Post B # 7

I thought that the Namesake was a pretty good book overall, but the ending was terrible. Some would say that it was just meant to be that way, but the way Lahiri ended the story was bad for the protagonist, and bad for the reader. I thought that after he met, married, and settled down with an Indian woman, the book would kind of wind down, and end happily. I know that that is cliché, but I don't care, because that is what readers like to read. The story, however, didn't wind down. Moushumi finds a letter addressed to someone named Dmitri, and it stirs old memories in her. Dmitri was Moushumi's first sexual partner, from either college or highschool. She remembers that some of the first words he said to her were, "You're going to make a lot of men cry." What angered me is that she lived up to that. When she finds Dmitri's letter, she meets him and starts having an affair.
Gogol first hears of Dmitri when they go out with Moushumi's friends, and he starts to ask himself questions. They are just harmless questions like, "Who is he," and, "Where is he now," but he does eventually find out that she is having an affair with him, and it makes him sick. "The question had sprung out of him, something he had not consciously put together in his mind until that moment. It felt almost comic to him, burning in his throat. [...] He felt the chill of her secrecy, numbing him, like a poison spreading through his veins" (282). I felt like the book was just a big hypocritical joke after I read about it. All throughout the novel, Gogol's family and relatives had been telling him, "Just make sure you marry an Indian woman." He has some affairs with American women, and then marries an Indian woman, and what does she do? Cheat on him. The ending of The Namesake was disheartening, and left Gogol feeling cold and alone.

The Namesake Post A # 7

Now that Gogol has broken up with Maxine, his mother is pressuring him into finding someone else. She is just looking out for him, and he seems annoyed at first, but after a few days, he agrees to call an old childhood "friend" (they never really talked when they were children) Moushumi Mazoomdar. They meet at a coffee shop in a "blind date." She starts out saying how his name is now Nikhil, as opposed to Gogol. He tells her yes. "It had annoyed him, when he'd called her, that she hadn't recognized him as Nikhil. This is the first time he's been out with a woman who'd once known him by that other name" (193). He then explains to her why he changed his name. Moushumi then reminds him how when they were young, her parents told her to call him Gogol Dada. In Indian families, it is not uncommon for one kid to call another dada, or didi, if it is a girl. In American culture that sounds ridiculous, and I can attest to that. Some of my relatives were "supposed" to call me Daniel Dada and Priya, Priya Didi. They laughed about it and maybe used it about two times before deciding it was silly. Probably the closest thing we have to that in American culture is "bro" or "sis," but I'm pretty sure no one calls a girl "sis," and bro is never used in a truly serious manner.

Post B # 6

In this section, Gogol becomes closer to Maxine as their relationship progresses, but then breaks up with her. Things seemed to be going well (except for the fact that Gogol's parents didn't like her because she seems to be the "dumb American blond" type. Then one day, Ashima gets an unexpected phone call saying that her husband has died in the hospital. When Nikhil hears that his father had died, it begins the process of him getting closer to his family, and farther apart from Maxine. It started when he said he was going to see his mom, something he would have never done before. She told him to check himself into a hotel, but instead he just slept at his father's apartment. I didn't think much of this, but it was the first time he had "defied" (if it can even be called that) her. It suprised me how in the next pages, he spends most of his time with his mother and Sonia. I understand that it is his father who died, but I guess I was suprised that he wasn't so estranged that he would completely not care. A passage that supports this happens when Maxine comes up to visit after the eleven day mourning period. She asks him if he wants to go to New Hampshire after this, to get away. His answer is, "I don't want to get away" (182). He is changing, and now wants more to do with his family, and wants to do more of what his mother wants of him. After his father died, he began to spend more nights with his family, and the nights he spent with Maxine were quieter. She dealt with this for a while, but the last straw was pulled when she was not invited to go with them to Calcutta. After that, Nikhil and Maxine decided it was best to stop seeing each other. I was actually suprised by this, because thus far in the novel, I thought that the life of the Ratliffe's was exactly what Nikhil wanted. With them, he fit in.

The Namesake Post A # 6

Gogol begins to spend more and more time with Maxine and her family. He moves in with Maxine, and after six months, her parents give him a set of keys to their house. Gogol describes the differences between the dinner parties that Gerald and Lydia have, as opposed to the ones his parents have. "Only a dozen or so guests sitting around the candlelit table [...] talking intelligently until the evening's end. [...] cheerfully unruly evenings to which there were never fewer than thirty people invited, small children in tow" (140). He then describes again, the food differences between the two party styles. In Gerald and Lydia's parties, wine is the center of attention, and in his parent's parties, getting food is the meal priority. I can make connections to this, seeing how I have actually attended many Indian "gatherings," and yes, the parties are like that. Seconds and thirds are a big part. You are expected to keep going up for more food until you are completely full and cannot eat any more. I guess for American dinner parties, it does depend on who the crowd is, but I do agree that some would be conducted like that.

