Hope and Despair

The paradoxical relationship between hope and despair is explored in What Strange Paradise through the eyes of the refugees whose hope for a better life leads them to leave their native homes. Despite their hopes, the journey to a new life is not without despair, represented by characters who undermine their hope at every turn. Amir’s stepfather moves the Utu family to Egypt under this pretense of hope. “There was at least the chance at life. He repeated this phrase, time and again: 'the chance at life’” (15). Umm Ibrahim hopes that the Westerners who receive her will help her have her baby safely, repeating her rehearsed statement like a mantra of hope: “Hello, I am pregnant. I will have baby on April twenty-eight. I need hospital and doctor to have safe baby. Please Help” (69). All the other passengers the audience encounters aboard the...