Losing Hope and Giving Up: One in the Same?

Using Sherman’s interpretation of hope as a model, one can make a case that “giving up” can be attributed to lack of hope.   Evaluating some of the specific cases that Sherman cites in her work, it is clear that hope enabled certain individuals from giving up despite their circumstances. 

Drawing upon the documentary movie about the prisoners in the Nazi camp that sung nightly, Sherman defines “defiant hope”.  The Nazi prisoners displayed both nonnormative hope and normative hope.  This hope showed their resilience to giving up and feeling defeated despite their negative circumstances.  According to Sherman, “the prisoners sang to express hope for a future outcome” and also sang with hope to “change the minds of the Nazi leadership” (5-6).  Showing that they never gave up the idea that their deaths were not inevitable and that the Nazi leaders would display show respect for their lives.  If the prisoners had given up, this would have been caused due to lack of hope in their situation.

The interplay between giving up and hope is also displayed in many different ways using the example of Dan Berschinski—a lieutenant that stepped on a bomb which transformed him into a double above-the-knee amputee, with a reconstructed left arm and hand, and a missing right hip joint (19).  In Dan’s situation, it would have been easy to give up, but he kept hope.  Despite being told that he cannot walk again, he has hope that the outcome of that statement will be false—instead of accepting his fate, he is on a rehabilitation program that will help him adjust to his injuries and push his limits (22).  This hope goes hand-in-hand with Dan’s hope in his rehab team to do their duties and help Dan to the best of their abilities (24).  Both these examples show that he has hope for the future and has not given up. 

Using the cases from Sherman’s writing, clear connections can be made to show that hope enables individuals from giving up.  Losing hope in instances of adversity is dangerous; it leads to a cascade of defeat and lack of aspiration.