Post B # 5

When I started reading The Namesake, my dad actually suggested that I watch the film. He said the film adaptation, starring Kal Penn was well done, and that it was something worth watching. It would be a "good supplement" to what I was reading. I was able to watch half of the film two weeks ago, but I was not able to finish it. My parents were a bit mad at me for it. My dad said that I "missed the best part." From what I did see, the film was indeed very well done. I noticed that both of Gogol's parents did act in the typical (maybe even stereotypical fashion). Ashima spoke her English in a fairly heavy Indian accent, and acted shy, and ashamed to show skin. An example of her reserved manner occurs when she is in the hospital, pregnant with Gogol. She is wearing a hospital dress, the kind that is reserved for maternity. She asks the nurse for a longer dress, and the nurse replies, "You don't want to hide those legs, honey." Also, Ashoke is represented well. He is portrayed as a quieter character, and wise, as if the train accident gave him a new outlook on life. Kal Penn also does a great job portraying an American teenager not knowing what to do with his Indian heritage. He is highly intelligent, blasts Pearl Jam in his room, has long hair, and smokes pot occasionally with his friends at Yale. It is also implied that he has been with more than one girl, but the film does show him being with Maxine for a part of it. My parents want me to watch the end, but I have read the end of the book and I don't want to see that put on film. I don't want to see Kumar disgraced.

The Namesake Post A # 5

Gogol breaks up with Ruth, and after a little bit, he meets another girl named Maxine. They begin to date, and Maxine invites him (Gogol tells her his name is Nikhil) to her house for dinner, the second day after they meet. Later on, Maxine goes to Gogol's house for dinner. The most striking differences that I noticed were in the manners of the two families. Maxine's parents are more of the "Mi casa es su casa" type, while Gogol's parents are the reserved, quiet, Indian type parents. For example, when Maxine introduces her parents by their first names, Gerald and Lydia, nobody seems to mind, but Gogol's parents get uneasy when Maxine addresses them by "Ashima" and "Ashoke." In addition to this, the meal they have for dinner is not of epic proportions, and there is no indication that seconds are available (I know that this is not what a typical American family would do, but it is what the family in this book does). Gogol knows that the exact opposite would be going on at his house, if they had Maxine over for dinner. "His own mother would never have served so few dishes to a guest. She would have kept her eyes trained on Maxine's plate, insisting she have seconds and thirds (133)." Lastly, I know that I talked about this already, but there is now a concrete example of the difference in public affection between Indian and American married couples. "Seeing Gerald's head resting on Lydia's shoulder, Gogol is reminded that [...] Whatever love exists between them [his parents] is an utterly private, uncelebrated thing (138)." Gogol is happy being with Maxine, and although both of their parents lives are extremely different, I believe that Gogol is happy with her. Being a native-born American, I think that this is the life that he wanted, but could never have.

Post B # 4

Gogol goes home to visit his parents, and his father tells him the reason for his name, the reason behind Gogol, his namesake. "These days he is called Gogol so seldom that the sound of it no longer upsets him as it used to. After three years of being Nikhil the vast majority of the time, he no longer minds (122)." While being called Gogol used to bother him, he is so rarely called it now that it doesn't bother him anymore. I find this ironic, because after what his father says, he might want the name Gogol again (then again he might not, because he has despised it his whole life, and is used to his life the way things are). Ashoke tells him the story of how Nikolai Gogol has always been his favorite author, and the train ride in Bangladesh. He tells him how the train crashed, and the rescuers saw him because he was holding up a few of the pages from the book he was reading at the time. Gogol's father's body had been badly mangled by the crash, and moving the papers was the only thing he could do to signal that he was still alive. Gogol is moved by this, but also shocked. He is shocked that his own father kept such a secret from him all of his life. When asked if he reminds his father of that day, however, he shakes his head and says, "Not at all. You remind me of everything that followed (124)." I believe that his father telling him why Gogol was named the name he was, is an important turning point for him, and I think that he will be able to appreciate more of his heritage. Because he knows the "why" of his name, I do not think he will feel as alienated from his parents anymore.

The Namesake Post A # 4

Gogol is still attending Yale, and he meets a girl named Ruth. I am not discussing the differences in relationships, but rather the transportation differences between India (which would make what I just wrote above this seem irrelevant). Gogol meeting Ruth, and the transportation differences between India and Boston, however, have much to do with each other. You see, Gogol meets Ruth on a train in the New Haven Union Station. In New Haven, Connecticut, most people ride the train or drive a car to get around. I'm guessing that some people bike too, but not the majority of people. In India, most people get around by rickshaw, or S.U.V. A rickshaw is a small, open car that makes a lot of noise. Besides the size, probably the biggest difference between trains and rickshaws is that a rickshaw does not taxi more than one party at a time. If Gogol had been in India, he would probably not have met her, because of this. The way he met Ruth was by sitting next to her in the train, because it was the only open seat. Trains are much more close and intimate than a rickshaw, and I guess there is more of a possibility to meet a lover on a train than on a loud rickshaw.

The Namesake Post A # 3

Gogol now attends Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, a moderately far distance away from home. I am not sure if what is described next is the typical college life at Yale, but I do know that the lifestyles at Indian colleges are vastly different than those of American colleges. He has two roommates, (which is not the different part), Jonathan and Brandon. After the three of them get their items unpacked, Brandon asks Nikhil (because that is what he tells him his name is) if he wants to smoke a bowl. Gogol grows a goatee, starts smoking cigarettes at the parties around campus, and starts having sex. I guess that growing a goatee doesn't really have much to do with difference between lifestyles, that is just personal preference. What does have to do with it is the amount of sex, drugs, and hard partying. In India, the smarter students are, the more driven they are, as well. It seems that in America, if students are super smart, they take advantage (in a bad way) of their intelligence, and just degrade themselves, because they can get away with it. It seems that Gogol has fallen a little bit into that category.

