The Kite Runner Essay

 3. What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
    8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.

4. How would you describe the author's style of writing? What's your opinion of the style?

• You must include a passage or two from the text if you choose this question.

Vic Xuan 
Sutherland
English, Period 2
November 23, 2010 

The Kite Runner is a historical fiction novel written by Khaled Hosseini. It portrays a story of the main character Amir, an ignorant Afghan child who matures into a responsible adult. He encounters numerous stumbles in his path to joy, but his outcomes with strangers always lead him towards the correct pathway. The writer allows Amir to survive throughout the book even though he faces the toughest challenges. Amir fought with a long time enemy and retrieved a mysterious nephew who was surprisingly his relative. Even when Amir was in deep danger, he wasn’t ever replaced with a new character. He belonged in the story and lived through depressing events. He did not ask for these challenges, but never gave up when they arrived. In the Kite Runner, all but Amir remain around during the whole book because if his life ended, the book had no storyline.

    Overall, the book was an uprising of conflicts that ended with kite running. As soon as Hassan got hurt by Assef, Amir kept bringing pain to him and threw fruit at him. Hassan wasn’t making a big deal out of the assault, but Amir was. The ending with kite running between two characters was an unexpected end to the book. It was unexpected because it was right after a social conflict of trying to take Sohrab to America. The conflict before the ending had no big event. In my opinion, I expected a breakdown of Amir or Sohrab wrapping himself in a life threatening situation because Sohrab was a troublemaker in Amir’s life. He didn’t commit any trouble by himself, but because Amir had to care for him, he was trouble. Amir finally discovered a method to bring Sohrab back to America, and he was in the bathroom, and when Amir tried to tell him the plan,

    “We won’t have to put you in the orphanage, Sohrab. We’re going to America, you and I. Did you hear me? We’re going to America!... Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until i thought my throat would rip and my chest explode. (pg 343)

    “...He says the boy had cut himself deeply and had lost a great deal of blood and my mouth begins to mutter that prayer again.”(pg 348)

The intensity of events such as these, astonished me when Sohrab finally had a chance to go to America and it happened without interference. In my opinion, I believed the ending with,
    “...but suddenly i was twelve again and all the old instincts came rushing back.” (pg 368)
The ending with happiness approached me as weak because throughout the whole book, predicaments arose, one after another and suddenly after a soft conflict of America, they succeed and live happily. In such a conflicted book, I hoped for a huge event to take place in the end, just as tense events occurred during the book.
    The author writes this historical fiction novel in first person point of view to reveal Amir’s thoughts and feelings. However, when he uses “I” it does not refer to the writer himself but Amir. The purpose for using first person is to give more details on the perspective of the subject from the main character’s point of view. The author also manipulates a sense of flashback, not in his own sense since it his a fictional novel, but in a fictional sense of Amir’s life. When he flashes back and Amir is telling the story, throughout the book, Amir contributes passages from his story that help readers recognize that the story is written from past experiences. When sitting with Kamal and Baba in the truck he describes his memory with Hassan.

    “I think it’s YA MOWLAH on RUBAB strings....
    “ I didn’t remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapsulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray, barren canvas that our lives had become.” (pg 123)

Amir says he doesn’t remember and acts throughout the book as if he was telling the story. amir was responsible for describing all his events and if he didn’t, he’d just not remember it. The author, Khaled Hosseini’s style of writing causes readers to fall into the flashback manipulation. My opinion on this style of writing is positive. I enjoyed reading about Amir’s story and how he described it as if he was really telling the story.

    “The rest of that ride is scattered bits and pieces of memory that come and go, most of it sounds and smells: MiGs roaring past overhead; staccatos of gunfire; a donkey braying nearby; the jingling of bells and a mewling of sheep; gravel crushed under the truck’s tires; a baby wailing in the dark; the stench of gasoline, vomit, and shit.” (pg 123)

I do enjoy this style of telling a story in a book because it allows me to feel like he is three dimensional in front of me and explaining his life. I also enjoy this writer’s style because the things he doesn’t remember don’t affect the story in any way but only brings up the idea that there is more to what he is describing. Overall the manipulation of Amir’s storytelling and his flashback way of description is an enjoyable flow of reading which guided me through the important details of the novel.
    All of the characters were different from each other. Some of which Rahim Khan, Hassan, Amir, Ali, and Baba all were part of the same household in Afghan. Rahim Khan and Baba were brave and respectful people. They couldn’t inspire Amir enough for Amir to cowardly run away when Hassan was being assaulted by three teenagers much larger in size than Amir and Hassan combined. Hassan was loyal and much more like his father, Baba, than Amir was. Hassan once protected Amir when Baba mentioned,

    “Hassan steps in and fends them off. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” (pg 22)

