Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Tess of The D'Urbervilles
"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" tends to be a little slow at first but then picks up. What I got out of the story is that this man finds out about his ancestors but I dont understand why they are so important. Then she meets the D'Urbervilles. This family all seems kind of strange in a way. Why would you just change your name after you retire? Maybe because your hiding something? I'm not quite sure if I understand why he baby died? Overall the story is very good although a little confusing.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
For this story, I saw the movie before I read the book. I chose to do this because the text for this book is not contemporary and by viewing the movie I will be able to have a general idea of what is taking place. The movie was good, but once I started to read the book, however, I realized that I was going to like the book a lot more than the movie. One of my favorite things about reading is that the readers are able get into the minds of the main characters. We can get a better understanding to why they act the way they do and how they feel about it. In novel of the Tess of the D’Urbervilles, I am getting exactly that. The movie doesn’t seem to show as much about what Tess is feeling or thinking, so I am looking for that now in the novel.
Another feature about this book that I like is even though it takes place during the 1880’s in England, it can still be related to today. Tess faces issues that many people in society still have to face today. For example, pregnancy out of wedlock, not having enough money, dealing with parents, and growing up just to name a few.
Another feature about this book that I like is even though it takes place during the 1880’s in England, it can still be related to today. Tess faces issues that many people in society still have to face today. For example, pregnancy out of wedlock, not having enough money, dealing with parents, and growing up just to name a few.
The Kite Runner
After reading the first seventy-nine pages of The Kite Runner I have come to the conclusion that I don’t mind reading the book, but I am not the biggest fan of Amir. He seems very jealous and cruel towards Hassan, who practically cherishes the ground that Amir walks on. I was extremely disappointed in Amir for not doing ANYTHING while witnessing Hassan getting both harassed and rapped, especially when he could have been let go, but makes the decision to save Amir’s kite instead. He was taking into consideration how much that kite meant to Amir and putting his best interest last. If I was Amir in that same situation I would have jumped in and told those boys to take the stupid kite! It’s not like his father couldn’t afford to buy him another anyway. This was the main event where Amir shows his snotty, selfish, cowardly side.
Hassan not only works as a servant for Amir and Baba, but he exceeds servant expectations when he encourages Amir’s writing and defends him of the same bullys. Because of the nationality of Hassan and his father, Ali, the two are often harassed and Hassan is unable to attend school. Amir also disregards Hassan’s feelings when he teases him for not understanding words he reads to him. Amir states in the book that the two are friends, but a friend doesn’t feed where another lacks. He should be encouraging him, not quit reading certain things to him because he feels outsmarted. Knowing what a horrible life this poor boy has been given, I hope that by the end of this book, something looks up for him and that Amir’s selfishness catches up with him as well.
Hassan not only works as a servant for Amir and Baba, but he exceeds servant expectations when he encourages Amir’s writing and defends him of the same bullys. Because of the nationality of Hassan and his father, Ali, the two are often harassed and Hassan is unable to attend school. Amir also disregards Hassan’s feelings when he teases him for not understanding words he reads to him. Amir states in the book that the two are friends, but a friend doesn’t feed where another lacks. He should be encouraging him, not quit reading certain things to him because he feels outsmarted. Knowing what a horrible life this poor boy has been given, I hope that by the end of this book, something looks up for him and that Amir’s selfishness catches up with him as well.
The Kite Runner
I feel that Amir is a troubled child which yearns for his fathers attention but has yet to find it. I believe his father has trouble showing his feelings towards his son, because he is dissapointed in him. Baba says, "Sometimes I look out this window and I see him playing on the street with the nieghborhood boys. I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whach there. And, you know, he nver fights back. Never. He just...drops his head" (Hosseini 22). He then goes on saying that if he hadnt seen his wife give birth he never would belive it was his son. When Amir is looking for Hassan and he comes across them in the alley and sees his freind in trouble he just does nothing. "I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan -the way he'd stood up for me all those times int the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran" (Hosseini 77). I dont understand why Amir does nothing to help his friend while he is getting rapped. He just looks away and leaves Hassan there. I could never just leave me friend there, I don't care if I got beat down with him at least I would of tried. I think that shows Amirs real character, COWARD! I feel that carma will be coming back around and Amir will have to pay for what he didnt do. To make things worse Hassan would do anything for the happiness of Amir. He protected Amir the first time Assef came around bullying them, yet when Amir has the chance to save his friend from getting rapped he just runs away.