Post B # 3

Gogol is now in tenth grade, and is ashamed of his name. He is alienating himself more and more from his true heritage, and it is showing noticably. The first girl he kisses, he says, is kissed by Nikhil, not Gogol. "He shakes his head [...] as astonished as they are [...] 'It wasn't me,' he nearly says. But he doesn't tell them that it hadn't been Gogol who'd kissed Kim. That Gogol had had nothing to do with it (98)." He remarks earlier how he could never see himself saying "Hi, it's Gogol," over the phone to a girl he was dating. In fact, he decides to go and legally change his name in a court of law. When he is asked why he wants to change it, he replies, "Personal reasons," to which the judge answers, "Would you care to be more specific?"
After his name is changed, he remarks how he feels more confident, and feels he can approach more people. He also remarks how he feels a wave of embarassment whenever he is still called Gogol, as he still is by his parents, highschool friends, and relatives.
When he goes off to college, it is like a fresh start for him. Nobody at Yale knows who he is, and he is free to tell them whatever he wants. Of course there is peril in him telling them anything that is short of the truth, but college is the first place he has been able to fit in. I know that this is not the best example, but the girl he loses his virginity to, he introduces himself as "Nikhil."

Post B # 2

The next few chapters of the novel seemed a bit odd to me. Gogol becomes an older brother as his mother has a daughter, whom they name Sonali. The odd thing about this chapter is the constant changing of names. Gogol is enrolled in school and his parents decide to change his name for school, to a "good name," meaning one that American kids will be able to pronounce. They put on the registration form that his name is Nikhil Ganguli. My uncle is named Nikhil, and I personally think that Nikhil is a harder name to pronounce, then Gogol. I just think Gogol is a less common name, so I guess I agree with them changing his name. What I don't understand is that there were already two other Indian students in the school, and their names were Jayadev and Rekha. As far as I know, they didn't change their names any. It just struck me as weird, that the Ganguli's would be changing Gogol's name for school, and then have Lahiri talk about two other Indian kids who had left them unchanged. Maybe she was trying to stress the fact that the family is still getting used to life in America, and that the other kids had been there for their whole life.
In addition to Gogol's name, Lahiri talks about how Sonali's name is gradually changed at home (not even in school or a public place) from Sonali, to Sonu, Sona, and then finally Sonia, which is the name that I guess she sticks with. I don't know if it is just me, but I thought that the whole name-changing seemed a bit out of place, even for an Indian family that is trying to fit in, in a country like the United States.

The Namesake Post A # 2

Another culture gap between the Ganguli's life in Calcutta, and their life in Boston, is the ways of transportation. The ways people move from point A to point B are drastically different. In addition to that, the family just moved to a university town outside of Cambridge, no longer in an urban area. "She wishes [...] they could have stayed in the city. She is stunned that in this town there are no sidwalks to speak of, nostreetlights, no public transportation, no stores for miles at a time (49)." It doesn't mention this in the book, but in Calcutta, most people travel by S.U.V.s or by rickshaw, which is a version of a primitive car. They are moderately noisy, and are not quite the ideal vehicle to drive. Already, however, it seems that Ashima has been accustomed (a little bit) to the American cities, because she does miss the fact that there were a bunch of industrialized ways of transportation, and stores everywhere. She is not, however, completely accustomed to the ways, yet. "She has no interest in learning to drive the new Toyota Corolla it is now necessary for them to own (49)." Although the Corolla is considered to be a pretty good, safe, car by most American's, Ashima does not express an interest to drive it.

Zimbabwe Elections

I chose the Zimbabwe Elections for many reasons, but mostly because I have heard so much about them throughout my life, but I realized that I did not know much about them, or Robert Mugabe.

History on Mugabe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/643737.stm

The weight of the elections
http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news210420086.htm

Zimbabwe Government
http://go.grolier.com.ezproxy.hclib.org/gol

Post B # 1

I have only read 37 pages into the novel, but so far, I like The Namesake. I just saw "1968" pasted right above the title for chapter 1, but if that hadn't been there, on page 31, the narrator mentions the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, which took place on June 6, 1968. The novel starts out in sometime in August of 1968, and takes place in Cambridge, ten minutes to Harvard, and twenty to MIT. Ashima has just started to go into labor with Gogol.
Lahiri does a great job of narrating, and almost makes it seem as if the novel switches off from being told from the viewpoint of Ashima, Ashoke, and another narrator. "But nothing feels normal to Ashima. For the past eighteen months, ever since she's arrived in Cambridge, nothing has felt normal at all. It's not so much the pain [...] its the consequence: motherhood in a foreign land. [...] But she is terrified to raise a child in a country where she is related to no one, where she knows so little, where life seems so tentative and spare (6)." Perhaps her biggest fear is living in the United States, and having to raise Gogol in a country unfamiliar to both of them. That fear seems natural, because people generally fear the unknown. Anyway, though, when I read the paragraph about this, I didn't even notice that it was written in third person, and it seemed completely from her point of view. Another quote about Ashoke, I also thought was written in first-person, just from his point of view, instead of Ashima's. "He now desperately needs a cup of tea for himself, not having managed to make one before leaving the house. [...] He takes off his thick-rimmed glasses, fitted by a Calcutta optometrist[...](11)." This is a unique writing style that I have never encountered, and I am excited to read more of this.

