I Fell in Love with Hope

Content Warning: The following analysis references abortion.

American poet Emily Dickinson said in her poem of the same title, “[f]orever—is composed of Nows” (Dickinson, Emily. “Forever—in composed of Nows.” Poetry Society). None of the characters in l Fell in Love with Hope knows this better than Sony, who lives for the moment because of her child who never lived. Rather than spend her time dwelling on the inevitability of her death, Sony uses her time to help other children and experience life. She and Sam emphasize the contrast between living in the moment versus for an imagined future.

Sam views Sony’s condition as unfair because it is taking away the future that belongs to her. He narrates:

Today is worth infinitely more than tomorrow. But Sony’s tomorrow held a career, the end of Neo’s manuscript, a look in the mirror at a new tattoo, and a sparking infinity of futures that rightfully belonged to her (272).

Sam has lost hope in the ability to live a full life. He only considers what people lose when disease takes over their lives; he cannot conceive that Sony can be happy with her life because, as he sees it, her life will end early and unfairly due to her lung condition.