Kite Runner
As I started out reading this story I was not interested. The first twenty pages or so really didn't catch my attention because Amir jan starts explaining his past history with his friend Hassan, but nothing major happened at this point. I also wasn't familiar with the setting of the story in Afghanistan.I felt the story started getting a little more interesting when I could start to realize the jelousy that Amir jan held with Hassan. I feel you can kind of relate that to sibblings of your own. Maybe I didn't show it or others also don't, but inside everyone at one point or another feels this towards another person. Although I don't think would go as far as Amir jan did by standing there watching his friend get raped by others. Especially after Hassan does everything for Amir jan and looks up to him. Now by standing up for him he gets the rap. Amir jan is far from a friend to him and Hassan doesn't even have a clue he did this.
The Kite Runner
I was very glad when I was told that this would be a choice for the book to read this semester. I had heard things about it in the past and to actualy have an excuse to sit down and read it was exactly what I needed.
So far, I am enjoying it. It takes a little getting used to the story telling style, as it is not what I'm used to, but is a good story. I was surprised to see that Baba shows some animosity towards Amir, basicly blaming him for exsisting and the death of his mother, but if you really think about it, he should be blaming himself, as he was the one that got her pregnant in the first place. The rape scene was kinda surprising, as it really came out of nowhere and the general lack of any fighting back struck me as odd. Perhaps Hassan figured it was going to happen regardless so he might as well let it happen instead of fighting back and getting hurt more, but I still expected at least some sort of resistance.
I really only have one question at this point and that is again, why Hassan didn't fight back. It just doesn't seem to fit.♠
So far, I am enjoying it. It takes a little getting used to the story telling style, as it is not what I'm used to, but is a good story. I was surprised to see that Baba shows some animosity towards Amir, basicly blaming him for exsisting and the death of his mother, but if you really think about it, he should be blaming himself, as he was the one that got her pregnant in the first place. The rape scene was kinda surprising, as it really came out of nowhere and the general lack of any fighting back struck me as odd. Perhaps Hassan figured it was going to happen regardless so he might as well let it happen instead of fighting back and getting hurt more, but I still expected at least some sort of resistance.
I really only have one question at this point and that is again, why Hassan didn't fight back. It just doesn't seem to fit.♠
The Kite Runner
So far I feel that this story is for the most part interesting. Before I started reading the book I will admit, I did not want to have to read it. Shortly after starting to read it I found myself interested in it. Amir and Hassan do have a somewhat different friendship. I noticed that Amir was not willing to step up and help a friend when his friend needed him the most. I would think that in that unfortunate event being that Amir was able to interfere, he should have done everything in his power to do so. Hassan and Amir come from completely different households. Amir comes from a household that does well and has a nice house to show for it. Hassan comes from a household that is the opposite. It is hard to believe that each of there Father's are brothers. As of right now, my question would be "What is the whole point of Kite Running?" I also wish I knew more about the culture of the people in Afghanistan. As much as it has been in the news, I still do not have a whole lot of knowledge about the culture. I think some knowledge of the culture would help in reading the book. Also checking out the movie would probably be somewhat helpful for some comparison to the book. One thing is for certain in the first 79 pages of this book......the rest of the book will get even more interesting as it goes on.
