The Kite Runner Essay Example for Free

The Kite Runner Essay I will be doing my book review on the book called ‘kite runner’, by Khalid Hosseini. The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who befriends Hassan, the son of his fathers Hazara servant. The story is set against a background of upcoming events, from the fall of Afghanistans monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the large number of refugees sent to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime. I am doing my book review on the Kite Runner because I think it is a marvellous and very interesting book. The author also describes the settings very well. Khalid Hosseini was born on 4th March 1965; he is an American novelist and physician from Afghanistan and he is an ethnic Tajik. Amir, a wealthy Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, Amirs fathers servant, spend their days in the peaceful city of Kabul, kite fighting and roaming through the streets. Amirs father, a wealthy merchant, whom Amir affectionately refers to as ‘Baba’, loves both boys, but seems critical of Amir for not being manly enough. However, he has a kinder father figure in the form of Rahim Khan, Babas friend, who understands Amir better, and supports his interest in writing. Hassan and Amir are great friends. Hassan is also a very good kite runner. Five years later, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan. Amir and Baba escape to Peshawar, Pakistan and then to Fremont, California, where Amir and Baba, who lived in luxury in an expensive mansion in Afghanistan, settle in a run-down apartment and Baba begins work at a gas station. Amir eventually takes classes at a local community college to develop his writing skills after graduating from high school at age twenty. Every Sunday, Baba and Amir make extra money selling used goods at a flea market in San Jose. Hassan is killed but his son is in trouble, so Amir goes back to Afghanistan to save him. The genre of this novel is action and adventure. Most of the action takes place in Afghanistan. The author described the place where Amir lived; you could almost picture his house in your mind. When you chose an adventure book people expect the story to be interesting, fascinating and settings to be described very well also. The novel fits the genre because they play all around Kabul, running away from the bullies and also it is about the life of Hassan and Amir, it has the up and downs of their lives. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local tournament, and finally Babas praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, For you, a thousand times over. Unfortunately, Hassan encounters Assef. Hassan refuses to give up Amirs kite. Assef decides to teach Hassan a lesson by beating him half to death and then raping him. Amir witnesses the act but convinced himself that he is too scared to intervene; though its actually the fact that he needs the kite for Babas praise and approval and he knows if he does intervene, then he wont get the kite and he returns home ashamed, guilty for not being able to help his best friend. He feels that his cowardice in Hassans rape would destroy any hopes for Babas affections, so he says nothing. Afterward, Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other. Amir reacts indifferently because he feels ashamed, and is frustrated by Hassans saint-like behavior. Already jealous of Babas love for Hassan, he worries that if Baba knew of Hassans bravery and his own cowardice, that Babas love for Hassan would grow even more. This part of the story showed how loyal and brave Hassan was. Amir like reading stories and is a storyteller. He and Hassan play with kites all the time. He is a little bit afraid of the other boys like Assef. I have enjoyed this book a lot it has been interesting, I felt sorry for Hassan because he was so loyal and his loyalty had cost his life. The novel was a great adventure story. It is one of the best books I have ever read. By Nima Tajali.

Of Mice and Men - George and Lennie seem to have a very close friendship :: English Literature

Of Mice and Men - George and Lennie seem to have a very close friendship throughout the story. Of Mice and Men George and Lennie seem to have a very close friendship throughout the story. This is strange because they are completely different from each other mentally, as well as physically. The author tells us that George is a small, quick and defined man. He is the leader of the two men and makes all the plans. Lennie respects him a great deal. Lennie is huge, and very strong, but he has the mentality of a child. He relies heavily on George, as he cannot fend for himself. He always tries his best to imitate George's actions and an example of this is when the two men are at the beach. "George lay back on the sand and crossed his hands under his head, and Lennie imitated him, raising his head to see if he were doing it right." This shows just how much Lennie looks up to George and wants to be like him. It is not, however, a one-sided friendship. George must be very close to Lennie because he goes to a lot of trouble to make sure that they both stay together. When Lennie got himself into trouble in Weed George didn't abandon him; they ran away to a different ranch together. I think George relies on Lennie for companionship because of the unfriendly and lonely environment they are in. he obviously cares about lennie because he says, "God, you're a lot of trouble. I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn't have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl." If George wanted to leave Lennie and change his lifestyle completely, he easily could. But he stays with Lennie throughout the whole book so they must have a special friendship. In contrast to George and Lennie's friendship, Curley and his wife do not seem to have a very good relationship at all. Even though they are married, the two of them are never seen together in the story. They always claim to be looking for each other, but never find one another. At one point in the book Curley's wife comes into the bunkhouse and flirts with the men, whilst pretending to be looking for Curley. She asks Slim if he has seen Curley. Slim tells her that Curley went into the house and she obviously hasn't been looking for him very well. We are then told her reaction to his answer, "She was suddenly apprehensive. "Bye Boys" she called into the bunk-house and she

