Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey

Goodall reflects on the years from 1964 through 1974. During this time, she earned her PhD, took a teaching job at Stanford, got married to Hugo van Lawick, and had her son, Hugo Eric Louis, nicknamed “Grub.” When she and Hugo divorced “at the end of the decade” (83), Goodall struggled with grief and guilt. She recalls the difficulties of their relationship and split.

Earlier in the decade, Goodall returned to England for a lecture series and had trouble readjusting to civilization. A lot was changing in the world outside Gombe, and the environment was suffering. Grub was born amidst this difficult era, which sometimes made Goodall question her decision to have a child. She reflects on her experience of motherhood and remarks on all she learned from the chimps, particularly a mother chimp named Flo. Despite the difficulties, Goodall loved being with Grub for the first years of his life. Finally, when Grub was nine, Goodall returned to Gombe and Grub stayed in England with Vanne. Throughout this period, she and Hugo spent less time together and drifted apart.

After Goodall’s divorce, she visited Notre Dame. The experience helped her focus on bigger philosophical questions. She suddenly understood all that Gombe had been teaching her. In particular, she found a new understanding of God.

Goodall reflects on her relationship with Derek Bryceson. They met around the time her “world turned upside-down” (97) and she still sees him as one of the most essential parts of her life. She remarks on his generosity of spirit and good character. Derek also fought in WWII, receiving a war injury. He worked tirelessly to overcome his injuries and went on to work as director of parks for Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere.

Goodall remembers taking little trips with Derek when Derek was working in Gombe. During one trip with Grub in tow, they had a near-death experience. They were flying in a bush plane and the vehicle malfunctioned. The pilot panicked and crash-landed the plane. On the ground, Goodall, Grub, and Derek struggled to exit the plane. After they escaped, Goodall realized how close they’d come to death and how unafraid she’d been. Derek then proposed and Goodall accepted.

Not long after Goodall and Derek’s marriage, they had another terrifying experience. Goodall was at the Gombe camp when 40 men attacked and kidnapped four graduate students working for Goodall. Goodall and the others evacuated the camp for Dar es Salaam. Meanwhile, Derek liaised with the government and kidnappers, who wanted a ransom. The despair and waiting felt endless. After the students were finally returned, Goodall struggled to deal with subsequent problems, but Derek was by her side throughout.

Goodall returned to Stanford after the kidnappings to a poor reception. People blamed her for what happened and demanded she quit. With Derek’s help, she gave interviews and tried to clarify what happened. One interviewer reassured her, saying he had worked on many similar cases and people often found themselves abandoned and betrayed after suffering such terror. Goodall despaired to think of violence being met with scorn instead of love. 

When she returned to Gombe, she spent a night alone near the lake, where she reflected on all the violence she’d encountered. Until this point she’d believed that chimps were more peaceful than humans, but she was about to discover otherwise.

Goodall reflects on the work she set out to do in Gombe and how it evolved. In the early 1970s, she and her fellow researchers began to witness violence amongst the chimps for the first time. A male chimp named Humphrey from a neighboring community was violent towards the chimps of the community Goodall was studying. Goodall and her team were unable to understand this behavior. Then, Goodall began to notice a female chimp, Passion, and her baby, Pom, attacking another female named Gilka. They killed and ate her baby, too. Passion and Pom staged many similar attacks, but Goodall couldn’t understand why.

Over the next four years, Goodall witnessed other new behavioral patterns. Chimps from her group broke off to form another group. They were territorial and instigated attacks on the original group. Goodall tried to reconcile this behavior with the violent human behavior she’d witnessed.

Goodall recalls the response when she published her findings. Some thought she was exaggerating her observations and others insisted she downplay the violence so scientists and writers couldn’t prove innate human brutality. Goodall was torn, but learned a lot from a UNESCO conference she attended. She recounts some of the conversations that impacted her while here. Around this time, she also read Richard Dawkins’s book The Selfish Gene, which sought to explain human violence. Although the book was eye-opening, Goodall wanted to know more.

Goodall reflects on the violence she observed between chimpanzees, comparing their behaviors to human behavioral patterns. She considers pseudospeciation—or the idea that some behaviors can be passed between generations within a group—within the context of chimps and humans. She wonders if inherited patterns of violence relate to belonging.

Goodall studied patterns of cultural speciation, both in gangs and religious sects. What she noticed was that humans had more awareness of violence, pain, and death. She explains why chimps seem oblivious to death, using examples from her observations. At the same time, she witnessed love between chimps, too.

Goodall recounts the love and kindness she witnessed between chimps. They hug, kiss, and groom each other to show affection. She recalls the way one adolescent male chimp took care of an orphaned chimp. Some philosophies of human behavior suggest that kindness only originates from the selfish desire for something in return, or reciprocal altruism. Goodall doesn’t agree, citing examples of selfless acts of love. However, she did struggle to reconcile chimps’ simultaneously “sinful” and “saintly” behavior.

Goodall continues reflecting on selflessness and sacrifice. She shares more chimpanzee anecdotes, comparing chimp and human behaviors. She references the Holocaust and all those who sacrificed their lives for others. She references Jan Zwartendijk, a Lithuanian consul who wrote permits for thousands of Lithuanian Jews to escape the Nazis. Goodall asserts that his heroic act was done out of selfless love.