The Kite Runner, Posts A and B, March 12

The Kite Runner

3/12

Post A-

Vocab-
1) naan (104) A middle eastern bread, traditional to that area
2) Agha (106) A term of respect, sir in English or Don/Dona in Spanish.

Figurative Language
1) “The streets glistened with fresh snow and the sky was a blameless blue.” (60)
This is an example of figurative language because Khaled Hosseini is describing how his character saw the snow, and the blunt monotonous blue.
2) “Tried to peel my gaze away from our rooftop.” (61) I see this as figurative language mainly because it is hidden. From this sentence I get the idea that Amir was having trouble breaking his eye-line, almost like he was in some kind of a trans.
3) “We trekked up the hill, our boots squishing in the muddy snow.” (86) This sentence is an example of imagery, because as I read this I really got the sense of how slushy and gross the snow was. How similar it was to our snow here in Minnesota.

Quote-
“ I didn’t speak to Hassan until the middle of the next week. I had just half-eaten my lunch and Hassan was doing the dishes. I was walking upstairs, going to my room, when Hassan asked if I wanted to hike up the hill. I said I was tired. Hassan looked tired too-he’d lost weight and gray circles had formed under his puffed-up eyes. But when he asked again, I reluctantly agreed.” (86) This quote was really important to me, because it shows how much Hassan and Amir are separating from each other. When it says “I had just half-eaten my lunch and Hassan was doing the dishes” I really cringed because the idea that Hassan is just Amir’s servant is getting a foot hold in his mind. That idea is only reinforced when he says “But when he asked again, I reluctantly agreed”. It seems as if being friends with Hassan is a difficult task burdened on him.

Theme-
With the quote above ringing in my head right now, I’m starting to think that this book’s theme may actually be regret. In the first few pages of The Kite Runner, Amir says that he has always regretted how he treated Hassan, and this is what he was actually talking about.

Post B-

Alright, I’m sad from this last week, Hassan and Amir are growing apart. Yes, other stuff happened, but it breaks my heart to see to kids as young as they are loose their friendship, and allow something as small as racial difference. The reason I bring up racial difference is because Hassan is a Hazara, which is someone who is descended of Mongolian heritage, and Amir is not. The Hazaras are treated like the Jewish were during World War II. Minus all the genocides. Because Hassan is Amir’s servant I’m thinking that as they get older Amir is starting to think that Hassan really is lesser of a person and deserves to be subordinate to him. Its heartbreaking to see that Hassan still loves Amir as he always has, because later in the portion that I read he lies for Amir.