A Hope In The Unseen

Even the Hopeful have Influences

Perfection is not a common attribute in our lives; in fact, it is quite the opposite. As long as we shall live, mistakes will be made, sanities will be tested, and failure will most commonly be achieved. It is through these mishaps, however, that we shine with our greatest talents and persevere towards the end we all dream of. Like everyone else, Cedric, in Ron Suskind’s A Hope in the Unseen, holds an inner desire to become someone who will make a difference. To achieve this seemingly far-fetched acknowledgement, Cedric realizes he can not work alone or else he will be “[pulled] back down” into the “crab/bucket” atmosphere he grew up in (17). Needing influences to “push against”, Cedric turns toward his life at home and the lord, as his band aids.

Barbara, Cedric’s mother, chose at a young age to “quit her secretary job and go on welfare” (31) to raise her child the way she believed he should be. Growing up in a very guarded environment, Cedric Jennings, at least to neighbors living in the area, seems to be the scrawny, book smart, momma’s boy down the street. Up until his very last years of high school, Barbara stood at the foot of every obstacle, struggle, and issue Cedric came up against. She became the extra “push” he relied on to get him through each day. With her faith in him and his abilities, that “momma’s boy” brushed off every cynical remark and found it in himself to prove to everyone that there was hope, and he was ready to become someone other than a failure.

Creating a base in the lord, Cedric uses Bishop Long and the church to help guide himself through just about every one of his major life-changing decisions. He feels comfort knowing that “there was nothing [him] and [his] God [couldn’t] handle” (137), and through this comfort Cedric develops the initiative to take life into his own hands and mold his future the