(A) Hope, goals, and dreams are all things everyone has. Whether it’s realistic, or impossible all human beings retain hope, goals, or dreams. (B) In the following paragraphs you will learn how the two psychological articles, ” How We Lose Hope and How We Get It Back”, and “The Will and Ways of Hope”, support the reasoning for hope, goals, and dreams in three very different films. The three films, Of Mice and Men, the documentary War Dance, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, are all material that represent the struggles and gains from having hope, chasing dreams, and setting goals.
C) The examples will help support the thesis that hopes, dreams, and goals allow people to keep a positive attitude toward life. (E) The film War Dance, is beautifully filmed documentary about the dreams of troubled children in Northern Uganda. Children everyday in the region of Northern Uganda face the terror of the LRA. The LRA is a rebel group that turns children into child soldiers and sex slaves. The film is mainly about three children from the Acholi tribe that have all faced some type of terror, and yet still smile everyday. They are lead to stay positive in order to reach their goals.
Dominic a nine year old boy had been abducted at a young age by the LRA. His brother and him were forced to kill innocent people, including their own parents. Luckily Dominic was able to escape from the harmful grasp of the rebel group, but his brother was most likely killed. Even though Dominic faced this tragic experience he works so hard everyday to reach his goal. After escaping his abductees, he turned to playing the xylophone for his local school. His main focus was to master the instrument. Dominic and his school travelled to the National Music Competition In Southern Uganda.
There, he was awarded the best xylophone player. Dominic was an example of how hope can allow you to live positively even after facing major trauma. The article,” How We Lose Hope and How We Gain It Back,” says,” By achieving small steps along the way you can renew hope and continue to stretch yourself further. ” Dominic had to acheive many baby steps in order to renew his hope. But, once he had gained hope back, he set himself up for success by setting a goal. Having something to look forward to allowed him to be positive through hope, and towards his dream of becoming a xylophone player.
Another child in the documentary who faced great terror was a girl named Nancy. Nancy had lived in a small, unsafe,rural village. One day her mother and father had gone out to the fields and only her mother had returned. Her father had been killed by the LRA, and luckily enough her mom made it out alive. Nancy had been very close to her father, so the unfortunate incident had influenced her greatly. After moving to a much safer town, she had a dream to go with her local school to the national music competition, as a singer. Nancy had become very shy after the loss of her father, and had been bullied at school.
Even though she knew the other kids didn’t want her to compete with them, she still held on to the hope that she would be able to. After facing the tragic event of her father being killed, and consistently being bullied at school, Nancy still held onto hope, that she can one day reach her dream.
The article,”The Wills and Ways of Hope,” says, (E) The film The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, expresses a man who is having a hard time facing the obstacle of putting himself out of his comfort zone. (F) Walter Mitty, is a photo developer at the famous known magazine Life , when a new boss comes in he is faced with the challenge of finding No. 5, the cover of the last paper copy of Life. In the movie while Walter is trying to find the missing photograph, he tries to track down the man who took the picture. Unfortunately, the photographer is a daring, adrenaline junkie who spends his days traveling the world. In order to find him, Walter has to develop many ideas on where to search.
He goes from the city of New York, to Greenland, Iceland, and Nepal. In the course of finding a well hidden man, Walter clings to hope that he won’t lose his job because of the missing picture, which motivates him to look further and more detailed. G)This is called divergent thinking, as proven in the psychological article,” The Will and Ways of Hope. “Ph. D Scott Barry Kaufman says, “The link between hope and divergent thinking makes sense, considering divergent thinkers are good at coming up with lots of different ideas and hope involves coming up with a number of different strategies for obtaining a goal. ” (H) What Ph. D Kaufman is saying is that, because of Mitty’s optimism and determination to find the man, Sean O’Connell, he is most likely to succeed at his goal, shown later in the film. 1)
Motivation and hope is allowing him to stay positive in the stressful situations and obstacles he faces throughout the story. (E) Lastly, Of Mice and Men , is a novella written by John Steinbeck. The novella elicits how two men can not be independently successful, but still can obtain a hope. Lennie a character in the novella faces the troubles of remembering things, due to a mental illness. (F) The two main characters have a dream of owning their own farm. In order to reach their goal, Lennie and George, the other main character, have to work as farmers for a man in order to raise money.
Lennie loses hope during difficult times. These times include when he gets in a fight with Curley and at the end when he runs away from the farm. When he loses hope, he asks George to tell him about their future home, this gives him motivation to stay positive and work even harder at his goal. The article, “How We Lose Hope and How To Get It Back,” supports how hope allows Lennie to keep on moving forward. (G) “When working toward our goals there’s most likely to be some unexpected situations that occur. We need to be ready to deal with obstacles and drawbacks.
Consider what barrier you could run into and how to be prepared to manage these. When they arise you will be ready, have a plan, and won’t be able to use this as an excuse to give up. (Wilner 11)” Lennie and George have faced many obstacles during the duration of working for others. They learned from their mistakes and use that to set a plan for their new jobs. In order to manage these barriers Lennie uses the dream of a future farm house to stay positive. George faces the stress of having to look after Lennie, as a duty he promised to his (aunt? ).
He has had to face the challenge of Lennie getting in trouble multiple times. They have had to leave multiple jobs due to Lennie’s behavior. Even though Lennie had become a burden to George, he continues to care for Lennie and keep a positive attitude about it. Throughout the novella his main goal is to successfully finish a job with Lennie without having to run away. George uses a well known method of goal making in order to get through this obstacle. The article,” How We Lose Hope and How To Gain It Back,” elicits the method in a very smart;) way.
In order for goals to uplift and enliven us we need goals that are challenging and motivating yet still realistic. A good acronym to follow in order for goals to be effective is ‘SMART. ‘ Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic, Time bound. ” George uses this method to reach his goal. He specifies to Lennie not to start a fight, kill anybody/anything, and not to talk around the boss. He knows that if Lennie can uphold these expectations for three months, they will be able to earn all the money they need for the farm, and not get fired. They take action on the plan, Lennie barley following the guidelines.
It’s a realistic goal, George knows and believes Lennie can control himself. This shows George uses the smart;) approach to forming a realistic;) goal. In conclusion, the importance and effects of hopes were all shown in War Dance, Of Mice and Men, and The SEcret Life Of Walter Mitty. Hope allows people to stay positive in everyday life, and sets you up for success. Whether you’re trying to reach a goal, or achieve a dream, hope can always lead you to that path. Lennie, George, Walter, and the struggling people of Uganda are able to continue their lives.
