The Kite Runner

Topics in The Kite Runner

Role of women- The role of the women is basically the woman takes care of home while the man makes the money. Amir's wife,Soraya, played a different role in the book. Her role was not limited to taking care of the affairs of the home.She had a job and did what was necessary in the house.

Betrayal- betrayal had its rounds in this book from beginning to end. From Amir's betrayal of Hassan in not helping him when he was being abused to the betrayal of Amir's father and everyone that knew the truth about The true relationship between Hassan and Amir.

Brothers- In a sense, the whole book portrays Hassan and Amir being like brothers and ultimately, Amir finding out the truth after Hassan's death and the pain that he felt after discovering this.

Guilt- there was a lot of hidden guilt roaming inside Amir for so many years from witnessing his friend getting abused. The open guilt came about when everything from Amir's past came to light and when this happens, He was trying to find a dsense of redemption.

Redemption- Amir felt that everything that had happened to him through the years,he finally found some redeemption when he went out of his way to save a boy that reminded him so much of himself.

Exodus/Journey-the many journeys, that were made, were a reflection of days past in Afghanistan and present life when Amir revisits places that were no longer familiar.

Fathers & sons-patriarchal society- father and sons share the same sense of pride and respect when it comes to keeping their word and helping other people.

Class distinction- The Pashtuns were the respectable people in Afghanistan while the Hazeras were lower class who wer the servants to Pashtuns.

Style

Parallelism- One paralelism that stood out was when Hassan had his surgery on his lip with a scar afterwards and when Amir was in the hospital and he had almost a similar scar on his lip after his surgery. another parallelism was the likeness and good nature of Hassan and Soraib.

Character foils- Hassan and Amir were the two people who were total opposites. Hassan was always the good guy who did not get angry no matter how hard Amir tried to provoke him. Amir was the one who used his own guilt against everyone and made himself look like the bad guy even though he was a good person. Baba and Rahim were both father figures to Amir. Baba was the dad that did not approve of Amir's ambition to write. Rahim always had words of encouragement no matter the circumstance.

Foreshadowing- the first one was when Amir decided to carry the guilt of Hassan's torture through most of his life and also the moment when Khan called Amir and told him there is a time to be good again.

Flashback- the whole novel is based on flashbacks of Amir's child hood as he tells it as an adult and

Positives and negatives aspects of the writing- There was more negative aspects than positive. Although, with every aspect, everything came into prospective as you are actually living the novel through your own eyes.

Settings- time and place and culture
Hazara vs. Pashtun; Kabul vs. Islamabad; America vs.Afghanistan; Russians vs.Afghans; Afghanistan in the seventies vs. Afghanistan of the present.

Identify five minor characters and their role in the novel.
1. Farid- The man Amir befriends when he goes back to Afghanistan. He was really cold to Amir in the beginning but later they were like life long friends. He was with Amir through thick and thin from the streets of Kabul all the way to Islamabad in Pakistan.
2. Karim - the man that transported Amir and Baba out of Kabul. he would later be instrumental in getting Amir and Baba to safety in order for them to get to America.
3.Sannubar- Hassan's mother.
4.General Taheri- Soraya's dad
5.Farzana- Hassan's wife and Soraib's mom.

Identify at least five symbols and the significance of each.
1. Assef's brass knuckles- use to strike fear into whoever defied him or his crew. he used them on Hassan when they were young and during his confrontation with Amir concerning Soraib.
2. The pomengrate tree- The tree was where Amir and Hassan went to for solitude and peace. It was one of the safest places that they knew. When their friendship went down hill, so did the tree.
3. Kites- they gave a sense of freedom and excitemnet. The Kites were always a constant of happy times whether in the skies of kabul or the skies in Freemont.
4.money under the mattress- the tradition started to pay hommage to the people that he really liked such as Farid's family. that tradition was reciprocated when Rahim left some money in a safety deposit box when he departed.
5.slingshot- the favorite weapon of Hassan and Soraib. the slingshot was used when Hassan was defending Amir's honor against Assef when they were young and again when Soraib used it toprotect Amir from further harm from Assef.

Civil Rights Icons: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr & Medgar Evers

The Civil Rights Movement showed how influence and passion, for what people believe in, can change their lives. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Medgar Evers were two men who shared the same passion during the Civil Rights Movement. Their Influences were far different than most people realize.

