Hope: The Drive to Survive

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In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the director, Danny Boyle shows that when a person deeply loves someone, they’ll do a lot of difficult, challenging, or painful things for him or her that they would never do for anyone else, just like Jamal did for Latika. Jamal signs up for the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to get noticed by the girl he loves. The short story, A Month and a Day: A detention Story written by Ken Saro-Wiwa, reflects the idea that the author believes that one day, someone will stand up for the same cause as him and protest against the Nigerian government and the international oil companies that were destroying his homeland. Both Jamal and Ken Saro-Wiwa are optimistic and have wishful expectations of positive outcomes in the future. Jamal hopes that one day, Latika and he end up together, while Ken Saro-Wiwa hopes that he can make a change in Nigeria. Hope and a will to survive is best displayed by the characters of Slumdog Millionaire, and A Month and a Day: A Detention Story, in their need for true love, personal values, and an optimistic future.
Jamal Malik from the movie Slumdog Millionaire has liked Latika since they were kids. Difficult circumstances tore them apart. After a few years, Jamal and his brother, Salim go back to their hometown to find Latika. In order to take Latika with them, Salim had to kill a gang leader, Maman. When they went to a hotel room, Jamal told Latika that it was their destiny to be together. When Salim got drunk, he joined Javed’s gang, and kicked Jamal out of the room. When Jamal turned eighteen, he signed up for the most popular show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in hopes that Latika would notice him. On his last question on the show, he chose the option to call a frie...

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...ught for this same cause after he died too, and they finally achieved their goal. Ogoni was no longer a wasteland.
Everyone has a different idea of hope. For example, Jamal’s idea of hope was his love for Latika. Their love is what gave him the will to survive and get through everything that was thrown at him in life even at such a young age. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s hope and will to survive was his passion to help people of Ogoni and change their futures forever. Saro-Wiwa didn’t live long enough to see the courage he gave to citizens of Ogoni to fight on their own. He has inspired many people, and like he said, he wanted to die trying to make something right, and he did. Jamal and Latika fought for their love, and in the end, they did get a future together. If either Jamal or Saro-Wiwa lost their hope, they would have never had the will to survive and achieve their goals.

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