ABSTRACT
Slowly eroding from the fabric of the nation, hope is unexpectedly a central feature in the Other America’s stories of dismal realities. It takes the form of human warmth, nearness and simple living, providing even the most unfortunate characters with an impulse to believe in a better future. The alienated, marginalised other Americans of Auster, Jarmusch and Waits, with plenty of time at disposal, gain or regain homo-sociality, friendship and brotherhood and have a chance to rediscover the beauty of simple daily activities, of the slow passing of time and of repetition. Jarmusch’s Paterson (2016), Auster’s Smoke (1995) and Waits’s most spiritual compositions are used as main examples of hopeful works that revive an old maxim from Thomas Aquinas, for whom hope “causes one friend to count on another.” If most people devote their existence to establish and maintain financial security, these characters’ goal in life does not come from fitting into prearranged schemes and a steady job – a recurrence that the three authors have deliberately avoided in their own youth. Rather, it originates from the wish to be part of humanity’s microcosm of relationships, affection and protection. That is the Whitmanesque “absolute soul” that all humans share.