The Namesake Post A # 1

One cultural difference between the modern lives of American's and the life of the Ganguli family is the difference in which the woman of the house regards the man. In United States pop culture, television, and literature, to put it bluntly, sex is shameless. It is portrayed as a completely okay activity for most ages to engage in. In Indian films, kissing or touching is an example of something that almost never happens. I watched a film earlier this year called Ashoke, and it followed that criteria perfectly. He basically meets his dream wife, and there are probably about five scenes where they could kiss, but they don't. So I guess that Indian films are much more conservative than American films in that sense.
In addition to that, the wife Ashima tells the reader how she never addresses her husband by his name "Ashoke." "She has adopted his surname but refuses, for propriety's sake, to utter his first. It's not the type of thing Bengali wives do. Like a kiss or caress in a Hindi movie, a husband's name is something intimate and unspoken, cleverly patched over. [...] She utters [...] to replace it, which roughly translates roughly as 'Are you listening to me (2)?'" In the U.S., husbands have many nicknames such as "honey" or something stupid like that, while in the Ganguli family, Ashoke is sometimes addressed as "Are you listening."

4th Quarter Outside Reading Book

I chose the novel "The Namesake," by Jhumpa Lahiri. I wanted to read it mostly due to the fact that I have not read many pieces of literature by Indian authors. It is about a family who comes to the United States from Calcutta, and about a boy named Gogol, and his experience growing up in America, and although I am half-Indian, I haven't really had to experience the culture gap inbetween India and the United States. This book will give me a better idea of what it is like for someone in that position.

Post B # 7

In addition to the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner was also a fabulous book. Khaled Hosseini is a skilled author, something that is hard to come by these days. I was greatful that I could be reading this book on the side of something bad like the Odyssey or All the Pretty Horses. I learned a lot from the novel, and it provided a good perspective on the different lifestyles of America and Afghanistan. One aspect of the novel that helped do this was Amir's move to California. He described it as a river. He described it as a place where one could rest. A place where one could wade into the river, and watch all of his or her sins away. If nothing else, that was why he embraced the United States. His life in America changed him. He became rich and wealthy, and became used to and accustomed to the American ways. When he returns to Afghanistan, it feels different, not like the land he grew up in. "'I feel like a tourist in my own country,' I said, taking in a goatherd leading a half-dozen emaciated goats along the side of the road (231). His chauffer driving him laughs in a kind of cruel way, and asks him half-jokingly, "You still think of this place as your country?"
Even though Amir did become "used to" the American way, of being rich and all, I think it was good for him, and it helped him to become more self-confident overall. When he moved to California, he was able to spend more time with his father, and he got to know him some before he died of lung cancer. In California, his father stuck with him on his decision to marry Soraya, and both Soraya and Amir loved each other very much. Going back to Afghanistan though was a good decision to make, because adopting Sohrab (the son of his late friend Hassan) was the only chance he had to make up for what he had done as a child.

The Kite Runner Post A # 7

Vocab
Replete (353)- abundantly supplied or provided
Erroneous (361)- containing error; mistaken; incorrect; wrong
Figurative Language

"Watching his chest rise and fall to the rhythm of the hissing ventilator, a curious numbness washes over me [...](349)" The word hissing in this sentence is an ONOMATOPAEIA.

"I'd end up back in the ICU, by the whooshing ventilator beside his bed, and I'd be no closer to knowing (351)." The word whooshing in his second description of the ventilator unit is also ONOMATOPAEIA.

"Until my meeting with the lawyer, Omar Faisal, a light of hope had begun to enter Sohrab's eyes like a timid guest (356)." Hosseini uses a SIMILE to describe Sohrab's almost false hope when he thought that he might be able to move to the U.S. with Amir.
Quote

"You know, I've done a lot of things I regret in my life," I said, "and maybe none more than going back on the promise I made you. But that will never happen again, and I am so very profoundly sorry. I ask for you bakhshesh, your forgiveness. Can you do that? Can you forgive me? Can you believe me?" I dropped my voice. "Will you come with me [to America]?"

I chose this quote, because it is the last time in the novel that Amir breaks a promise he has made. This time, however, I understood and forgave him for it. He was using all of his energy to try and adopt Sohrab, the last thing he could do to honor his friend Hassan. The only way to adopt Sohrab that he knew of, would be to get a humanitarian visa into the U.S., and for that to happen, Sohrab would have to stay in an orphanage for around two years. This promise he broke was different. Over the time of the novel, my feelings toward Amir had changed, and by the end,
if nothing else, I respected him.

Theme
Don't make promises you can't keep.

The Kite Runner Post B # 6

I have always been puzzled by why people fight. And I'm not talking about verbal fights, or arguments between married couples. I'm talking about physical brawls between two people. There is simply no reason to have a fist fight over some stupid issue that they cann't solve with words. "I remember Assef turning on the music before slipping on his brass knuckles. The prayer rug, the one with the oblong, woven Mecca, came loose from the wall at one point and landed on my head; the dust from it made me sneeze. [...] his snarl all spit-shining teeth, his bloodshot eyes rolling (288)." Amir never wanted to fight Assef, not when he was a kid, not thirty years later. Assef forced it upon him, and forced a peaceful man who had never fought a single person in his life before, to fight Assef, who was an accomplished fighter, and also using brass knuckles, putting Amir at a disadvantage.
I recently watched the movie Never Back Down. It was a pretty good movie, and would have been a great movie if the whole soundtrack wasn't pretty much a set list of emo music. It was a fighting movie, and some of the fighting scenes were sure to make the viewer squirm in his or her seat. I mean sure, some of the scenes you do get an adrenaline rush, when you see a knockout or something, but some of the scenes are just indesirable to watch. No one wants to see someone get beaten until they faint, and no one wants to see someone gouge another person's eye in front of a roaring crowd at a bar. No one wants to see a Talib official beat up a peaceful man who just came to save his dead friends orphaned son. Fighting is war, and war is hell. Fighting accomplishes nothing.

