Symbolic meaning of unopened package in Castaway?

Question

Okay, so, I watched Mythbusters today and they had an episode that involved a scene from castaway, it reminded me of the single, unopened package. Then it hit me I never understood the meaning of that pack, so what is the symbolic meaning behind that single, unopened package?

Why does he decide to never open it and take it with him in his attempt to raft to safety? And even return it afterwards. And the wings on both the package and back of the truck.

Answer 1

It basically represents hope. He is a delivery man. If he opens the last package, he ceases to be a delivery man and becomes a man without a purpose and effectively gives up on the one thing he believes in: Fulfilling promises.



Personally, I would have ended the movie with the woman receiving the package, opening it and discovering it was an inflatable boat with a motor :-)

Answer 2

all the comments above are correct - but misses the decisive point. Chuck writes a note which said "... this package kept me alive" - and left the package at the doorstep. This note turns the whole story upside down.



because we thought, till that moment, it is the first wife's memories that kept him alive in the island along with the picture of his wife in the heirloom. He admitted that when he came back to his wife saying that ... "though I have lost you now, but o am glad that you were there with me on that island every moment".



then he goes to deliver the package and confesses in a note that "... this package kept me alive".



So what kept him alive - the package or the picture of the wife in the heirloom?



a difficult answer may be that his wife was there in the island with him (heirloom) but what kept him alive to come back was the angle winged-package.



did he know that he had already lost her while in the island?



this is the confusion that the protagonist leaves behind .



I hope this help you Lilliana





Nuwan Peiris

Sri Lanka

Answer 3

Castaway Meaning

Answer 4

I had wondered about the initial package delivery 8 minutes into the movie. Presumably, the package that was being delivered to the Cowboy in Russia, with his mistress present, was the husband of the woman in the closing scene. This is revealed as the package had the Wings symbol on it.



Perhaps this signifies the degrees of separation between us all is less than we realize.

Answer 5

he held on to it because it gave him hope of one day being able to deliver that package. When he got home he came back to discover his girlfriend had moved on and got married. So, he decided to deliver that package and found the person wasn't home. But as he was leaving he noticed the truck with the woman inside and it had the same symbol on the truck as it did on the package, so he knew the package belonged to that woman. In my opinion, the ending with him seeing the lady in the truck meant a new beginning for him, possibly with this new woman.

Answer 6

Cast Away Meaning