This quote is about Amir acting in cowardly ways. Hassan is smaller and less fit than Amir, but still, he is willing to stand up for Amir.
    Amir is a selfish coward. Amir framed Hassan for stealing his watch just so his pain would be relieved. Previously, he felt so bad that he threw pomegranates at Hassan so he’d fight back. Amir’s nothing like Baba. Baba stood up for a man in the truck. Amir turned out differently from everyone in his household.
    Amir showed his selfish self when Rahim Khan generously asked him to pick up Sohrab, Hassan’s son. When they spoke, all Amir could think about was,

    “I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. Kabul is a dangerous place, you know that, and you’d have me risk everything for...” ( pg 221)

Amir was too scared to die so he didn’t want to save Sohrab, at first. but he was guilted into going to pick up Sohrab by Rahim Khan. Baba would have agreed and not feared the risks. Amir was too spoiled, having everything done for him when he was a child. Amir finally grew up later and understood the poverty some people face. Amir donated money to Farid’s friend. He wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
    Amir grew up as a coward but after his family and childhood died, he fulfilled his regrets by offering generosity to people who are generous to him or just ones who deserved it. He doesn’t just give away money though. He gives it to the ones who really need it and are suffering. There's always a cause for Amir's actions.
    As we’ve seen, this novel contains complex characters and a protagonist whose narrative style helps bring the story to life. It also contains a strong description in chronological order of Amir’s life. The book brings enjoyment and entertainment to readers. This book would be beneficial to readers who enjoy constant conflicts. Conflicts rise, one after another even as the reader believes the biggest event has occurred, another conflict occurs. The book might offer an important perspective on the world when readers encounter bullying and disruption in places like Afghan. It can offer a lesson in regret and redemption and also the route to take when in panic. The book The Kite Runner exhibits a story of Amir being guided through a life of hardship.

The end of Kite Runner (Thoughts)

   Amir was a lucky man who overcame an abundant amount of obstacles. I expected the ending to eradicate Amir's life. He can't be the only one left alive. He is a guilty man full of regrets but he is left alive instead of Hassan who was brave and loyal. Amir is in guilt and regret but believes he has redeemed himself after letting Assef nearly kill him. The ending was freedom and redemption for Amir
   The new characters in the third chunk of the book are a replacement of old characters. The main characters such as Hassan who died, only occurred as an event that included conflict, but they weren't permanently gone. When Hassan left, his son replaced him. Sohrab served as an ongoing Hassan after the author Khaled Hosseini got rid of Hassan. Hassan was never gone. His death was only a part of tension building up to the end. Sohrab is good with a slingshot, he's brave and is described with characteristics like Hassan.
   On the other hand, Sohrab tends to give up on life because he had experienced bad things at the orphanage. He has no thoughts of going back and getting hurt when Amir asks him to. Hassan is loyal and brave but Sohrab is brave and still a child. He hasn't experienced harsh pain and will forever fear orphanages.
   After hearing news from Soraya, Sohrab decided to kill himself, but he was defectively saved. Subsequently after the good news from Soraya when Sohrab broke out in his tub, he was saved. I think this was the last negative event, but i'd have enjoyed the book more if the author didn't provide a repetitive description of the hospital. When Amir was in the hospital, there was a man with a cast and also a windowsill. When Sohrab was in the hospital, there was also a man with a cast and he was next to the windowsill. Also, i don't believe they played a role through the story.
   Kite running in the end was a chance to kite run again for Amir. He said he "was twelve again" and "all the instincts came running back". He was one again happy. He was finally living a happy life, the life he may have wanted to live. Without trouble and pain. Assef was gone and this life was almost like a new beginning. The childhood characters of his childhood are gone and he has a new family he has to support. He won't need to worry about supporting the the sick people from his youth.
   Amir was a generous man when he slipped money under the mattress of Farid's friend, but was indecently selfish when he left the office of the lawyer with a "have you ever been a father" and was notified that his daughter died. He still left.
  Amir promised God he'd do all the things a religious man would do. He was finally relieved and could carry out a life without pain.

Response to Fermin

    People come and go. They enter the world and leave it. They step on the Earth and disintegrate on it. There is no person that will live forever and when they go, even though its expected, is a sad moment. Fermin explains it...

       A guy that i knew, is no longer with us today. His name was Eric and he was shot and killed by nortno which is a dangerous gang in Oakland. Eric was a very cool, smart and atheletic teenage kid who enjoyed playing football and hang out with friends. He was not gang affileated. He was going to go to Chico State University because he was offered a chance to play in their football team. In March 28, 2010, he was shot and killed. He was celebrating his birthday when a drive by happened. Now, he is no longer with us today.

