Thus far, I have seen a theme of hope in Going After Cacciato. I have only read about 50 pages, but Paul Berlin has repeatedly told himself that maybe Cacciato trying to walk to Paris is not so crazy after all. He maintains hope that perhaps it truly is possible. Berlin's hope got me to thinking about how people survive war. The way I see it, the only way to get through a horrible situation like a war is to have hope. Even if you hope for the most outrageous occurrence, the hoping is still a coping method. Though Berlin's reason tells him that walking to Paris is insane, in the back of his mind he wants to believe that it could happen. After all, the war does not seem reasonable, so why could walking to Paris not be reasonable? We only hear the thoughts of Berlin, but I would be willing to bet that the other men also have hope in the back of their minds.