Post B # 5

Hearing how Hassan had died reminded me of all of the times Amir and he shared during their childhood, the good and the bad. I remembered the walks they had in the hills, the time they won the kite fighting competition, the time Amir had gotten raped, the time Hassan had thrown a pomegranate over his head, but most of all, the time Hassan had stopped Assef from beating Amir up, by holding him with a slingshot trained on his eye.
Before Hassan and his wife Farzana were killed by the Taliban, they had a child named Sohrab. Not much was described about him, but the most striking fact Hosseni points out is that he is excellent with a slingshot, and has dead-on aim at anything he wants. He is sent to an Afghani orphanage when his parents and house are destroyed, and stays there for a while. Rahim Khan comes to Amir as he is about to die, and asks him to adopt Sohrab, and tells him it was what Hassan would have wanted. Amir arrives at the house, and the owner tells him that Sohrab has been taken away, sold for money. He tells him about a man who buys children (a child molestor) and tells him he only does it so he can continue to have money to run the orphanage. Sohrab was given away, recently.
Hassan finds the man who takes children, (this next part really suprised me) and the man turns out to be Assef. Assef was a bully in his younger years, and a child rapist in his latter. He agrees to let Amir have Sohrab, but says that he must fight him first, to finish up the time when Hassan prevented him from doing so. To make a long story short, Amir gets his a** kicked, but it did not happen the normal way a fight does. After his ribs started being broken, he began to feel a sense of liberation. "I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I'd been looking forward to this. I remembered [all the times I had been mean to Hassan] I hadn't been happy and I hadn't felt better, not at all. But I felt better now (289)." Assef keeps punching Amir, and breaking his ribs, until the small voice of Sohrab tells them to please stop. He has a slingshot with acid trained on Assef's eye. History repeats itself.

Post A # 6

Vocab
Arduous (233)- requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult
Cursory (253)- going rapidly over something, without noticing details

Figurative Language
"[...] where farmers grew sugar-cane, and impregnated the city's air with a sweet scent (234)." Hosseni uses PERSONIFICATION to describe the sweet smell of sugar cane spreading about the city of Jalalabad.
"I was afraid [...] I would wade back into that great, big river and let myself forget, letthe things had learned these last few days sink to the bottom (231)." He uses the METAPHOR of a river again to describe the land of America.
"Where the table's legs crossed like an X, there was a ring of brass balls, each walnut sized (225)." He uses a SIMILE to compare the design and position of the tables legs to an "X."

Quote
"Don't ever stare at them! Do you understand me? Never (248)!"
Amir is being driven around Afghanistan by a man named Farid, and they are currently driving away from the taliban who have just done "beard check." Amir has just been in California, and doesn't know not to look a Talib in the eye. Also, I'm pretty sure that he had a fake beard on that was the standardized one inch length. It just shows the culture gap inbetween America and Afghanistan. Amir is a fairly rich man, and it didn't take him long at all to get accustomed to the "American Ways."

Theme
Although it is important to always be yourself, but certain people and groups require a different way of speaking and acting. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Post A # 5

Vocab
Unrequited (219)- not returned or reciprocated
Emaciated (231)- abnormally lean or thin from a gradual wasting away of flesh
Figurative Language
"But my neighbor said the Talibs were looking at the big house like-how did he say it?-yes, like 'wolves looking at a flock of sheep (219).'" Rahim Khan uses a SIMILE to describe the Taliban when they were about to destroy Hassan's house.

"His words hung in limbo between us (221)." Words cannot hang in limbo.

"The room was swooping up and down, swaying side to side (222)." Rooms cannot swoop up and down, or sway side to side.
Quote
"Hassan's not going anywhere, he'd barked. He's staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home, and we're his family (225)." Amir's father died, and Hassan died now as well. I actually had taken a liking to Baba, and this quote reminded me of him again. I respected Baba much more than Amir. Baba was impartial, not afraid to ever tell the truth, stood up for himself, and had the ability to make friends with random American's at a bar during a time of war.

Theme
Treat others charitably, because it very well might be the last time you see them. Amir treated Hassan poorly, and when he grew up and decided he wanted to make things right, he found out Hassan had been executed.

Post B # 4

"'The war is over, Hassan,'" I said. 'There's going to be peace, Inshallah, and happiness and calm. No more rockets, no more killing, no more funerals!' [...] A few weeks later, the Taliban banned kite fighting. And two years later, in 1998, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharaf (213)."

This quote both disappointed and angered me. First of all, Amir and Hassan have not seen each other for probably twenty years now. What he said was just fake, just like he always has been. The last time Amir saw Hassan, he was with his dad, watching him cry because he had been falsely accused of stealing his watch. Now they reunite, and Amir says something false like that. I can see he obviously hasn't learned anything, or changed any. I don't even think that Amir and Hassan should have met up again. He let him get raped, for god's sake! If I were Hassan, I would not want anything to do with him.

