Destinations In The Kite Runner

I have just written pretty much the whole blog post, and somehow it has all just been deleted. I am now writing it out all again. Annoyed.

I worked with Alice on this, we discussed that the main destination in The Kite Runner is Redemption. We both came up with a few ideas- here are mine:

• Baba's redemption. In Kabul, Baba never connected with his son Amir: "If I hadn't seen him being pulled out of his own mother with my own eyes, I'd never have believed he was my son." Yet in America, Baba becomes dependant on Amir, which allows them to grow closer. "'I am moftakhir, Amir,' he said. 'Proud.'"
• You could argue that Baba's whole life was spent trying to redeem himself from sleeping with Ali's wife, Baba's servant. This is illustrated by Baba's orphanage and other good deeds he did.
• It could be argued that Rahim Khan's redemption (perhaps for not telling anyone about Hassan's rape) is helping Amir find his. After Amir has left to find Sohrab, Rahim Khan is said to have gone away and is unreachable.
• When Amir stays with Fahrid's family, he gives his watch to the children. Although he is ignorant about what the kids are really looking at, it shows Amir is on his way to redemption, and he knows what he must do.
• It could also be argued that people, and the characters in the book, are driven to do good in order to achieve redemption. An example of this would be Baba's orphanage. He does all these good things in order to excuse himself from the bad thing he has done and redeem himself. Amir is also like this, throughout his life he feels guilty of what happens, yet he drives himself in Afghanistan to find Sohrab- he takes a beating from Assef and risks lives to keep him safe.

Merry Christmas!

Friday 10.12.2010

Today, we managed to finish The Kite Runner.

I have very much enjoyed reading The Kite Runner, (And will read A Thousand Splendid Suns), it has been brilliant in many ways and has been very thought-provoking throughout.
However, I am looking forward to moving onto a new text!

Update

Update of lessons- Sorry they are a bit late, but I have had various problems with the computer, and a lot of work to do. I wrote down what we did each lesson, but have been unable to actually post them onto the blog. So here they are.

26/11/2010
Today we looked at an analysis of a psychopaths behaviour. We talked about each point and we discussed how the majority of the points we similar to the character of Assef. Then we continued by exploring is Assef evil? In my opinion, when the word 'evil' is used to describe a person, I tend to think of Hitler, Stalin ect, the typical baddies of history. When it comes to the question of is Assef evil, I would have to agree that yes, he is. Reasons for my opinion of this are because he has no morals, he enjoys violence, and of course, he rapes boys. He is an irredeemably evil character, due to his shocking attack and rape on the characters martyr, Hassan.

01/12/2010
SNOW DAY!

03/12/2010
In our hour's lesson today, we looked at and compared each of our ''You're'' poems which describe subtly the character of Hassan. Mine really isn't that good, but I thought that Kyle's and Alice's were AWESOME.
Here's mine. It sucks.

You're
Whispering white linen in a breeze,
A lamb thrown to a slaughter,
Warm like the budding harvest,
The peaceful light shining in dark places.

A familiar tree on top of the hill,
Courageous like a sultan on his throne,
Ripples in a dried up pond,
Free as a kite,
My cleft lip friend.

Up to date now!

Wednesdays Lesson

Really enjoyed todays lesson! After playing a quick game of describing people, we looked at Sylvia Plath's poem "You're". I love Sylvia Plath.
We looked at this poem for inspiration for our own poems describing Hassan. Her poem
was a riddle, each line was a metaphor. When I complete my poem I will post it:)

Fridays Lesson

In Fridays lesson, as a group we created a large poster of the characters in The Kite Runner and also the main themes. We wrote down every idea we had about each character and theme then had a group discussion about what we thought. I found this very useful for revision of the characters and themes, but I also found it interesting to hear everyones different opinions and views on the subjects.

Wednesdays Lesson

We read chapter 22 on Wednesday, which sees the return of Assef, the baddie.

