The TV show, “Gilmore Girls”, centers on the main character Rory Gilmore, who goes through character changes through her high school and college years. Throughout the phases of boys, heartbreak, and pursuing her lifelong dream of attending Harvard, Rory continues to stay true to herself while each of her relationships show Rory’s evolution as a character. Ripe with complicated love lives
In Season One, after completing her freshman year at the local high school, in hopes of one day attending Harvard, Rory is accepted to the prestigious Chilton Preparatory School. Rory has always put school first and refuses to let anything jeopardize her goals. In her second year of high school, Rory falls for the new boy in town, Dean. Prior to Dean, Rory was extremely shy and naive.
Dean is her first love and while they experience their ups and downs, she becomes more open and confident in herself. Rory’s new found confidence ultimately leads to the demise of she and Dean and she falls for Jess, the bad boy. Jess is a different kind of love for Rory, they connect over their love for literature and he pushes her boundaries on an emotional level. Jess ends up moving away, but a piece of him always stays with Rory, and influences her future decisions.
Rory decides to attend Yale instead of Harvard, which comes as a surprise to everyone in the town. At the start of her first year she is typical Rory: focused, determined, and ready to take on the world. Rory then meets Logan Huntzberger, a rich, ivy league shoe in who has a player attitude. While reporting on a story for her school’s newspaper on the secret society he is apart of, Rory becomes infatuated with Logan. Rory begins to take more and more risks, and really develop as a person. Logan and Rory continue to date throughout college and have many memories together.
At this point, Rory is much more confident in herself and takes risks, even taking a year off of Yale. She is not afraid to speak up and be assertive to get what she wants. Rory briefly reconciles with Jess, and he inspires her with a book he’s written. She decides to head back to Yale and becomes the editor of the Yale Newspaper and is on the fast track to success. Logan is also still in the picture and Rory is more mature than ever. Rory isn’t quite sure at first where her life will lead her, but she remains optimistic. She views her situation as being completely wide open with plenty of opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of.
At Rory’s graduation party she is taken completely by surprise because Logan decides to publicly propose to her. Rory pulls him aside and does not give an answer, instead tells him she needs time to decide. Ultimately, Rory ends up saying no to Logan because she does not want to tie herself down as she has so much to do. Rory gets a surprise offer to be a reporter for Obama’s presidential campaign immediately. Rory is finally becoming a grown woman with a big successful career ahead of her. Each of Rory’s relationships contributed to her growth and evolution as a character. She learned lessons that sometimes took her a step back but ultimately pushed her forward to become confident, independent and follow her dreams.