The lines between assumptions and reality are often blurred as people may seem different than who they truly are. The movies Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese; Gothika, directed by Mathieu Kossovitz; and the short story “Strawberry Spring”, by Stephen King, are suspenseful, psychological thrillers in which the main characters are putting on a facade. Each piece of work reveals how a person’s appearance and actions can differ from the truth.
There are many characters in the movie Gothika who are not who they seem to be. Two of these characters are Miranda and Chloe. Miranda is misunderstood as an insane murderer who hacked up her husband. Miranda is actually very smart and saved a little girl’s life; she was just possessed. Chloe…show more content… In the movie when the reader is just getting to know Teddy, he seems very average at first but notice he is very observant. Teddy is actually a retired U.S Marshall and WWII Veteran who believed he was brought to Shutter Island with his partner Chuck who he just met, to find Rachel Solando, a patient who had escaped the night before he had arrived. Being stationed at Shutter Island, Teddy has a personal goal aside from finding Rachael, to find the person who killed his wife Dolores in a house fire, Andrew Laeddis. Throughout his vigorous journey at the island, Teddy eventually uncovers that the man he is really looking for is himself, Andrew Laeddis, who in reality actually shot and killed his wife Dolores for drowning all three of their kids impetuously. This made Andrew defer from the actual veracity of what he had done. Fire is the symbol of Andrew’s fantasy world, while water (the opposite of fire) is the symbol of the reality of what happened to him because his wife drowns his children in water and it is water which makes Andrew so upset, uneasy, and sick throughout the film. Another character who exhibits being different from first glance is Andrew’s partner, Chuck. Chuck is first thought to be Teddy’s partner when he came to the island but very little is known about him at first. Chuck Aule is an identity that Dr. Sheehan assumes. He pretends to be a U.S. Marshal to