I was not happy when Amir got married. He doesn't deserve to have a wife. He doesn't deserve someone as good as Soraya. It was a horrible thing that Soraya was sterile, but I think that it was meant to be that way because he also doesn't deserve to have someone carry on his name.

Amir is not a good protagonist, or person for that matter. I have talked to people about him, and nobody I've talked to likes him. The protagonist is supposed to be the hero, someone who the reader roots for, not some person who lies to their best friends.

The Kite Runner Post A # 4

Vocab

Reticence (157)- a state of being reluctant or restrained
Affable (205)- pleasantly easy to approach and to talk to

Figurative

"The bus was a sad carcass of rusted metal (137)[...]" Amir uses a METAPHOR to describe the bus that his dad owns. The bus was, "an old dilapidated '71 Volkswagon bus for $550 from an old Afghan acquaintance (137)."

"And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya's womb, like it was a living breathing thing. [...] I'd feel it rising from Soraya and settling between us. Sleeping between us. Like a newborn child (189)." After Amir marries Soraya, they find that she is sterile, and is saying how it created a certain uncomfortable feeling that seemed to hang around the two of them everywhere. There are actually two SIMILES in here. You're lucky I didn't count it for two.

"I was driving up a rutted dirt road, nothing on either side but sunbaked bushes, gnarled, spiny tree trunks, and dried grass like pale straw (205)." Amir goes to Afghanistan to visit Rahim Khan one last time before he [Rahim Khan] passes on. He was used to the polished roads of America, and uses a SIMILE to describe the grass surrounding the road he was driving on.


Quote

"I remember Sanaubar came out of the hut holding her grandson, had him wrapped in a wool blanket. She stood beaming under a dull gray sky, tears streaming down her cheeks, the needle-cold wind blowing her hair, and clutching that baby in her arms like she never wanted to let go. Not this time (211)."This quote struck me like a slap in the face. I had written my second blog basically about what a slut Hassan's mom was. I was not prepared for her returning to him later in his life, when she was close to death. She cared for Hassan's new son, until he was four, when she died in the house of Hassan and his wife Farzana. My outlook on Sanaubar changed, and I felt the sorrow of Hassan, Sohrab, and Farzana when she finally passed on.

Theme
Its true that you never miss something until it is gone, but it is impossible to miss something that you never knew.

Post B # 3

"'And one more thing. No one finds out about this, you hear me? No one. I don't want anybody's sympathy.' Then he disappeared into the dim lobby. He chain-smoked the rest of the day in front of the TV. I didn't know what or whom he was defying. Me? Dr. Amani? Or maybe the god he had never believed in (157)."
Amir's father develops oat cell carcinoma, from his long-standing habit of chain-smoking. It is advanced, and "chemotherapy would only be palliative (156)." It is obvious that death is near for his father, and he does pass on in just a few days after he is diagnosed.
I compared Baba's cancer to the life of Kiefer Sutherland, the star of the popular t.v. show 24. Both characters are hard partyers, and are chain smokers and/or heavy drinkers. Kiefer has been living life in the fast lane since his teenage years, when he started smoking. He hasn't tried to quit once since then, and is still a chain-smoker at age 43. Because of his smoking, he looks like he is about 58 (which ironically seems to fit him well for his role in 24).
He is also a heavy drinker, and recently was released from a 48-day stint in jail (should it have been 24 hours instead?). He was a reported role-model in jail, and served the rest of the inmates food, and did lots of laundry. Along with being hard partyers, both Sutherland and Baba are both extremely compassionate, and make an effort to maintain their pride.
Baba is a very forgiving man. Earlier in the story, one of the servants is wrongly accused of stealing Amir's new silver watch. Not knowing this, Baba forgives him.
The lifestyles of Baba and Kiefer Sutherland are remarkably similar. Although he is currently in an 18-month alcohol treatment program, my guess is that he still smokes many cigarettes daily. I just hope that he doesn't meet an untimely death because of it, like Amir's father. The world would lose a hero, just like Amir lost his father.

The Kite Runner Post A # 3

Vocab
Dilapidated (137)- reduced to partial ruin or decay
Insinuated (148)- suggested or hinted slyly

Figurative Language
"'The rest of them--'" he used to wave his hand and make a phht sound "--they're like gossiping old women (124)."' The phht is an onomatopoeia for sound that Amir's father would make when making remarks about gossiping women. ONOMATOPOEIA

"He's not fit to run this country. It's like putting a boy who can't ride a bike behind the wheel of a brand new cadillac (126)." Amir's father compares Jimmy Carter's presidency to an inexperienced boy driving a cadillac. SIMILE

"America was different. America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past (136)." Amir and his father now live in Fremont, California. He is comparing America to a river, and life there is vastly different than any other life he has had. METAPHOR

Quote
"My father wants me to go to law school, my mother's always throwing hints about medical school, but I'm going to be a teacher. Doesn't pay much here, but it's what I want (151)."
This passage talks about doing what you want. There comes a point where the job you pick must have a decent pay (e.g. ice cream man would not suffice), but one of the single most important things in life, is that you must do what you want. Amir knows what he wants, and I commend him for that.

Theme
It doesn't matter what someone is doing and how good he or she thinks it is. If it is not what he or she wants to do, it is not worth it at all.

Post A # 2

Vocab
Austere (61)- severe in manner or appearance
Abhor (52)- to loathe, detest utterly, regard with extreme repugnance

Figurative Language
"I felt his glare on me like the heat of a blistering sun (61)." (simile)
Amir and Hassan are about to fly their kite in a contest. Amir's father is intently watching them from a rooftop, and he is feeling the pressure to win the competition in order to not let his father down.

