43 pages • 1 hour read
Hope Was Here
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Resilience and Connection With Others
At 16, Hope Yancey has lived a life of constant change, both physically and emotionally, and she has learned how to adapt to new environments. Each time Hope and Addie move to a new town, Hope must make new friends and assimilate into a new school and social structure, but she always finds a way to make the best of the situation. However, she can’t stop herself from thinking about all she has missed out on by never settling in one place for too long. Leaving her signature phrase, “HOPE WAS HERE,” becomes a way to anchor herself to a place before moving on. She notes, “Whenever I leave a place I write this real small, someplace significant, just to make the statement that I’d been here there and made an impact” (3). Through Hope’s character, the author explores the effects of an unstable life on a teenager and asserts that the best way to persevere through the unpredictability of life is to build supportive relationships.
Addie is Hope’s constant, and she knows that no matter where they move, her adoptive mother will never leave her. Having been abandoned by her mother and having never met her biological father, Hope grasps for permanence in relationships. Each time she moves to a new town, she prioritizes making new friends, no matter how embarrassing the process may be, because she knows having friendships is vital to her survival. When they move to Mulhoney, Hope jokes that she might even take out a personal ad in the newspaper for a friend request. Finding welcoming, supportive friends helps Hope to find a sense of belonging and supports her on the unsteady ground of change. However, it is not until Hope moves to Mulhoney, works at the Welcome Stairways, and joins the campaign efforts for G.T. Stoop that she truly understands the power of resilience. Through seeing G.T. fight corruption and cancer, learning about Braverman’s difficult life, and helping Lou Ellen with Anastasia, Hope learns that resilience can’t be accomplished alone. It is nurtured through fostering healthy relationships and working together as a community to help one another. G.T. teaches Hope that “[t]o adapt is to overcome,” and she learns to find hope in change and the possibility that life could be better on the other side (25). Life changes can bring about new experiences, but most importantly, they create a gateway to friendship and empathy.
The Healing Power of Humor
Joan Bauer creates in protagonist Hope Yancey a likable teenage narrator whose use of wit and sarcasm provides a sliver of light in a sometimes gloomy storyline. Comedy is a way for people to make sense of the world around them. People often make jokes to lighten the mood in tense interactions or find joy in an otherwise hopeless situation. Abandoned by her mother as a child and forced to constantly move away from friends she loves, Hope uses her sense of humor as a defense mechanism against crushing depression and self-doubt. Though many of Hope’s witticisms come through her internal monologue, her interactions with her co-workers in the diner provide opportunities for humorous banter. When her mother visits and Hope feels on the brink of emotional collapse, Braverman hands her a clown nose to cheer her up, and Hope uses it to bring joy to herself and everyone in the diner: “I stood there feeling the spongy red ball that had turned discouragement into hope” (142). Though humor is a way for Hope to distract herself from pain, it is also a way for her to see her problems in a different light and move on without sinking too far into sadness.
The author also uses comic relief to provide levity against some of the heavier issues facing other characters in the novel. Hope’s wit adds a layer of humor to the narrative and depth to her character. She vulnerably admits that she once struggled with anger issues and used boxing to exorcise her rage; however, she finds humor a far better way to manage her emotions. After the emotionally draining election, Hope delivers a comical one-liner about Addie’s cooking: “It takes a great cook to pull life truth from poultry” (168). G.T. finds humor in his cancer by making jokes, such as stating that he is not worried about customers finding his hair in the food or that he will fire his barber after going bald from chemotherapy. By using humor to respond to adversity, both Hope and G.T. reclaim some of their narratives and regain a sense of agency in their stories in the chaos of uncertainty. Their ability to see humor even in the darkest of times demonstrates their optimism and a need to rise above their circumstances and find gladness despite feeling pain. The inclusion of humor asserts that even in the toughest times in life, laughter and joy can be encouraging and healing to the human spirit.
Young People Making a Difference
Through the teenage characters in Hope Was Here, Bauer explores the way teenagers use their youthful energy and optimism to fight for meaningful change in their community and emphasizes the importance of not minimizing the value of young people. The story shows how youth have often been the catalyst for large-scale social and political change.
Paralyzed by the fear of Eli Millstone and his authoritarian rule, the citizens of Mulhoney remain passive, unwilling to stand up to corruption. When G.T. takes a stand and announces his plan to fight against the status quo, it is the young people of the town who rally behind him and move his campaign forward. Led by Adam Pulver and the Students for Political Freedom Coalition, the teenagers of Mulhoney begin a grassroots movement to get G.T. on the ballot. Once she joins the effort, Hope realizes the power of youth activism and even encourages her customers at the diner to register to vote. When interviewed by the reporter, Hope educates the public on the power of teenagers to enact change: “You think all teenagers care about are musicians and movie stars? Spend some time in Wisconsin. We’ll blow your socks off” (122). Teenagers have a natural proclivity to question authority, and when Hope learns that Millstone rigged the election, she, along with Braverman and the coalition, refuses to accept the injustice and demands that the administration admit the truth.
Through her work on the campaign, Hope learns about not only the power of a group to enact change but also the importance of individual action. She explains, “I never thought about what it means to be a citizen before working on this campaign. I just took it for granted. Now for the first time I see how I need to take part in the process, I need to think about my place in society” (134). Hope’s experience displays the importance of teaching young people about civic involvement. By serving in her community, Hope becomes less fixated on her problems and learns the healing power of helping those around her. Though she and her friends are not old enough to vote in the election, through their efforts in helping G.T. get elected, they ensure a better future for themselves. Hopes says, “We learned that you don’t have to be famous or rich or physically healthy to be a leader. You just have to try to be a true person. We learned that helping other people brings out the good in everybody” (176). After G.T. becomes mayor, the teenagers join with him in fulfilling his campaign promises to make Mulhoney a better place to live. Bauer’s novel asserts that if given the chance, teenagers can make an impact on their community and become better citizens themselves in the process.
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By Joan Bauer