The Kite Runner 1-79
The Kite Runner so far is a very interesting book and I’m glad I chose it to read it over the other one. I’m not a traveler so its fun to read about other places, especially different countries. The first 79 pages of the novel just introduced us to the characters and mention how it was like to live in Kabul, Afghanistan. I understood if you were wealthy that you had servants that kept up the house work and made dinner. Then after I kept reading I found it interesting that the servants were good friends of Amir and Baba. Baba had treated Hassan as if he was his own kid, and Ali, Hassan’s father as if they were brothers. I thought it was generous of them to not be treating them if they were servants and treat them as their own family. Later on towards the end of the first section something horrible had happen. That would have been the rape of Hassan. Hassan was a Hazara and they were not looked to highly of in that neighborhood. After the rape Hassan and Amir were put in a strange situation and do not know how to act towards one another. It will be interesting to keep reading and see how things turn out.
"The Kite Runner"
I think this story is about a son who starves for his father's approval. Amir did not want to ruin his day, of his father finally being proud of him, that Amir did not tell him about the rape against Hassan.
I have mixed feeling about that, because yes, they were friends and Hassan would of done anything for Amir. If Amir would of stepped in on the rape, he would of made fun of standing up for a Hazaras, and probably beaten himself. I would of done the morally right thing, and tried to save my friend from Assef. I realize that is probably either said than done.
I was shocked to read that whenever Amir would have friends over, Hassan was always left out. It sounds like Amir and Hassan spent alot of time together doing things they both enjoy.
Hassan is a very loyal friend, more so than Amir. I think Amir is jelouse of his father's feeling towards Hassan, because Hassan get approval and Amir does not.
I have mixed feeling about that, because yes, they were friends and Hassan would of done anything for Amir. If Amir would of stepped in on the rape, he would of made fun of standing up for a Hazaras, and probably beaten himself. I would of done the morally right thing, and tried to save my friend from Assef. I realize that is probably either said than done.
I was shocked to read that whenever Amir would have friends over, Hassan was always left out. It sounds like Amir and Hassan spent alot of time together doing things they both enjoy.
Hassan is a very loyal friend, more so than Amir. I think Amir is jelouse of his father's feeling towards Hassan, because Hassan get approval and Amir does not.
The Kite Runner
When reading Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”, I thought that at first, it was very interesting to read about a childhood experience in Afghanistan. Then when I read about “laaf, that Afghan tendency to exaggerate-sadly, almost a national affliction”(12), I questioned the accuracy of the Afghani narrator. But I thought that being self conscious about it, he may be exempt.
I then went on to enjoy childhood experiences with Hassan and taking the story seriously. I felt sorry for Hassan, always being picked on and even Amir who was closest to him didn’t treat him with respect. I questioned the reliability of the narrator’s details again when the kites “were down to a half dozen”(64), then the blue kite cut 3 more. Afterwards there were 4 kites flying. This was “fuzzy math”, and I must question the accuracy of other details. He may not remember details as a child, or he might be exaggerating. The thought of this discrepancy disrupted my attentiveness to details, and I started to pay attention only to the concept being conveyed. That would be short lived with the shock of such an event as the rape of Hassan. Such an event would surely be accurate.
I then went on to enjoy childhood experiences with Hassan and taking the story seriously. I felt sorry for Hassan, always being picked on and even Amir who was closest to him didn’t treat him with respect. I questioned the reliability of the narrator’s details again when the kites “were down to a half dozen”(64), then the blue kite cut 3 more. Afterwards there were 4 kites flying. This was “fuzzy math”, and I must question the accuracy of other details. He may not remember details as a child, or he might be exaggerating. The thought of this discrepancy disrupted my attentiveness to details, and I started to pay attention only to the concept being conveyed. That would be short lived with the shock of such an event as the rape of Hassan. Such an event would surely be accurate.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Kite Runner- 1-79
It was really hard for me to put down the book after I had read to page 79. I knew that if I didnt I wouldnt remeber what to blog for this section! I really liked at the begining it grabed my attention. When I start reading a book it has to grab my attention right away otherwise I put it down and dont read it. Thats why about a week ago I decided to read this book because tess or what ever the book was called lost my attention. Anyways back to the kite runner, I am kind of confused who Ali and Rahim Khan is. At some points its the same person but in other points its not? Can someone please help me with this! At the end it really made me mad that he just left like that. If he really cared like he said he did he would have helped him. I guess I am not quite sure what possessed him to due this but it kinda pisses me off!
