Sixth Sense Study Guide
Malcolm Crowe – A child psychologist who becomes obsessed with helping out Cole due to his resemblance to an earlier patient of his, Vincent.
Cole Sear – A young boy with a ‘sixth sense’, the ability to see ghosts.
Lynn Sear – Cole’s mother, who doesn’t know what his causing her son’s problems, and is doing her best to understand what is wrong.
Anna Crowe – Malcolm’s wife. A year after his death, she is still having troubles coping with his absence.
Vincent Grey – Malcolm’s original patient with a ‘sixth sense’.
Questions/Facts
1. Who did Cole’s glasses belong to?
They belonged to his father. Cole removed the lenses because they hurt his eyes.
2. What did the mother’s red clothing symbolize at the girl’s funeral?
-The color red appears whenever something supernatural occurs.
-It could symbolize that the mother was not sad, as everyone else was wearing black.
3. Throughout the film, many characters complain about how cold it is. At one point, Cole expresses that it gets cold when the ghosts become upset.
4. How was Malcolm killed?
He was killed by one of his ex-patients, who had an issue similar to Cole’s.
5. Why are ghosts attracted to Cole?
They seem to know that he can help them.
6. Cole tells Malcolm his secret after he is attacked by a ghost. He does not tell his mother what is going on until the very end of the film.
7. Why was Cole stealing figurines?
He was stealing religious figures (like statues of Jesus) to create a sanctuary in his tent.
8. At the funeral scene towards the end of the film, the following are important:
- The ghost of the murdered girl appears to Cole to ask for his help.
- When he goes to her room, she gives him a box which he is supposed to give to her father.
- Her father watches the film and learns that the mother was poisoning her.
- At the end of the scene, Cole is talking to the murdered girl’s sister and we learn that the ghost
wanted to protect her.
9. What is the first ghost actually seen by the audience in the film (aside from Malcolm)?
The woman who committed suicide. (She appears after Cole finally tells Malcolm his secret.)
10. How does Cole convince his mother that he can actually see dead people?
He talks about his grandmother and brings up two things that he could not have known.
a. That she actually watched her daughter’s dance recital when she was younger.
b. That she answered the mother’s graveyard question (Are you proud of me?) with the answer, “Every day”.
11. What was the name of the young boy who had a condition similar to Cole’s?
Vincent Grey.
12. Why did Vincent Grey shoot Malcolm?
He tells Malcolm that ‘he failed him’, and that he is still afraid.
13. What was the item that the grandmother kept moving around the house?
A bumblebee pendant.
14. What causes Malcolm to believe that Cole is telling him the truth about seeing dead people?
He is listening to an old tape where he interviewed Vincent Grey and he discovers:
a. He complained about it being cold during the interview.
b. When he turned up the volume on the tape, he could hear a man begging for his life in Spanish.
15. Why did Malcolm feel compelled to help Cole?
Because he felt that he failed Vincent Grey.
16. What are some signs that Cole is actually seeing ghosts?
a. Photographs of Cole often have strange lights in them.
b. His mother is always messing with the thermostat.
c. Cole has knowledge of things he wouldn’t know. (Latin, locations in Vietnam, “Stuttering Stanley”, names of actual military units, his grandmother’s history.)
17. Which character did Cole play in the school performance at the end of the film?
King Arthur.
18. What causes Malcolm to realize that he is dead?
19. In what city does the story take place?
20. What does Cole follow up the staircase at the birthday party?