22nd August 2018

1.8 significant connections

As humans there are times that we tend to give up on the littlest of challenge’s, however there are circumstances in life where giving up or not determines our survival or success. The texts: “One unknown” written by Gill Hicks, “The Fault in our stars” written by John Green, ” Me before you” directed by Thea Sharrock and “Lion” directed by Garth Davis all show my connection of “the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances”.

One unknown by Gill Hicks clearly shows the key idea of the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances.  This ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances is shown in the text when Gill is found at the train station right after the bomb had gone off, she is confused, in a lot of pain and coming in and out of consciousness. She sees through her blurry eyes a medic coming to her side, she holds onto his hand and that gives her the strength to push through all the pain she was in and keep on going as she could feel how much he cared about her, how much he was willing her to stay alive. ” All I know is that when I was being carried out of that tunnel I could feel how much he loved me, how much he cared and how much he was willing me to live-intensively willing me to say alive”  Gill could have just given up but instead she pushed through all the pain and made it out of the train station to the hospital with the help of the medic. This teachers the reader that if you just hold on for that bit longer, completely trust the persons who’s holding your life in their hands and push through all the pain and the challenge it can save your life. It also teachers the reader that shouldn’t take each day for granted like we usually do as one moment you could be walking through a train station and the next lying unconscious on the ground fighting for your life. The reader learns that Gills ability to never give up is ultimately how she survived the bomb and the events following.

A second aspect of the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances is surrounding yourself with people that love you, help you and can support you through your toughest times. Gill is in the hospital and she still doesn’t have any idea what happened, she knew she had lost her legs, and that she was very close to death. She knew all of these things but didn’t know how or what had caused them. Then one day she clicked and put it all together. ” My eyes opened as wide as they could – I was completely shocked. A bomb. It was a bomb! How could I have been in a bomb? Me? I suddenly felt like I was chocking. Tears rolled from the corner of my eyes I couldn’t process this information it was too difficult to believe”. Gill, if had not been surrounded by her family would have gone into complete shock and given up on trying to keep on surviving. ” I think it was the strength of my family that made all the difference at this tragic and very fragile time”. Gills family kept her going through this tough time and ensured that she didn’t give up even though she was going through bad circumstances. This teachers the reader that if you have the right support in your life like family, you are able to get through the toughest of circumstances, never give up and make it out the other side.

The fault in our stars written by John Green shows that surrounding yourself with family and the people that love you will help with the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances. This ability is shown when Hazel is diagnosed with cancer. Hazel’s parents make her attend a support group as they want her to be a normal teenager and meet other people at the group. They believe it is good for her however Hazel doesn’t believe it is and thinks its a waste of time but she still went as she wanted to please her parents. ” I went to the support group for the same reason that I’d once allowed nurses with a mere 18 months of graduate education to poison me with with exotically named chemicals, I wanted to make me parents happy”. Hazel has a boyfriend Augustus he has cancer as well, they met at the support group and he helps her to get though her tough times unlike her parents who try their best to understand how she is feeling, he has been through all the tough times that she is currently going through having had cancer and going through it again so he is able to understand how she is feeling and help her to get through it. Had Hazel not been made to go the the support group by her parents she would have never met Augustus and would have given up on trying to survive her cancer as she was going through difficult circumstances. Both Hazel and Augustus find their parents annoying, but ultimately understand that their parents just love them and are coping with their situations to the best of their ability. Hazel feels a large amount of guilt because of the way her condition affects her parents they have a lack of money and sacrifice time to make sure that she safe and cared for. ” They might be glad to have me around, but I was the alpha and the omega of my parents suffering”.  This teachers the reader that her parents are willing to risk/lose everything just to ensure her survival and they keep going not matter what their circumstances. It also teachers the reader if you surround yourself with people that you love and love you then you can have the ability to never give up even if the circumstances are life threatening. This text is different to “One unknown” as in one unknown Gill has complete faith in her family, they kept supporting her and she doesn’t feel any guilt towards them being there with her in hospital even though some of her family has travelled all the way from Australia. In Hazels case she feels immense guilt towards her family as they now have little money left due to having to pay for all her treatments and visits to the hospital. She also feels guilty over her parents amount of time they sacrifice off work and out of their days to her to ensure that she is safe and cared for at all times.

