Hope has the incredible ability to make or break someone. People are always told to make large goals in school and employment, and try to reach those ambitions no matter how far they are. Hope is the motivation behind accomplishing dreams, but it also has the ability to break people who have hoped for something so desperately, yet never came to fruition. Only determination and personal situations can persuade hope to fly or fall. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly highlights this ambiguous hope we depend on through the use of symbolism, characterization, and inner conflict. The fantastic symbolism in A Northern Light brings hope to life in various ways. Even if someone’s dream seems to be lost, you can still look at the leftover pieces of hope …show more content…
She is shown as a very intelligent girl who, in seemingly even dire circumstances, attempts to keep high hopes for herself, her family, and her friends. After Weaver and his mom had lost their house and all of his college fund money, Mattie was terrified at the thought of Weaver not pursuing his dreams because he wanted to stay back and support his mom. “I couldn’t bear it. To think of him stuck here. Working in a dining room or a tannery or up at a lumber camp. Day after day. Year after year. Until he was old and used up and his dreams were dead” (358). She could see the kind of incredible person Weaver could grow up to be, and she couldn’t bear the thought of him being stuck in Eagle Bay forever when his dreams were so close. She says to him, “‘Go, Weaver, just go!’ I cried. ‘I’ll look out for your Mamma. Me and Royal and Minnie and Jim and Pa and Mrs. Loomis. All of us. We will. Just go! Before you’re stuck here forever. Like an ant in a pitch.’ Like me” (358). Donnelly characterized Mattie to show how she was hopeful for Weaver, even if she knew there was no hope for her own dreams. She would be happy to stay back as long as Weaver went to
In the beginning of the film, Mattie Ross starts her journey of separation when she leaves home to get her father’s body after he has been killed. The first stage of the journey is the call. This stage, “invites the initiate to the adventure, offers her the opportunity to face the unknown and gain something of physical or spiritual value….the initiate has had something taken from her, or her family. Her quest is to reclaim it”(Harris and Thompson 50). For Mattie, this means her father’s body is the thing that needs to be reclaimed. She Is called to adventure when she was “just fourteen years of age when a coward by the name of Tom Chaney shot [her] father down and robbed him of his life, and his horse, and two California gold pieces he carried”(Coens’ 1). In other words, Mattie has received her call. The second stage of the journey is the threshold, or “’the “jumping off point’ for the adventure…. Once past the threshold… the initiate enters the unknown, a different world of dangers and challenges” (Harris and Thompson 50). For Mattie, the threshold comes when she crosses the river into Indian Territory. Before she sets off she tells her mother in a letter, “I am about to embark on a great adventur...
“Hope is defined as the action of wishing or desiring that something will occur.” Hope helps people move forward in life to see what’s coming next for them. For example, “I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel, “Night”.) This quote explains the effects of hope in a pitiful situation. Eliezer Wiesel and his father were torn apart, mentally and physically from everything they
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.
The first idea that caught my attention was what Plantinga wrote about what makes up genuine hope. Plantinga, in his section on longing and hope, tells us that a Lewis Smedes believes hope is comprised of three different pieces. These pieces of hope are that a “hopeful person imagines a good state of affairs, … believes
The Northern lights, you could see them in the North pole. They look beautiful right, well have you ever wondered what causes the beautiful colors in the sky? Have you ever questioned yourself about there history or their sound and shape?
Hope can be a good thing; however in excess, hope can cause pain and unreasonable expectations as illustrated by Johnson's first paragraph. By beginning with "my unwillingness to destroy any hope that you had formed," Johnson uses moral appeal to inform her of his good character as he begins the denial letter. While her son will not be attending this university, Johnson is wary to inform her of this because he is aware of the hope that mothers carry. He reminds her with an intense tone that “the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged must end in disappointment.” Although hope can be good, too much hope will lead to eventual disappointment. Her thought process in sending the letter "is dictated not by
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.
"Hope - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster. Web. 24 July 2011. .
Northern Lights deals with the forces of love, betrayal, religion and science; all of these themes spur from one source, power. Each character in the novel experiences these topics, because each character is powerful. Northern Lights shows us that all individuals must either choose to use or be overcome these forces.
Many people lose hope in tough situations. They think all is lost when they do not get something the first time, but there is always hope even in the worst situations. Eve Bunting demonstrates this theme of finding hope in a bad situation with her short story, “Fly Away Home”. Andrew doesn’t lose hope because, he sees a brown bird that shows him hope. He also saves money in his shoe hoping it will help.
No matter how bad things may seem, there is always hope for things to ameliorate. When people believe that the future will be promising, they can have something to look forward to as opposed to dwelling on the past or the problems of the present. This hope can give a person a positive outlook on life and motivate him or her to look past what is happening in the present. In the poems “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson and “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy, they both convey similar messages about hope. Both works display the theme of hope being present at all times no matter how bad things may seem and is a consistent option for anyone in need of help.
What I had wanted as a child, what I thought would have gotten, is all outside my grasp. That house I wanted? Maybe a bit smaller…and about that car, I’ll take a Honda Civic. I am now forced into the dilemma of choosing which dreams to fulfill. Even then none of them might come to be. I still seek to attain my goals however, but with all due diligence will I attain half-success. What I found didn’t fit with what I sought to be. What I was promised and what I believed will not come to be. I was once jubilant over the inevitability of adulthood, but now, all I seek is the impossibility of another
The protagonist wants to achieve their goal with such urgency that nothing will stop them now. Which is not to say that the story must end happily. Hope can live on with the smallest of glimmers or with the passing of the torch. Which can lead to a sequel of course.
Hope is a four letter word that sounds simple to the ear, and even pleasing, as one might say. As simple as it seems, there exist a complexity behind this four letter word, a complexity that is best explained by Vaclav Havel. He once wrote, “Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprise that are obviously leading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” “Hope,” as Havel continues, “is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” Havel’s interpretation
Aurora, the northern light, is a collision between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth 's atmosphere which is predominantly seen in the high attitude area like Antarctic or Alaska region. Aurora usually appears in many colours while pale green and pink are the most common colours. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights also appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.