    Living in a dangerous place, you should expect at least on person out of a group to die. In order to stay away from death, people from that group should stay away from trouble. It is a horrifying experience when you aren't part of something but take the consequence. The person killed isn't always lucky. When someone dies, there isn't always a reason. People die just out of a coincidence. I would  use to feel that the people who died, did something wrong and had to pay for it. But, many great intelligent people as "Eric" was unfortunate enough to have this even occur on his birthday.

   Some very fortunate people die young. However, everyone dies. They can't stay forever, or that'd make them feel bored. Dieing is just a way of life just as life being unfair is a contribution to feeling alive.  It is a terrifying moment when someone dies. Reminiscing about the past can only bring you down more and more, so that person will always be in one's heart. Letting go and forgetting can only contribute to the more important thing, the future. There are many things in life awaiting to come. Some people grieve, some people eat excessively, destroying themselves, and some people lose hope in life.

Jesse's opinion on Vic's blog

Jesse's post about Vic's blog invites me to think about fishes and online marketing. He says you can buy fishes and use them in the tank in Vic's awesome blog, but that isn't a great idea because the fishes vanish as soon as you refresh the page.

Anyone who reads this and wants to look at Vic's fish tank, My first question is there is a little search box above the tank that says something about searching other fish from other websites and adding them to the tank. I haven't tried it out yet, but I don't know whether or not you can actually get other fish or if you have to go through a bunch of stupid downloading crap and pay for the fish. Anyone who tries it out before I do, could you post a comment on either my blog or Vic's blog saying if you can or can't.

   Jesse supposes that he saw the search bar and believed that you could buy virtual fishes and feed them. If you would buy a fish from a site, then that'd be a waste of money and it can also be stolen or lost. Many people are afraid to purchase stuff online because they are afraid to lose it and get scammed. If they got scammed once they wouldn't buy anything else online and that causes online purchasing to falter.
   I agree with Jesse's post that Vic's blog is awesome. However, i disagree with him about downloading stuff online to get it to the box. If you were to download something online for a fish tank you can recieve a virus or even crash your computer because the download may not always be safe.
   I think the most unsafe way to purchase something is to do it online. Jesse would purchase something if someone else did it because if someone did it and nothing bad happened to them nothing bad would happen to him. But, Jesse doesn't know that consequences do not come right away. Maybe they have to use the fish first or they have to complete their download of the fish. Downloading is a whole another story because it is free and efficient. Illegal downloads are ililegal because they are copyrighted. Downloading fishes online is a better choice than purchasing them. If a purchase is easier than a download and the person is willing to pay for a virtual fish, they shouldn't download it.
   Overall, no one should purchase nor should they download fishes online. It is a waste of money and a big risk to download, usually because downloads take a long time and people just rush through it.

2nd Chunk of Kite Runner Complete, Thoughts

              In the first section of the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER book The Kite Runner, by KHALED HOSSEINI, Amir and Hassan were doing fine living together and playing around, but they started to fall apart after Hassan's assault from Assef and later one of them ends up leaving. The first section leaves Amir and   Baba living together but then, leaving to America.
              In the second section of the three chunks in the book The Kite Runner, many strange things have occurred and new conflicts have rose to even further develop the plot and storyline of the book. The main characters remain the family in Amir's house in Afghanistan. The people living in that house were "either dieing or dead" quoted Amir when he was discussing with Rahim Khan. Amir is the lucky one. He survives because he only cares about his own life. In the first section of the book, he would frame Hassan for stealing his birthday presents and get them sent away because he was guilty of not helping Hassan when he was in trouble. In this section of the book, Amir is asked by Rahim Khan to go pick up Sohrab, Hassan's offspring but amir refuses even when Rahim says that's a wish he would like granted before his death. Amir thought about how it would affect his life before anything else. He says, "I don't want to go to Kabul. I can't!" (pg220)
              I enjoy this book because more events rise out of nowhere. When Amir left to America he met Soraya. When he talks to Rahim, he has to get Sohrab and discovers his missing brother.The book constantly introduces new events and conflicts that continues to deepen my understanding of the characters such as Amir and his maturity. Amir starts to lessen his selfishness when shown after hearing about Wahid's poverty, he leaves them money. The second part of the book starts to kill off the characters. Rahim Khan is sick and suffering and Baba has died after not accepting help. Hassan and Farzana are gone, but the book introduces new characters that replace the old ones.
              Guilt is another part of Amir's decisions because after Rahim Khan tells Amir of Hassan's real mother and father, Amir regrets the time he disrespected him and didn't help him. Hassan's family wasn't clearly explained until the relationship between Baba and Hassan was told.
               The Kite Runner continues to bring in new conflicts which allows it to intensify the ending as it approaches.
          

