Hope - Argument Essay - Exam

	Hope, a fictitious idea made by and for humans as a means of motivation to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. Hope, a means of inspiration, despite it all, pushing oneself or a group of people through a hardship. Hope, a means of escape, a way to find answers where there are none to find. According to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.” Those torments may be trivial, but hope still gives people a reason, a motivation, to continue on through this all too often bleak existence we call life.

	Although hope can be an escape, it can also be a motivation, likewise it can be an idealistic reason for someone to continue or fight for a cause; this is the case of Jay Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby, from the book The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has held onto an idealistic vision of his one true love, Daisy. Although unrealistic, idealistic and potentially foolish, it is one of his main driving initiatives throughout the book. From an early age Mr. Gatsby has had two things that inspired him to continue on. One is his acquaintance with Don Cody, a wealthy man who Mr. Gatsby met as a child. When Mr. Cody died the $25,000 left behind for Mr. Gatsby was out of his reach due to Mr. Cody’s mistress. This, therefor, inspired him to become wealthy based upon the hope of living the life he had become all too well acquainted. The second was Daisy. She came from a wealthy family and he had not; so when their relationship developed he began to tell her stories of his wealth, which he needed to obtain, in his mind, in order to truly ‘have’ her. By the time he had obtained his wealth, she had married another man, his dreams, crushed. That brings in another aspect to hope, failure. As Friedrich Nietzsche pointed to, once you have lost what you hope for so dearly, it crushes you; it is “the worst of all evils”.

	Hope is not always at a loss though, as a motivation to end the apartheid, Nelson Mandela used hope as a reason to fight, a reason to finally know freedom. Nelson Mandela used hope for 27 years, while locked in prison, to inspire and motivate a nation to continue fighting even if all “hope had been lost”; he used it as a motivation for the future. Mr. Mandela hopes did not fail in the end. So how then can hope be the worst of all evils when it freed a nation from a horrendous and appalling (in the worlds eyes) role? Hope is a motivation, not a detriment.

	Likewise to freeing a nation from an unequal rule, hope has been used in America to start social change. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used hope in his speeches as a motivation for change. From the march on Washington and his “I have a dream” speech, to his thunderous diction overwhelming onlookers above the downpour in a church talking about a mountaintop; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired and motivated, captivated and entranced a country, a world. He did not do it alone however, for one person cannot make change; but college students and high school students alike, sitting at counters; men and women marching in the street, signs held high as a beacon of hope, a beacon of change, chanting the words of lost generations, “we will be free.”

	Hope is a way of changing your life for the better. Hope is the illusion of something out of nothing. Hope is the driving force behind a movement. Hope is a motivation to continue through life when you see no point. Hope may hurt you but it hurts you because you tried and failed; it hurts you because you did not get what you wanted, but hope inspires you to stand up once more and try it all over again. How can hope be a detriment when it has done all that? Hope is in our hearts and minds, fulfilling, wistful, unrealistic; but it keeps your head high and a smile on your lips, shining through the darkness of everyday life.