The Kite Runner pages 1-79
I would just like to state that Amir is a straight up coward. How can you leave your boy, Hassan, to get beat down and raped in an alley by some neighborhood thugs. Hassan showed nothing but love for Amir and this is how he is repayed! That is just WRONG! Who cares if Assef had brass knuckles! Amir should have "cowboy'd up" and handled business. Amir acted like a little girl. You know, there was bricks, sticks or rocks and also the elment of suprise. To be quite honest, that really angered me alot. Wow, with friends like that, who needs enemies. What should of happened was,Amir sneaked up on Assef and knocked him out with a stick. Then the other two thugs would have taken off. Then it would have been all good.If I would have done that, I would be ashamed of myself for life. For real, that was so scandolous of Amir to punk out like that.
The Kite Runner pgs.1-79
In the begining I didn't know if I was going to get all of the names and the different backrounds of everyone straight. With not much knowledge of this area of the world I thought to myself, it's about time I understood this area and their ways of living. Coming into this story with no prior knowledge of Kabul and or Afghanistan, It opened my eyes to what I was missing. I got this insight from the start of the story, just imagin whats to come! Like any other book, the reader gets the facts of most of the characters and how they are pursued with eachother. As kids growing up, Amir and Hassan are buddies. Hassan and his father, Ali, are servents to Baba. They are both very loyal to eachother, so it doesn't seem like they are workers to them but close friends. "I treated Hassan well, just like a friend,better even,more like a brother"(41).Amir is working to get Baba to respect him as a man. It seems like Hassan is getting in the way of that because Baba loves them both uncondtionaly. Amir doesn't understand why Baba loves them both. He wants Baba all to himself. Amir feels like he needs to win his fathers love because he feels like he killed his mother."I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not?After all, I had killed his beloved wife,his beautiful princess,hadn't I?"(19). Amir and Hassan's friendship is split in a way because of that. Amir focuses so hard on being like his father becuase he feels that way it will show Baba some respect.
Amir is a stuck up snot, he does nothing but tell Hassan what to do."The next morning, as he was preparing my breakfast, Hassan asked if something was bothering me. I snapped at him, told him to mind his own business"(23). When they win the kite event and Amir tells Hassan to go fetch the kite is when Hassan runs into the three bullies and gets beat up and raped. Amir, seeing this happen, hides and acts like nothing happened. "I ran because I was a coward" "That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan"(77).This shows that Amir didn't have the guts to stand up for his so called friend Hassan. But Amir knows that Hassan would do anything to protect Amir. This shows what is to come with the relationship with both boys and how Amir's actions effect him.
Amir is a stuck up snot, he does nothing but tell Hassan what to do."The next morning, as he was preparing my breakfast, Hassan asked if something was bothering me. I snapped at him, told him to mind his own business"(23). When they win the kite event and Amir tells Hassan to go fetch the kite is when Hassan runs into the three bullies and gets beat up and raped. Amir, seeing this happen, hides and acts like nothing happened. "I ran because I was a coward" "That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan"(77).This shows that Amir didn't have the guts to stand up for his so called friend Hassan. But Amir knows that Hassan would do anything to protect Amir. This shows what is to come with the relationship with both boys and how Amir's actions effect him.
"The Kite Runner" pgs 1-79
I didn't think I would like this novel at first but now I can't put it down and I find myself reading every spare minute I get.
I like that Amir plays with Hassan even though him and Ali are their servants but at the same time I don't know why they are Baba's servants when he treats them so well. I think it's wonderful that Baba treats Hassan as well as Amir if not better since he hasn't had a pleasant life and I think it teaches Amir to be greatful for what he has and he shouldn't be jealous that his father is nice enough to share his caringness with others.