11-5-10 Response

I think school times should be shortened and only teach the things that we want to learn and want to use for the rest of our lives to survive. I agree with Andy's post of shortening the school.

 Everyone only has one childhood; we should be able to enjoy it as much as possible and have lots of happy memories to remember it by. I spend two thirds of a day sleeping and at school. I barely have any time to spend with friends and family after I finish doing my homework too, especially now since ASTI, the Alameda Science and Technology Institute, gives more homework than regular schools.Sometimes, I'm so overloaded with homework that I'm still doing my homework at 11 o'clock PM, leaving 7 and a half hours to sleep absolutely no time do hang out with friends and family.

Every child does have one childhood and should be able to enjoy it. They shouldn't suffer as a child because of school nor should they suffer as an adult, working all day trying to support theirselves. School takes up a third of the day and sleep as well. That leaves about eight hours left for everything else we must do. Homework also takes up three to five hours so that leaves around four hours left in the day. Everyday, students have four hours of free time.
Also, I agree with how Andy says that Alameda Science and Technology Institute gives more homework than middle and elementary schools. Students don't have enough time to do anything because their day is hogged up by schoolwork. I believe students should choose what subject they want to learn so they don't waste time learning other subjects that they won't need for the career they want to carry out. For example, if someone wants to be a math teacher, they shouldn't need to learn science. The leftover subjects they learn are a waste of their childhood if they aren't going to use it in the future.
Therefore, schools should be shortened and that may also save money. It can benefit the school for better materials and improve the school. Without leftover subjects, we wouldn't waste as much stuff as we do now.

11-4-10

Social networking are just things people use to communicate within long distances.Social networking is a great way of staying in tough with people and connecting with others. Ivan's description on how Facebook can be harmful shows problems people may be having with it. 

Facebook could also get into someone’s mind and begging to addict them, making it a priority for people to get on a computer and start posting. With posting comes some consequences such as bullying and also people knowing the every movement that a person is taking where they live and are in the moment when they are alone, when they are in the bathroom, eating and everything else that they are doing.  People take advantage and now creepers don’t have to leave for little kids to chase they just hop on a computer! Does this give too much power to pedophiles.

   I agree that Facebook can get addicting sometimes, but there isn't much to do on Facebook besides the childish games. Facebook can't intervene in life for a long period of time because it is simply searching and reading. People wouldn't know every movement a person is taking if they don't publicize it. Possibly, the people who do publicize it, don't mind other people knowing about their life and privacy. People know when they are giving out too much information.
   As for the ped... they aren't given too much power because Facebook and other social networks have private settings to adjust things for other people to see.Facebook doesn't allow ped... to slack off. It is an easier route for them on finding who to target, but many people fear bullies too much to personalize their settings so anyone can read their information. Therefore, I don't believe social networking is a horrible way to keep in touch with people or just a convenient site to use, because many people are aware of what may happen if they do reveal too much information. Facebook is not a must, but it is a free way to communicate. Other than that, a cell phone would be for better use but it costs money.

First impression on The Kite Runner

   After taking a long week and a few more days of reading the first chunk out of three of the historical fiction, Kite Runner, I have noticed many types of variation in the writing and description of Kahled Hosseini’s characters. The main characters that stuck with me were Amir, Hassan, and Baba. Baba and Hassan share a slandering relationship during one scene in the first chunk of the book. Baba doesn’t believe the things Amir does is tough enough and doesn’t believe he’ll turn out the tough son he hoped for. Self consciousness dominates the conflict in the book. Hassan being a Hazara and befriending Amir encourages Amir to turn his back on Hassan, as he did when Hassan was being assaulted. He didn’t believe Hassan was worth the trouble to worry about and walked away. The friendship between these two are not as close as real friends would be. Amir is self conscious about playing with Hassan when people are around. The characters in the book are very disrespectful to Hazaras, as they question Amir’s care for Hassan. An evil worshipper of Hitler, Assef represents a confident boy who brings trouble in Afghanistan.
    Assef is one in the book who causes a conflict between Hassan and Amir. Amir witnesses Hassan’s assault but does nothing to prevent it, worrying what may happen to him if he did. He didn’t really understand what Hassan was going through at the moment when he ran away cowardly. Amir was forced to lie about Hassan’s situation and was filled with guilt when he slept. However, Amir and Hassan have been raised together and played together for a long time of their lives. Amir would play jokes on him when he did not know a word when reading a book because he was illiterate.

“Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent.” (page 29)

    Though Amir and Hassan start to drift away when Amir tries to distinguish his guilt from Hassan by avoiding him.
In general, the book was a blend of a boring introduction to the book with around forty pages, but led to intense conflict that flowed well with the results and consequences the characters took.