The Accountant: Solomon Grundy nursery rhyme meaning explained 

Ben Affleck has made a stunning return to his role as Christian Wolff in The Accountant 2, and the action thriller series is as fresh as ever as Affleck gets involved in even more riveting action and a captivating plotline.

Among all the characters Affleck has played in the past, Wolff is perhaps one of the more intense and challenging ones, as he portrays an accountant who struggles with autism and the challenges that come with it.

However, key details that Affleck and director Gavin O'Connor have added to his role mirror the real-life challenges people with the disorder face, all of which come together to create a nuanced, beautiful portrayal on Affleck's part.

One of Wolff's characteristics is how he sings the Solomon Grundy rhyme every time he has a mental breakdown. Many fans dissected the scene as his coping mechanism as he deals with his own internal struggles.

For people with autism, sensory overload is a real issue as it overwhelms them and might delay responses or induce difficulties while performing tasks. In such a state, individuals turn to stimming, which is short for self-stimulating behaviors. This way, breakdowns or disintegrations can be prevented or eased, and in Wolff's case, he uses the rhyme as a way of stimming.

In several scenes across the film, you can see/hear Christian stimming himself with the rhyme, even in crucial scenes of action, where it takes a few moments to ease himself. Throughout the film, we get to see that it was something that started off in his childhood, and he has carried it with him throughout his adulthood, providing himself with comfort.

Gavin O'Connor opens up on 'humanizing' autism in The Accountant 2

For any director, incorporating elements of mental health and mental disorders requires immense sensitivity and research on the topic to accurately portray the struggles of people who undergo such difficulties.

And in this case, director Gavin O'Connor did quite a good job as he created a character who does not conform to society's stigma or presumptions about people who have autism.

Talking about how they worked on this, Connor told Entertainment Weekly,

“For us, it was just about humanizing the character. That's really what it's about. “Chris is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, but you can't settle on a diagnosis. They're as different as people who are neurotypical. So we have to figure out the uniqueness and specificity of where Chris is on the spectrum and how that manifests itself."

He further added how they worked towards talking to experts on the topic, as he said,

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“On the first movie, I surrounded myself with experts. I did a massive amount of research. Ben and I would go and sit down in classroom environments with all these men, mostly men on the spectrum, adults with whom we can ask questions and have dialogue.”

The Accountant 2 is now in theaters.

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