"He turned on me now, his face as red as a tulip (90)." (simile)
Baba is angered when Amir asks him if he has ever considered firing Ali and Hassan as their servants. He tells Amir how he has lived with Ali for 40 years, and he's not gonna sell him away.



"Hassan serving drinks to Assef and Wali from a silver platter. The light winked out, a hiss and a crackle, then another flicker of orange light: Assef grinning, kneading Hassan in the chest with a [brass] knuckle (100)." (imagery)
Earlier on in the plot, Hassan had protected Amir from a beat down from the brass knuckles by aiming a slingshot at Assef's head. Assef is just a scumbag bully, who as well as punches him out, rapes Hassan. I was almost scared how clear I could visualize this quote in my mind. I could picture the look of confusion on Hassan's face for an instant after he was hit, the smug satisfaction on Assef's face as he knocked him out, and the light of the fireworks illuminating the scene for only a fraction of a second.

Quote
"There is no monster, he'd said, just water. Except he'd been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster (86)."
After Amir and Hassan's kite wins the competition, Hassan has to go and retrieve the kite. Hassan is Amir's kite runner. Hassan is cornered by Assef and two others, and he gets raped by Assef. Amir had gotten there to see them take his pants, but then he left because of fear. All of his life, Hassan had comforted and stood up for him in times of need, hence the quote above. Now, Amir is thinking back to all of the times that Hassan said it was okay, and Amir now knows it is not.

Theme
The only way to stop a bully is to verbally or physically confront them. If Amir had attempted to intervene, he could have prevented one of his best friends from getting raped by a bully that both of them hated.

The Kite Runner Post B #2

On page 109, Amir's friend (and servant) Hassan and his father Ali leave Amir and Baba. It still came as a bit of a shock, however, I shouldn't have been suprised based on the way that Amir had been treating Hassan. He had after all, walked away when Hassan was getting raped by one of the worst bullies in their city. Amir was standing near the end of the alley, torn between helping him, or running away and staying unscathed. "I could step into the alley, stand up for Hassan-the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. [...] I ran [...] I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid about getting hurt (77)." I'm going to speak frankly here. That was a dick move on Amir's part. What kind of friend jumps ship on someone in a situation like that? If I saw something like that happen, I don't care if there were five people. I would go in there and tell them to stop, and if they didn't, I would beat them up. It's as simple as that. If you are a true friend to someone, you will stand up for him or her no matter what. What angered me even more, is that Hassan stayed true to Amir until the very end. He even tried to retain what friendship they still had, and did not hold it against Amir for running away (he had seen him looking down the alley and running). What did Amir give him for it? He pelted him with pomegranates, told him to stop being around him, and accused him of stealing his new watch.

Post B # 1

Thus far, Amir's only friend seems to be a boy his age, named Hassan. Hassan's mother Sanaubar is the definition of a whore if I have ever heard it. Near the beginning, Hassan and Amir are walking on the road, when they approach a group of soldiers. One of the group of soldiers starts talking to Hassan. He tells him to look at him while he is being spoken to, and starts making sexual motions with his hands. "I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there. [...] What a tight little sugary c*** she had (7)." I know that part of this is just stressing the discrimination and inequality in the novel, but I can't help but wonder about his mom. I mean, what kind of self-respecting woman lets herself get taken behind a creek, especially by a random soldier who chain-smokes cigarettes?
She is described a bit more. "People were surprised when Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran, married Sanaubar, a woman nineteen years younger, a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation. [...] Sanaubar's brilliant green eyes and impish face had, rumor has it, tempted countless men into sin (8)." There is another quote about how not many men could resist her oscillating hips. From her provocative walking and talking, as well as her abandoning of her son Hassan (when she saw his cleft lip), I judge Sanaubar as a shallow, evil character.

The Kite Runner Post A #1

Vocab
Unatoned (1)- in a state where something hasn't been made up for
Atrophied (8)- wasted, withered, shriveled

Figurative Language
"A face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood (3)."
Amir compares his friend Hassan's face to that of a Chinese doll's.

"[...] attention shifting to him like sunflowers turning to the sun (13)."
Whenever Amir's father enters a room, the attention suddenly switches to him, like sunflowers to the sun.

"[...] still the sounds of Baba's snoring-so much like a growling truck engine-penetrated the walls (13)." Apparently, Amir's father is a pretty accomplished snorer.

Quote

"How my mother managed to sleep in the same room as him is a mystery to me. It's on the long list of things I would have asked my mother had I ever met her (13)."
When I read this, I was once again reminded of the recurrent theme of death in Khaled Hosseni's novels. No one should have to experience their childhood without a parent, much less their mother. In addition to that, Amir seems to me like somewhat of a weak character. Whether that is a cause of his absence of a mother, I don't know yet.

Theme
Appreciate each and every little thing that you have, because one day, it will all be gone.
I haven't read much of the novel, but I already know that Amir never knew his mother, and it's a pretty safe assumption that she died in childbirth. It seems to me that all Amir has now is his best (and what it seems only) friend Hassan, and his father. It is good to enjoy things while they last, because you never miss them until they are gone.