On the other hand I don't like how Amir treats Hassan sometimes, like how he makes fun of him when he asks questions or when he didn't stick up for Hassan when Assef was about to beat him up and rape him in the alley, I mean after all Hassan was the one who stuck up for himself and Amir when he pulled out his sling shot a few days before when Assef was causing trouble with them. I hope Amir gets over being selfish and realizes that Hassan is a true friend and that those are hard to find. I also hope that Amir starts to treat Hassan better and helps him learn to read and write instead of making fun of him when he asks questions since Hassan doesn't have the option to go to school and learn those things.
I like that Amir plays with Hassan even though him and Ali are their servants but at the same time I don't know why they are Baba's servants when he treats them so well. I think it's wonderful that Baba treats Hassan as well as Amir if not better since he hasn't had a pleasant life and I think it teaches Amir to be greatful for what he has and he shouldn't be jealous that his father is nice enough to share his caringness with others.
On the other hand I don't like how Amir treats Hassan sometimes, like how he makes fun of him when he asks questions or when he didn't stick up for Hassan when Assef was about to beat him up and rape him in the alley, I mean after all Hassan was the one who stuck up for himself and Amir when he pulled out his sling shot a few days before when Assef was causing trouble with them. I hope Amir gets over being selfish and realizes that Hassan is a true friend and that those are hard to find. I also hope that Amir starts to treat Hassan better and helps him learn to read and write instead of making fun of him when he asks questions since Hassan doesn't have the option to go to school and learn those things.
The Kite Runner
I enjoy this novel very much. I feel so bad for Hassen, Amir treats him like a nobody. They are clearly very close to each other. I think I would consider them half brothers, because they drank the same breast milk. Amir always knows he has the upper hand in their relationship-friendship-servent. I was really happy to read that Amir was reading Hassen stories. I don't quite understand why Hassen can't go to school. Eventhough he wasn't allowed to go to school, I did feel good that Amir was reading to Hassen. I couldn't believe that when Hassen was doing better than Amir, with figuring out the riddles, he choose to read him unchallenging things. I can't believe how self-absorbed Amir is. I don't know how someone can treat someone like a brother, and best friend one minute, and the next minute treat them like they don't know him. I felt so sick to my stomach, when Amir witnessed Hassen getting raped, and didn't do a damn thing to help him. Especially when Hassen helped him get out of a similar situation with the same boys. I wish I knew more about, Pashtun, Hazara, Sunni, and Shi's, I think that would help me understand the story better. I can't wait until I can pick up my book and read more.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Kite Runner
I really enjoy this novel so far. I think it would be a little more helpful if I knew more about the Afghanistani culture and the reasons why they do what they do. Cause I'm not really understanding the whole kite runner event they hold. Its obvious that Amir is jealous of Hassan and Baba's relationship and I think he'll do anything to get his dad to accept him. Which makes me mad that when Hassan needed him the most he chose to be a coward instead of sticking up for not only Hassan but himself. Hassan's loyalty to Amir and his personality make my heart melt. Along with when Amir was making fun of Ali and the way he walks when they went to get naan (8).
Why doesn't Baba call Ali his brother? I mean Baba's father did adpot Ali after his family was killed by those two boys. But instead he makes him and his son his servants. I can't believe that he would do that to them. Baba does the right thing by asking Hassan to come with when they go places or do something, he treat Hassan better then he does his own step brother. Its amazing that Baba gave Hassan the birthday gift of getting his cleft lip fixed; thats such a life changing gift that he'll never forget. I only wish that Hassan could go to school and learn with Amir even though Amir does take the time to read to him and Hassan does ask questions if he doesn't know what something means; so in a sense he is learning along with Amir.
Why doesn't Baba call Ali his brother? I mean Baba's father did adpot Ali after his family was killed by those two boys. But instead he makes him and his son his servants. I can't believe that he would do that to them. Baba does the right thing by asking Hassan to come with when they go places or do something, he treat Hassan better then he does his own step brother. Its amazing that Baba gave Hassan the birthday gift of getting his cleft lip fixed; thats such a life changing gift that he'll never forget. I only wish that Hassan could go to school and learn with Amir even though Amir does take the time to read to him and Hassan does ask questions if he doesn't know what something means; so in a sense he is learning along with Amir.
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