The brightest hope manifests in the heart of darkness. When people must face hardship they use hope to endure, especially if they believe they have lost everything else. Having faith in something other than one’s self is necessary to survival in trying situations and resigning to a life without a greater purpose results in the loss of hope. If they don’t stand for anything, they risk losing everything, even if all that remains are their own lives.
For instance, faith in a better future can be essential motivation for survival. Ten-year-old Ruth Cechova, the author of “Birdsong,” a poem written in the “garrison town,” Terezin (“Theresienstadt: Establishment,” n.d.), conveys her feeling of optimism that a future of liberation will inevitably
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(11-16)
The future Cechova portrays is comparable to “greeting the dawning after night” (9), a metaphor that implies its inevitability, this acts as a motivating factor that enables her to cope with adversity. The belief that humanity would alter the course of the future played a key role in Cechova’s survival, while those who had a pessimistic view on their circumstances were more likely to perish because their lack of motivation lead them to perceive their future as bleak and despairing. The belief that one must cope with adversity to either care for or see their loved ones again also motivates people to survive. In the Italian film Life is Beautiful, the protagonist, Guido, played by Roberto Benigni, prioritizes his son and wife’s welfare above his own life. Guido’s unconditional love was instrumental to his survival while working in the concentration camp’s anvil factory (Benigni). Although he wanted to give up, he recognized that his son’s survival was dependant on his own. Despite the fact that his sense of self-sacrifice seems to contradict the notion of self-preservation, Guido endured the atrocities of the concentration camp so he could find his wife and shield his son from the horrors of reality. If the circumstances had been different and Guido had no family to care for, he would have given into the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and embraced death as an end to his
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Vietnamese refugee, Lan Nguyen, escaped in 1978 with her husband and six children following the capture of the capital, Saigon. In order to create the future they envisioned for their children, away from the limitations of living in a country in the aftermath of a war, Nguyen and her husband had to sacrifice their home and safety: “We left everything we knew behind to give our children a chance - to live to their fullest potential that we knew staying in Vietnam would not afford them” (Nguyen). A common theme of refugee stories is altruism, the selfless notion that their actions can better the lives of others. This is vital to preserving the belief that the adversity they face and sacrifices they make can have significant influence on the lives of their loved
The future is a series of unexpected chapters in our lives packed with thrilling mysteries and remarkable miracles. Although the future may blossom with new, budding experiences, unforgettable tragedies and misfortunes can alter an individual's life. Refraining from grief takes plenty of courage and determination to overcome. As an individual with numerous experiences and involvements throughout my life, I strongly believe that our hopes and beliefs are exceptionally powerful. Throughout The Book Thief ,there are plenty of reasons to support the countless themes that are mentioned in this book. However, I was intrigued by the symbolization of hope, how it had affected the characters and their surroundings, as well as their belief in hope.
gave your life, for some reason, collapses. In a religious meaning, I believe it is best described by St. John of the Cross as “the soul’s journey to the divine union of the love of God” (Perrine). The darkness represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching t...
Even though Little Saigon provided Vietnamese American with economic benefit, political power, this landmark also witnessed many difficulties that Vietnamese experienced. Vietnamese American experienced many traumatic events prior to migration such as war, journey on boats, therefore many of them suffered posttraumatic stress disorder, stress, and depression. Significantly, Vietnamese refugees who went to the re-education camps sustained torture, humiliation, deprivation, brainwashing and several other punishments from Vietnamese Communist. Those refugees have higher rates of having mental disorder. Language barrier is another obstacle that...
While buried, so deep beneath the cavity of adversity, finding hope is nearly impossible. But, it is the ability of decisions that aids as the last gleam of hope retrievable. After facing many struggles, it becomes almost involuntary for someone to put up a guard. With using that strategy, and the transgression of time without progress, there’s a certain ignition of comprehension. Change needs to occur, and a complete remedy of that
All in all, every year since 1975, Vietnamese have been killed or injured and they are so disappointed. The war causes chaos and is a sign of bad omen to Vietnam. This never-ending horror could be remedied if enough Americans cared about saving Vietnamese lives, as the stars of this documentary claim they did. After all, what kind of people seed a foreign land with hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and then allow succeeding generations to lose eyes and limbs and lives? Only a “violent and unforgiving”
This happens for many other refugees too. In, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, told “An idea came to him (Salva) - an idea of what he might be able to do to help the people of Sudan. ¨Could he do it? . . . How could he know unless he tried” (Park 107). Salva has found his place and now he has a mission to help those who also experienced what he had gone through too. Just like Salva, Til Gurung was a refugee that had found where he fit in, he used his experiences to make it possible for him to work towards helping other refugees find where they belong too. In Til Gurung’s speech he stated “Good afternoon, my name is Til Gurung. I am a Community Navigator Intern with Refugee Transitions. . . . I am a refugee from Bhutan. . . . By providing this language training and other support services through the Community Navigators like myself, Refugee transitions is filling a real need in our community” (Gurung). All refugees go through a state of mourning for their losses and they overcome homesickness, but some refugees go on to take their experiences and use them to help other people in
There are only two types of people in a time of war and crisis, those who survive and those who die. Elie Wiesel’s novel, Night, shows how Elie, himself, faces difficult problems and struggles to survive World War II. Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est”, tells a story about a young soldier thinking of himself before others during World War I. The poem “Mary Hamilton” shows how a mother killed her child
“Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.” President Obama’s 2004 keynote speech gives a timeless message of hope that especially resonates with minorities who face an uncertain future. Similarly, in her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison develops the theme that hope in the face of forced dehumanization, through the relationship between darkness and light, gives the oppressed a purpose and the ability to overcome and thrive despite persecution.
In Life is Beautiful, Guido faces inhumanity in the concentration camp with his young son Joshua. At the start of the film, we notice Guido as a happy person with an uplifting energy that affects the surrounding people.
Imagine a camp where having the chance to see the ones that were significant in life was banned. Imagine a world where on a daily basis ,people got tortured in disturbing, immoral ways right in front of many viewing eyes from young to old. Image a camp where loved one’s life’s got stolen from them for all the wrong reasons. Strength and health was no longer an obstacle that had to be dealt with. The only thing left to do was to stride for something that could keep you going for the long run. What would happen then? Something new begins to grow. Something so powerful that it could possibly outshine strength and health. Hope. Hope is something that could get you farther than strength and health.
And though he experiences both sides of the paradox, it is ultimately the uplifting and inspiring effect of hope that pushes him to fight back against his oppression rather than continue to accept his enslavement. Grappling with hope and using it to move himself forward against overwhelming odds shows that even though it can be used to pacify people and keep them in their place, wishing for a rosy future that can never exist, it can also be the fire that motivates them to finally change their
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
"Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower, we feel that we are greater than we know."- William Wordsworth. As stated in this quote, when we have something to hope for, and someone showing us love, we are capable of many things. In the movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night love and hope are the only things that keep the characters alive. This is shown through Elie and his father's relationship when his father reminds him of his fundamental feelings of love, compassion, and devotion to his family. Then Elie and his father look out for each other in hope to make it out the concentration camp alive. Love and hope are also shown in the movie Life is Beautiful when Guido and his son were taken to the concentration camp. Here, Guido's love for his son Josh, kept him alive. Dora, Guido's wife, shows persistent hope which ultimately leads to being reunited with Joshua. In both stories the hope that of rescue and the love that for each other gets the main characters through terrible times.
Hayslip, Le Ly, and Jay Wurts. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace. New York: Plume, 1990. Print.
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as