Language+A

Good links to sites on giving good speeches: http://hubpages.com/hub/how_to_give_a_good_speech

The Kite Runner

By looking at the cover of the book, I think it suggests friendship and sorrow. Khaled Hosseini is a male author, and he was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965. In 1976, he and his family moved to Paris, hoping to return to Kabul in 1980, but at that time the Soviet army started invading Afghanistan. Hosseini then moved to the states, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology. He started writing the Kite Runner i 2001, while in medical practice. Khaled Hosseini is a Muslim.

I chose this text because... Actually, I didn’t choose it, Ms. Hettie asked us to read it for class. I think that after reading the first 10 pages, that the book is about two families, completely different, but still very similar in so many ways. It says that Hassan’s first word was Amir, and Amir’s first word was Baba. I think this might have a big role on the plot further on.

The characteristics of the people in the book are very varied. There are people from different social classes and backgrounds, and there are mainly male characters, probably because the book is set in a male-dominated country. Through their religious beliefs, women are very restricted in what they are allowed to do, ie: not allowed to drive, must cover themselves up, they can’t pray in the same room as men, and they only speak to men when they are spoken to, and the list goes on and on... Their values in life are families, friends, religion, customs, and their culture all of which play a big role in the book. In general, the characters are not happy, they’re disappointed, unfulfilled, they feel guilt, and disloyal. There seems to be something missing in every character. For example, Amir’s wife felt that there was a child missing in their family.

I don’t think the characters feel comfortable in the world the author has put them in. For example, on pg. 106, “You could die in a place like this, I thought. A scream was coming. Coming, coming…” It is when Amir and Baba go in the fuel truck to smuggle themselves out of Afghanistan. Another example is on pg. 87, “Then, mercifully, darkness.” Amir would rather not see what was happening.

The themes of the book, are regret and guilt, and also, disappointment. The regret is in Amir, because he only found out that Hassan was his brother after Hassan had died. Amir is also full of guilt because he didn’t help Hassan when he really needed it. Amir’s wife, Soraya feels guilty that she had been with a man before her marriage. Baba felt remorseful about when Ali and Hassan left, because he hadn’t told his son that he had a brother. He also felt regretful that they moved to the States, because he couldn’t get a proper job, and he was so successful back in Kabul. Baba is also disappointed at the beginning of the book that Amir didn’t turn completely out like he did.

The story is told over a period of time, so it uses retrospective techniques. I think that it is important that the story is told being seen through the eyes of children, because adults will experience war and betrayal in a completely different way, and it would not make the story what it turned out to be. The main symbols in the book are kites and kite-fighting, because they represent Afghanistan, and also they represent friendship, because it requires teamwork between two people to bring down the other kites and bring them back as trophies. The story is told through 1st and 3rd person. The time period in which the plot is told makes a big difference, because if it was 20 years earlier, there wouldn’t have been any of the war, and if it was 20 years later, the boys wouldn’t feel safe at all in their own gardens because of all the betrayal and war.







A good start, Oscar. You can add to this as you gain increasing insight into the characters.