What I found interesting about Assefs character was how he was described to have track lines on his arms, signalling he must be an opium/heroin addict. Assef still hasn't changed from the bully he was when he was a kid. It shocks and repulses the reader when he kisses Sorab's neck and how he sneers when he calls Sorab 'my boy'.

At the end of the chapter, it sees Amir escape with Sorab after a face to face punch up between Assef and Amir. Though it was supposedly a 'fight to the death', neither was killed. When Assef tells Amir how he came to be i nthe position he is in, he said how he laughed when he was beaten up by the prison guards. This is mirrored when Amir laughs as Assef beats him up, which could be a reason why he left Amir go.

This is a big chapter and a lot of things happen. In my opinion, it is also the most gripping and interesting chapter.

Friday's Lesson

Friday's lesson- Chapter 19.

Not only in this chapter do we see a change in Amir, but also a change in his driver, Faird. At the beginning of the chapter we are reminded of Amir's weakness; "Again, the car sickness" yet we as the reader develops an admiration for Amir, as he tried to overcome (or just cover up) his weakness's; "You were right, I do feel better' I lied". It is as if now that Amir has a responsibility to take care of, he has matured and realised he cannot be protected and shielded from the world.

You also see a change in Farid, Amir's driver. At the beginning of the journey, he is cold and harsh towards Amir, "Farid gave me a dismissive look". This could be argued that he is like this towards Amir because he feels almost betrayed by Amir for leaving Afghanistan before the war became worse. Perhaps also he acts cold towards Amir because, as said previously in the book, honour and pride is very important to the people of Afghanistan, and he may feel that Amir has breached this by leaving. You do see some of Farids Afghan pride show through on page 201; "Farid snickered, 'It's not like fancy American medicine, I know, just an old remedy my mother taught me'". When Farid approaches his family, he is warm and welcoming- the complete opposite to how he treats Amir. However when Amir tells why he has business in Kabul, Farid's emotions change towards Amir, as he sees that his intentions are great.

A quote I found shocking, (which I am sure Hosseini's intentions were) was; "They hadn't been staring at my watch at all. They had been staring at my food." Amirs ignorance to how bad things had gotten for the poor families in Afghanistan made even myself feel guilty and feel sorry for the starving children. Yet it again shows Afghans pride, that they would sacrifice their dinner for guests.

Even though we found out that Hassan has died, he still has a big impact on Amir. When Amir wakes up with "a scream in his throat" after having a dream about Hassans' death (and being the person who shot him) he wakes up with a start, shocked by his own sub-conscience. It almost foreshadows how important Hassans son will become in Amir life.

In my opinion, The Kite Runner is at its 'juiciest', the plot is thickening and really makes you want to read on and finalise the events of Amir's troubled life.

:)

Wednesday 10/11/2010

Yes, I am posting this blog a little late, however I really haven't had the time to blog since Wednesday and at least I'm blogging now.

So, on Wednesdays lesson, we looked at the different voices in chapter 17 of The Kite Runner which were Amir, Hassan and Rahim Khan. I was particularly interested in the voice of Hassan, how his voice was expressed through letters to Amir. It seemed his confidence in writing and his intelligence shown in the letter how he has grown up and developed, yet as the letters are described to be 'childlike' his innocence has not been lost.

I was also interested in Rahim Khan's reactions and emotion when it comes to telling Amir that Hassan, his illegitimate half brother, has been shot dead. He is emotionless, and it can be ambiguous as to why he is so non challant about it. Perhaps because he is so used to the violence in Kabul that he is used to things like this happening, or perhaps he is numb to the idea of losing Hassan.

Now, I am going to have lunch. As Fiona would say, Toodles.

Wednesday and Friday Lesson

On Wednesday, we looked at 'How Hosseini tells the story in chapter 10' and it followed with a homework. This is a good practice exam question as it looks at all the different points throughout the chapter. Chapter 10 is the 'changing' chapter, where Amir and Baba leave Kabul and Afghanistan to live in America safely. We also learn that the relationship between Baba and Amir has gone 'back to it's old ways', as they are uncomfortable with each other, and Amir cannot stand up to him- "Do you always have to be the hero?"