Telemachus: Kansas- Carry On Wayward Son

Early on in the epic poem The Odyssey, a depressed Telemachus embarks on journey to find the answers about how his father met his "death". Fortunately for him, he is not alone, and has the support of people King Nestor, King Menalaus, and Athena. All three characters tell Telemachus how great of a man his father was, and tell him to keep going. Although Telemachus is certainly not wayward, because he has the love and support of Nestor, Menelaus, and Athena, I chose the song Carry On Wayward Son, by the band Kansas.

Although King Nestor and King Menelaus are supportive of Telemachus' quest, Athena stands by him the most. She is, in fact, the one who tells him to make the journey in the first place. "Now if you hear your father's alive and heading home, hard-pressed as you are, brave out one more year. If you hear he's dead [...] build his honors high with the full funeral rites he deserves (Book 1 330-335)." "You must not cling to your boyhood any longer-It's time you were a man (Book 1 341-342)." These two quotes from Athena relate to the lines "Carry on my wayward son/ There'll be peace when you are done/ Lay your weary head to rest/ Don't you cry no more."

In addition to the chorus of the song, another passage from the song, "On a stormy sea of moving emotion/ Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean," relates to Telemachus' feelings about his father Odysseus. Whenever his father is mentioned, Telemachus is hit hard with many waves of grief. For example Menelaus finishes speaking to him about how courageous and honorable Odysseus was, and Telemachus can't help but break down and cry. "Such memories stirred in the young prince a deep desire to grieve for Odysseus. Tears streamed down his cheeks and wet the ground when he heard his father's name (Book 4 126-129)."

So carry on Telemachus. Carry on, son.

Post B # 7

I will be honest, here. I had not read a quality novel for a while. I had read a few good books last summer, but they all didn't have much substance. As for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I just couldn't get into it. Hosseni's writing style in A Thousand Splendid Suns is powerful, and draws the reader into the plot as though he or she is one of the characters, experiencing the hardships that plague Mariam and Laila throughout the story. The event that happened to Mariam on page 94 still sticks out to me. Rashid forces her to eat rocks, because supposedly he had eaten some dry rice. "He shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, then forced the cold, hard pebbles into it. [...] Then he was gone, leaving Mariam to spit out pebbles, blood, and the fragments of two broken molars (94)." I read that page about five times. I don't even know why now, it was such a gruesome part, and each time I read it, I had an alarmingly clear picture of what was happening. Overlooking the horror of this passage, it is a great quote from the novel. It gave me a crystal clear mental image of what was happening, and I reread the passage more than once. Page 94 was not the only place that had the effect either. There was a time when Tariq's neighborhood was being attacked by men wielding rocket launchers and grenades. I could vividly imagine Rashid strangling Laila, then finding Mariam beating him down with a shovel. When it all boils down, I'm convinced that there is one main reason why this novel was successful. It was realistic. Think about it. When was the last time you read a fiction book that accurately portrayed the events it was written about? It was a realistic view about the horrors of the Taliban when they occupied Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseni taught me many things I did not know, and through his writing of A Thousand Splendid Suns, he opened my eyes.

A Thousand Splendid Suns Post A #7

Vocab
Squalor (noun) (289)- a filthy or wretched condition
Surreptitious (adj.) (297)- obtained, done, or made in a secretive or unauthorized manner

Figurative Language
"[...] crying that it wasn't the same ball, it couldn't be, because his ball was lost, and this was a fake one, where had his real ball gone(293)?" When Tariq returns, Zalmai throws a fit. He starts yelling about how he is not his real father, and how he needs Rashid. He then screams that he wants his ball. Mariam gives him the exact ball that he wants, but Zalmai refuses to accept his ball, and says it is fake. In this passage, the fake and real balls are METAPHORS for Tariq and Rashid, respectively.

"Did Baba jan leave because of me? Because of what I said, about you and the man downstairs (317)?" At this point, Zalmai has undergone a big change characteristically. He is no longer mischievous, but is quieter, and seems to understand Laila and Mariam's situation a little more. He now seems to be a SYMBOL for childish innocence. As Rashid was asking him what Laila was doing, he hesitates. He knows that she was doing nothing wrong, and looks to Laila before answering. She tells him it is okay to tell the truth, and he does. Later, when Zalmai finds out that Rashid is "gone," he asks her if it was his fault that Rashid left. He seems to be becoming more and more like his sister Aziza, who has acted this way almost since her birth.

"They [the police] will. Sooner or later. They're bloodhounds (319)." In this quote, Mariam uses the METAPHOR of bloodhounds to describe the Afghani police.

Quote
"It is fair. I've killed our husband. I've deprived your son of a father. It isn't right that I run. I can't. [...] I'll never escape your son's grief (319)." The irony of this quote lies in the sentence, "It is fair." It is most certainly not fair. All of her life, Mariam has been abused by Rashid, and Mariam has also witnessed Laila being abused as well. Rashid brought his death upon himself. Rashid was strangling Laila, and she had stopped struggling due to lack of oxygen, and Mariam had to decide between Laila dying, and later herself being murdered, or killing Rashid, and being able to give Laila a life. On the other hand, Mariam did commit murder. In an American court, her murder would be a justifiable homicide. She is living in Afghanistan, however, and she will without a doubt be sentenced to death for her act. In my eyes, no matter whether her actions were justifiable or not, I admire her courage for the will to turn herself in, so that Laila, Zalmai, Aziza, and Tariq might have a chance at a better life.

Theme
"Life ain't fair." I don't think this one needs explaining.