The Importance Of Hope In Long Way Gone

Hope is essential to survival which is described in the novels Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and Sold by Patricia McCormick. The novel Long Way Gone is a true story about Ishmael Beah. Ishmael became a forced child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. His village was attacked when he was only 12 years of age. Ishmael, his brother, and his friends sauntered from village to village trying to get the daily essentials such as food and shelter. Every day was a struggle for surviving. He would think about his family and hope those days would come back to him. The novel Sold from Patricia McCormick is about a Nepali girl named Lakshmi that was sold into slavery at the age of 12. Lakshmi’s stepfather tells her to take the job in the city to

When she reaches the Happiness House, she realizes that she has been sold into prostitution. At the happiness house, she would hope about the scent of Nepal and her family. She aspired to make her money and return home. Hope was an active element that drove them through the pain and sorrow.

In the novel Long Way Gone, Ishmael goes through a lot of pain but hopes that it will end someday. Hope gives the strength to believe that there will be a better day ahead. When Ishmael would feel down, he thought his father’s words which were “ If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the density of the person, he, or she will die” (54). This quote explains to Ishmael Beah that there will be a better day ahead of him. This inspired him to keep on moving forward. He gave Ishmael a hope to live. This was Ishmael Beah’s driving force that pushed him forward day by day because he was hoping for a

She woke up realizing that there is one day less than yesterday. Lakshmi realizes that “all I know is that each time one leaves, my debt to Mumtaz grows a little smaller”(130). This expresses that after each day ends there is one less day that she will be in the tortuous house. This gave her hope to try with all her might every day so Lakshmi can get a lot of money which would lead her to return home. She kept an account of everything to calculate exactly how much time she would be there and try her hardest even though she hated doing it. This gave her hope to continue what she was doing and try harder. Lakshmi was always positive in every situation she had to face. In the novel Sold, it expresses that “if you look hard enough, chaos turns into the way letters turn into words”(76). This quote explains that she was positive in all situations. Even at the lowest point of time, she was optimistic and looked at the brighter side. She had the hope that one-day thing was turn to something good and life would get better, but she just has to try harder. She determined that she will work harder to achieve her goal which was to leave the brothel. Her main strength was having hope and being optimistic in every situation in faced in the