. This alone proves that John is a great father with a lot of character, and it exemplifies that John is the protagonist of the story.

This scene was also important because it works off a previous scene. In the beginning when John's son told John to say "see you later" instead of goodbye (good bye means possibly wont see again), John chuckled because he knew he was going to see his son after school. After the whole hospital incident though (most of the movie), John's attitude about being and seeing his son changed. Due to the sentence John has to face, his son is unsure if or when he will see his dad again. By reversing the roles this time, John is letting his son know that he will get out of jail as soon as possible, and that he longs for the day that they will be reunited again.