Me before you directed by Thea Sharrock shows the idea of the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances. This ability is shown when Louise Clark is hired to try and help Will. She starts spending her first days with Will, he is stuck in a wheelchair after being in a motorcycle accident and has a very negative mindset. ” I don’t do anything, I sit and just about exist” This shows that Will has decided to give up on his current circumstances however Louise keeps suggesting activities that they could do together to try and get Will out of his negative mindset. Will isn’t interested in doing any of these activities and shuts any ideas that Louise has down. Louise could have just given up like Will considering she was in difficult circumstances, instead she insists on trying to help Will and his bad attitude towards life even though he was constantly shutting her down. She keeps on pushing and pushing him trying to get him to have a new view on life and give up the negative attitude. This quote shows her determination and feelings towards Will ” I know we can do this. I know its not how you would have chosen it, but I know I can make you happy. And all I can say is that you make me…you make me into someone I couldn’t even imagine. You make me happy, even when your awful, I would rather be with you – even the you that you seem to think is diminished- then anyone else in the world”. Will then see’s how much Louise is trying to help him and how much she cares about getting him through the pain of never being able to walk again. He changes his mindset and begins to see the positive in life. He starts falling in love with Louise. ” Did you know something Louise?, you are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning”  Louise’s ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances helped Will to get through his difficult times and out the other side. This teachers the viewer that if you are strong enough to keep going through the difficult circumstances even if people push you away the first time you can achieve even the most hardest tasks. This film is similar to the text “the fault in our stars” because in the fault in our stars it was Augustus who helped to get Hazel through her pain and difficult circumstances because they loved and cared about each other. And in this text it is because of Louise’s love and compassion towards Will he is able to make it through the trauma of never being able to walk again and get rid off his negative attitude.

Lion directed by Garth Davis clearly shows the idea of the ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances. This ability to not give up first appears in the film when Saroo begins regaining memories of his early childhood. Saroo was separated from his family when he was only a child, he feel asleep on a train and when he woke up he was miles away from his home. He begins remembering his family, a mother and a brother, and he now wants to reunite with them even though they could be anywhere in the world. His girlfriend says ” What if you do find home and they’re not there? Then will you just keep searching?” Saroo then replies ” I don’t have a choice”. He is that determine to find them that even if they aren’t where he last remembers his home he will still keep searching and searching. His friends asks him about the events that lead him to being separated from his family, Saroo explains that he was on the train for several days with no idea where his was going. His friend Mantosh thinks it is going to be impossible to find Saroo’s family. “How long were you on the train?” Mantosh ask’s “A couple of days”, Saroo replies. ” It would take a lifetime to search all the train stations in India” states Mantosh. Saroo could have just given up on trying to find his family when he found out how long Mantosh thought it would take, he was going on his own and his friend wasn’t going to support him, instead he begins to have memories of his mother. ” She was beautiful… every night I imagine that Im walking those streets home and I know every single step of the way, and I whisper in her ear, Im here”. As he is gaining more memories of his mum he begins to get more determine then ever to find her and his family. This teachers the viewer that if you are that focused on finding the people you love even if it means you have to travel around the world trying to find them and risk the fact that you might not find them, you are willing to not give up on them no matter what the circumstances. This film can be related to the film ” Me before you ” because in both the films the characters are willing to never give up on the people that they love and they are both strong enough to get through the difficult circumstances where people have either pushed them away or given up on supporting them because what they were doing to them was “impossible”.

The ability to never give up no matter what the circumstances can be  important for ones survival or success, wether it is for those who you love,  push you away or you surround yourself with. It is shown in the texts “One Unknown” written by Gill Hicks, “The fault in our stars” written by John Green and in the films “Me before you” directed by Thea Sharrock and lastly “Lion” directed by Garth Davis. In all of these the characters are put in situations where they could have given up due to the circumstances but instead they all push through the pain and suffering to make it out the other side even stronger. The characters were able to get through these hard times by the support of their families, loved ones and pure determination.  

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. Lucy, well done for finding relevant sections of each text to support your theme.

    One area that I think you need to be careful of is that many of your final judgments are the same: that individuals need others to ensure their survival. However, in your text discussion, you actually cover many aspects that influence people’s final actions. Don’t feel limited to looking at your theme in one way; include multiple lessons that the reader/viewer can learn from these events. You could strengthen these final lines in your points.

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