2014年11月1日星期六

" The Kite Runner"Halfway Post

In the middle of “The Kite Runner”, Rahim Kahan told Amir that Hassan was his consanguineous brother, and he should rescue Sohrab because of the responsibility. It was so hard for Amir to make a decision because he cannot ignore the situation in Afghanistan. At that time, Afghan was controlled by Taliban, which was very dangerous; almost no one returns there if they have a choice. While Amir was little unwilling to bring Sohrab back, he had a dream about Hassan; in this dream, Hassan said,” For you, a thousand times over!”(P204) Amir remembered how loyal Hassan was and how close they were in the past; therefore, Amir chose to go back to Afghan and atone for his transgression without any unwillingness.
Sometimes people are self-deceiving because they do not have enough courage to face the consequences they made. This happened to me when I was in Grade 8; my mom asked me if I wanted to go to an International school, and I agreed because of the beautiful uniform. That school was all English teaching and the textbooks were the same as the British high school’s textbooks. I was so nervous before I got in there because my English was so terrible. I could not introduce myself to the president without a translator. Because the decision was made by me, my mom would not allow me to back out; hence I told myself that everything would be ok, and I did not do any preparation for a new school year. It is obvious that I failed the first test I had in school. The 38% made me realize that self-deception was not a good choice, so I started to face the reality and tried my best to study English; finally I passed the English test.

After Hassan got raped in a bleak alley, there was a subtle estrangement between him and Amir. Hassan was still loyal to Amir, but Amir could not surmount his psychological barrier; hence he made the decision,” One of us had to go”(P108). Amir hid a watch and some cash under the carpet in Hassan’s room so that Hassan would be blamed for stealing his things. Finally Hassan and Ali left Amir’s family without any explanation. While I was reading this scene, I was so angry with Amir’s unreasonable cheating and Hassan’s blind loyalty. I wanted to scold Amir because I strong disagreed with his behavior; he should be helping Hassan, the poor boy. If I were Amir, I would try my best to remedy my mistake and help Hassan overcome the inward obstacle. This is what a man should do! As a master of someone, he could not just force his servant to do everything; meanwhile, respecting a servant’s fundamental right is an essential condition to be a good master. Amir’s vilification was illegal; even though he had enough privilege to ignore the law.  Then I would talk about Hassan. It seems right to follow the master’s orders and could not have any alibi as a perfect servant. However, the action Hassan did in this novel broke a human’s basic principle! His blind loyalty and unprincipled concession did not help Amir in anyway. If I were Hassan, I would speak out my feelings instead of being silent. I would not tell everyone; I would just tell Amir. I would have left this house but first politely telling Amir his wrongdoing. This would be a responsible solution for both Hassan and Amir.

"The Kite Runner" Introductory

This week, I start to read “ The Kite Runner”. This is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini and was published on May 29, 2003 by Riverhead Books. Anchor Canada, a division of Random House of Canada of Limited obtained the copyright from Khaled Hosseini in 2003 and published the novel in Canada in 2004. The total number of pages is 394, which is not too long for a high school student.

The novel “The Kite Runner” is a fictional drama, which develops themes of friendship and growth, betrayal and redemption, and the price of loyalty. The protagonist is a boy named Amir who lives in Kabul with his father, his father’s servant, Ali, and Ali’s son, Hassan. As the son of a wealthy man, Amir is a well-educated Pashtun who enjoys the life privileges. On the other hand, Hassan is the son of a poor servant so he is uncultured without any privileges in his life; he is also a Hazzard, a lower class minority in Kabul. The huge gap between these two boys, however, does not keep them apart; they grow up together and form a complex friendship with love and shame. Then the revolution happens which changes everything. A turning point of life occurs when Amir goes to America with his father to escape the Soviet invasion and lets Hassan’s family face the terrible fate. Years later, his father’s friend, Rahim Khan gives Amir a phone call to tell him of Hassam’s death and reminds him,” There is a way to be good again.” Will Amir go back to Afghanistan to save Sorhab, Hassam’s son?

I am really looking forward to reading “The Kite Runner” because I am so curious to find out if Hassam is brave enough to go back to the Afghanistan to save his best friend’s son. In my mind Amir will get salvation if he rescues Sohrab from the Taliban because he will be forced to face the consequences of mistakes he made in the past. Everyone would make some mistakes in their life, but the differences are the way they correct the mistakes. I want to read “ The Kite Runner”.

Online book review link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77203.The_Kite_Runner