Pulp Fiction Essay Questions

Why does Tarantino tell the story in non-chronological order?

After a brief prologue, Pulp Fiction is divided into three chapters: Vincent and Mia's date, Butch's story, and Vincent and Jules's encounter with The Wolf. Presenting the story using a non-linear timeline allows Tarantino to stay with each character for a long period of time, using a structure more common to modern novels than to feature films. Telling the events out of order also allows Tarantino to delay the audience's recognition of surprising events, such as Jules and Vincent being in the same diner as Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, or Butch being revealed as Vincent's killer. The non-linear structure also encourages audiences to pay close attention to the development of the plot, demanding more effort than a typical action-thriller film.

What is the significance of the briefcase that Jules and Vincent retrieve for Marsellus?

Although the contents of the briefcase are never revealed, Tarantino indicates to the audience that they are extremely important and valuable, given how violently Jules and Vincent behave toward the men who currently possess it. Vincent and Pumpkin are the only two characters who open the briefcase, and their faces glow when they look inside. The briefcase is a classic example of the MacGuffin: any object or event that drives the plot of a film with little to no narrative explanation. What matters is not what is inside the briefcase; what matters is that Marsellus will do anything to get it. Tarantino's shameless use of the MacGuffin as a plot device is one of the film's many self-referential allusions to cinema and cinematic storytelling.

Why does Mia make Vincent participate in the twist contest?

Mia is an impatient and impulsive character who Vincent must essentially obey for the duration of the date, so that he does not incur the wrath of her husband and his boss, Marsellus Wallace. Mia delights in pushing Vincent out of his comfort zone, which likely informs her decision to bring Vincent to Jackrabbit Slim's in the first place, a restaurant that makes him visibly uncomfortable before they even walk in, prompting her to call him a "square." Vincent brings up the story of Marsellus having a man thrown off a roof for massaging Mia's feet, a story that Mia flatly denies. Knowing she is often a target of gossip and perhaps even ridicule among Marsellus's associates, Mia decides to try to embarrass Vincent in return by making him participate in the twist contest in front of the entire restaurant, which they end up winning.

Why do Jules and Vincent argue at great length about "divine intervention"?

Jules and Vincent's disagreement about whether or not their survival at Brett's apartment was an act of divine intervention speaks to a larger debate in the film about fate and free will. Jules believes that their chances of survival were so microscopic that the act is a miracle, indicating a higher power at work. Vincent, on the other hand, merely believes that the event was a coincidence that, although unlikely, still has some precedent. Jules's epiphany leads him to renounce a life of crime, something which Vincent believes will render him a "bum." Interestingly, if Vincent had reached the same conclusion Jules did, he might never have been sent to kill Butch the following day, and would still be alive. Thus, Tarantino seems to suggest that Jules's philosophy is ultimately the correct one.

Why does Butch risk his life to recover his gold watch?

Butch is the only character who we see as a child, when he was visited by a man named Captain Koons. In a long monologue, Koons explains to Butch that he was held alongside Butch's father in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam, where his father hid a gold watch in his anus for five years before dying. The watch was a family heirloom dating back to Butch's great-grandfather. Koons himself stashed the watch in his own anus for two years, and imparts it to Butch at a very young age. Thus, the gold watch is for Butch a family heirloom and a symbol of his dead father's love. Butch's sensitivity to the disappearance of the gold watch is ironic given how stoic and cold-blooded he is in virtually every other way. In this way, Tarantino shows how a symbol of masculinity and patrilineal affection actually renders Butch vulnerable and emotional.