On Friday, we read Chapter 14, where Amir gets back in touch with Rahim Khan, one of Baba's old friends. When Amir flies to Kabul, he does not still see it as his home. Rahim Khan now also is frail and weak, which mirrors the deterioration of Baba's health in previous chapters.
Homework set was to make two bubble-diagrams of chapter 16 and 17, on 'How Hosseini tells the story in these chapters'.

Half Term Blog

For ''revision'' of Chronological Topography, on Wednesday, Fiona and I watched 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button' (we were going to watch The Kite Runner and Memento, but Amazon failed to deliver by Wednesday) The film wasn't that good, but told the story of a man growing old to young, the story was told by one of the characters who was reflecting about her past (analepsis?). Also finished The Kite Runner properly, and just completed the essays.

Lesson 20.10.2010

Unfortunately, it was me who had to read aloud Chapter 7 of The Kite Runner- and Hassan's rape. The essay given about this chapter was "Discuss the ways Hosseini tells the story in chapter 7". The six main sections to focus upon in this essay will be foreshadowing, references to chapter 1, contrast in character, contrast in events, breaking of the narrative and setting. At this point in the book, the story is beginning to thicken and deepen and I am thoroughly enjoying analysing it.

Update 18.10.2010

Just finished annotating bits of chapter in The Kite Runner, it is an interesting yet horrific chapter which see's the rape of Hassan. I am finding that going through specific chapters in class is interesting, as you get different points of view, and ideas from everybody else. Also the short 30minute essays are useful.

Update

Recently in English, we have been studying The Kite Runner, which I am finding very emotive and interesting. We have already done a short essay about how Hassan's character was presented in chapter two, and currently looking at Baba's character in chapter three. I am finding that doing the short essays are helpful and useful for time management, and it is providing a deeper understanding of the characters in the book.
I also found that researching the Hazara/Pashtun was very helpful because it provided social and historical context.

Next lesson we will be looking at chapter five, which should be interesting, as the story is beginning to have a plot, and is about to get very interesting..

Update of lessons

After half an hour of trying to sign into Blogspot, I cannot remember what I was going to write.

29/09/2010
Chronalogical topography:
Literal definition is the sequence or order of something. We looked at the first chapter of Khaled Hosseni's 'The Kite Runner' and noticed how that only in the first page, something significant has happened in 1985, before the present time. I found it interesting how the sequence of a text can have an impact on the story itself.

01/10/2010
Speech:
This lesson was focusing on the different types of speech; mainly direct and indirect. Speech can have a big effect on a text, it can set past/present/future and it can be key to a story. It can be used in different ways too. In Khaled Hosseni's 'The Kite Runner', not only is there direct speech, but also speech which is indirect, which is more like a memory and written without speech marks. An overall usefull and interesting lesson.

The Piece of Paper

A piece of paper that has been precariously thrown onto the floor could pose different situations within different types of text;

Mystery/Crime: It could be a clue, a jigsaw piece that is noticed by the detective, or concealed when noticed by a suspect.

Romance: A love letter, screwed up and tossed aside in anger. Or a draft of a letter to a far away lover.

Horror: The paper could contain a photo of a horrific scene, or perhaps a letter to scare a person that had been thrown down in worry/horror.

Comedy: A prop that could be used in a pun.

Tragedy: A letter from 'beyond the grave' written by the hero/heroine to be found after a terrible incident.

Lesson 17.09.2010

After thinking about what we discussed on Friday's lesson and deciding what to post on this blog, I have been considering what interested me. When we talked about sequences and memory, and viewing the clip of the film 'Memento', it made me think about how things are sequenced in life and if they are set out to be this way. Slightly philosophical, but very interesting.