Lam: Witness

                John Book (Harrison Ford) undergoes quite a few changes throughout the film, but he maintains one very key quality of his character that becomes very key to understanding his character more thoroughly. John Book most dominantly changes his view on community from always being a "lone wolf" type character archetype to one that embraces the community. Even though John Book had a partner in the police force and a sister, Book very quickly abandons his partner in order to do what he believes is right and abandons his sister with no information on his whereabouts, probably the best choice of action in order to protect her. However, after John Book lived with the Amish for an extended period of time, he began to feel the very close sense of community, especially during the raising of the barn together with the whole town/communities.

                Another change that he underwent was learning to control his anger and will to fight aggresively. This is exhibited in the scene when John Book, Eli, Daniel, and the school children returned home but were picked on by the bullies. Many argue that he lost his temper and fought against the Amish's pacifist ways, but in fact, Book warned the bully that he was "making a mistake." If this were his past self, he would not have stopped at first, so he showed a renewed control over his emotions. This shows that he adapted some of the Amish thinking into his own character (Pfeiffer 151).

                One other change that he underwent was his outlook on love. Before, his sister hinted that he was always single, but he fell in love with Rachel. As I mentioned previously, Book's character is often seen as a lone wolf type of character. However, it was interesting to watch his transformation into a renewed human being and show that opposite to the violent side that he first exhibitied in the beginning of the film, he also has a softer side that was able to be cultivated.

                 However, the one thing that Book does not change about himself is his morality of defending the weak. This is important to understanding him because it is his biggest leftover detail from the "English" world. It essentially shows that he did not completely turn to the Amish ways overall. Using the same scene mentioned earlier, it demonstrated one of Book's stronger points in the film but also his lowest point in the film. This overall develops his character more because it shows that even the hero is flawed and may not always be able to overcome the last obstacle that ties him back to his old world. However, John Book's character comes very close and overall undergoes a great deal of character development.