Innocence Within To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

There are many times where childhood and adolescence, whether they be in metaphors or depicted by actual characters, are used in literature in order to convey different times in the work. Sometimes they can be used to convey tribulation or they can be used to convey times of prosperity. With Haper Lee’s story, To Kill A Mockingbird, she uses adolescence to be able to challenge the perspective of a Southern town still stuck in their older ways. She does this many times throughout the book, however in this essay; we will only discuss three instances that shape the story as a whole. The first instance that we will refer to is when in chapter 10, Scout and Jem get their rifles for Christmas. Once they receive their rifles, Atticus says,† ‘I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. ’† Scout is confused by the saying and so a few sentences later, she asks Miss Maudie, their help, about why it was a sin to kill a mocking bird. Miss Maudie replies with a â€Å"’Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. ’† At first one might read this and think that on face value, they are simply talking about birds; however, if you look closer at the text, the mocking bird can be a depiction of children or a child’s innocence. By saying that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because of the very heavy presence that childhood and adolescence takes within the book, one could take the saying as â€Å"it’s a sin to kill or smash innocence† and a mockingbird is a depiction of innocence in the book. It is a sin or rather a sad thing to take away a child’s innocence because it does no harm to anyone. In another chapter, it explains how Scout thinks of herself as an important figure in her household because she figures that without her, Atticus and Miss Maudie would have no clue what to do, while later on is explained in the same chapter that Dill has become aware of his insignificance of his household and is not better off for having that bit of innocence changed. This is one way the book is shaped is that it shows that innocence is a key element in the work and that Atticus throughout the book does not wish to taint the innocence of the children before it is time for them to grow up. Another instance in the book where innocence plays an important role in shaping the work, is in chapter 15 when Atticus is sitting at the jail where Tom Robinson is being held captive for his own protection while awaiting the trial. In the scene, Atticus has a lamp and a chair sitting beside the cell outside and is there to guard Tom Robinson before the trial. As the evening progresses, a crowd shows up with the intention to harm Tom Robinson and to harm Atticus if he does not step aside. During this scene, Scout happens to have been spying on her father and she rushes up to where her father is at, and ends up talking the crowd down with her innocence. In this scene, it is because of her innocence and the way that she speaks with Mr. Cunningham that remind the man that Atticus is a man with a family and that he is a neighbor and not some form of enemy. In this way, the innocence on Scout’s part shapes the work because it shows that no matter how callous someone might be, that innocence can penetrate through the hardened heart. It also shows that the townspeople do realize that Atticus is their friend and not someone who is out to get their women and children. And then the third way that innocence shapes the book is in chapter 19 when Dill cries after seeing the way that the prosecutor addresses Tom Robinson just because of his color. He sees that there is no reason to talk to a person despite race. This shapes the work because it shows that naturally even children can see injustice and it shows that we as adults sometimes lose sight of what’s right and wrong because our views can be tainted and skewed by callousness on our part. There is another instance in the book where Scout’s classmates speak poorly of Atticus for defending a man of color. During this time, Atticus shows Scout that regardless of color, that it was Atticus’ duty to defend anyone if they are innocent and that it should be Scout’s duty as well. This also shapes the work because it shows that no matter what, we should lose sight of what the morally right view is. Throughout the book, innocence is used in numerous occasions and pertaining to different instances in the book. Some of the most important instances where innocence is used is during Tom Robinson’s trial and where the children, Scout, Jem, and Dill can see that the way that the town is treating Tom Robinson is incorrect. At the time Haper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, it would have been a touchy subject to speak out on because of the Civil Rights Movement, and so the author uses the natural innocence of children to show us just how wrong the case and the treatment of Tom Robinson was throughout his trial and up until his death.

Capital Punishment An Issue Of Bias - 1878 Words

Austin Norris Terry White English 1301 October 14, 2014 Capital Punishment as an Issue of Bias Aristotle once said â€Å"the generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness.† Capital punishment has been intertwined in United States history for centuries with a number of crimes that could lead to the death penalty if convicted, many of them are some form of murder. Since 1977, three thousand and ninety-five defendants have been on death row and of that, only one thousand thirty eight defendants have actually been executed. But the perilous question is whether or not the defendants were sentenced based on solely the facts and nature of the crime or crimes, or were there other contributing factors that influenced the severity of the verdict. There are several social controversies that surround the people who are sent to death row, predominately bias and discrimination issues which are based on ethnicity, gender, and mental health. The death penalty was implemented to punish those deserving of such a punishment, however according to Cohan and Smith â€Å"race based arbitrariness â€Å"could inhibit the fairness of the administration of punishment† (Cohen and Smith). The statistical study suggested that defendants had a higher probability of receiving the death penalty for a case involving a white victim than a black victim. The Death Row Report U.S.A.,Show MoreRelatedThe Death Penalty Is The Punishment Of Execution1707 Words   |  7 PagesKacie Trapp Mr. Sneeden English 1010 6 November 2015 Essay 3: The Personal as Political The death penalty is â€Å"the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime.† Currently, thirty-six countries practice this punishment, 103 countries have abolished it for all crimes, and six countries have abolished it except for special circumstances. The death penalty has been around for a very long time in the United States, with the first recorded execution being thatRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is Wrong And Inhumane Essay1170 Words   |  5 Pagesworld and it is our responsibility as a society to see that capital punishment is wrong and inhumane. 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Most of the nations have at one time made the death penaltyRead MoreCapital Punishment And The Death Penalty Essay1690 Words   |  7 PagesLiterature Review Capital punishment is defined as â€Å"a form of sentencing where the convicted person is ordered to death by the court system (Dotson and Carter, 2012, p.1). Capital punishment also known as the death penalty is one of the most controversial issues in today’s society. Many supporters and opponents of the death penalty debate over whether it is constitutional, whether it is inhumane, and whether it deters crime. Some abolitionists view the death penalty as immoral because it violatesRead MoreBureau Of Justice Statistics : The United States Primary Source For Criminal Justice1439 Words   |  6 PagesCapital Punishment. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). U.S. Department of Justice. 25 Nov. 2014. Web. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Bureau of Justice Statistics is the United States primary source for criminal justice statistics. The website has published information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, â€Å"The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is a component of the OfficeRead More Against Capital Punishment Essay1273 Words   |  6 PagesAgainst Capital Punishment What is the true value of a human life and how can one trade it for another? Isn’t it said repetitively in religion and government that each life should be treated equally? Then, how are we allowed to condemn a person to death? How can we make abortion illegal but capital punishment legal in certain circumstances? No matter what way you look at it capital punishment is murder. 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