Although, these two men come from different backgrounds, their contributions to the Civil Rights Movement are unparalleled and their mission was the same. Both men were born in the 1920s (King in 1929 and Evers in 1925) prior to the Great Depression. Evers was raised in a family of six children. He was the fourth child of the six. In a book, Martyrs: Sixteen Who Gave Their Lives for Racial Justice, Jack Mendelsohn quoted Evers on his childhood. “I was born in Decatur herein Mississippi, and when we were walking to school in first grade white kids in their school buses would throw things at us and yell filthy things”. Despite the lynching and discrimination towards African Americans being a common thing in Mississippi, Evers always had a strong and proud role model in his father.

Dr. King’s childhood brings a religious aspect to the Civil Rights conversation. King’s father was born “Michael King” and Martin Luther King, Jr’s name was “Michael King, Jr” until the family traveled to Germany in 1934. King’s father changed his own name and his son’s name to “Martin Luther” in honor of the German Protestant leader of the same name.

Both men may have different education backgrounds, but their goals were the same. Evers went to school all the way to ninth grade and dropped out to join the U.S. Army with his older brother, Charlie in 1943. He served in various locations worldwide during World War II. In 1946, he was honorably discharged with rank of Sergeant. While Evers served his country with honors, King had a different point of view when it comes to the military. King made no secret of his views of war, especially the Vietnam War. I wonder what Evers would have done if given the opportunity to serve in the Vietnam War.

However, when Evers left the military, he got off to an early start in activism by joining the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). While he was a student at Alcorn A&M College (known today as Alcorn State University), he was very active in various projects as a field secretary with NAACP. His accomplishments did not stop him from earning his degree in Business Administration in 1952. Like Evers, Dr. King was a very accomplished young man in college.

Dr. King attended Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1944, at age 15, he enrolled in a special wartime program at Morehouse College. The program was intended to boost enrollment by admitting promising young students like King. Initially, King studied medicine and law in his early years in college. In his senior year, he decided to enter the ministry. King’s mentor, Benjamin Mays, was president of the college. Mays was also a gospel activist who inspired King to join the cause of activism. Dr. King would graduate from Morehouse College with a degree in sociology in 1948. Soon after graduation from Morehouse College, he attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He would earn his bachelor’s degree in Divinity there in 1951. He would also go on to Boston University to study systematic theology. He would earn his Doctorate in Philosophy for his dissertation titled “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Harry Nelson Wieman”.

The legacies of both King and Evers were memorialized in various ways to represent the value of the lives of these two men. Their contributions will be remembered forever in the hearts and souls of many Americans. Evers legacy includes being memorialized by authors such as Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, and Margaret Walker, just to name a few. In 1969, Medgar Evers College was established in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the City University of New York. In 1983, a made-for-television movie, For Us The Living: The Medgar Evers Story, was created to celebrate the life and career of Medgar Evers. The city of Jackson, Mississippi erected a statue in honor of Medgar Evers in 1992.In December of 2004, The Jackson City Council renamed the city airport to Jackson-Evers International Airport in honor of Evers.

Dr. King’s legacy had a broader range of influence both in and out of the United States of America. Many roads, buildings, schools were renamed after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in the 1970s and 1980s. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. A national holiday was dedicated in his name in 1986. In 1991, The Lorraine Motel, where King was shot, became a National Civil Rights Museum in honor of King. The chapters in history for both Dr. King and Mr. Evers will never be closed. They live on in memories and the legacies of both men take on a life of their own.

Regardless of their early lives, their achievements and their legacies, we, as Americans, cannot take for granted. It is not about blacks, whites, Hispanics or any other race living separately in a split society. It is about us, as people regardless of race, skin color, or gender, coming together as one. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech epitomizes what he believed in for past, present, and future times to live together as a people with equal values. It is human nature that as people, we tend to disagree on moral values and beliefs. The lives of both Dr. King and Medgar Evers go far beyond what we as citizens of this great nation are capable of achieving.

Post essay blog

This particular essay,Churchgoers are not perfect, was a great challenge for me and my writing.
It help me understand more the importance of writing and that you can have some fun with it too. I may sound weird when I say this but,this essay topic was almost like a calling of sorts. I thought about all the experiences and teachings of growing up in a chrisitian household. I could really relate to this topic because of that. I will empower anyone, who would use this topic in future classes,to channel yourself into this topic. Don't just apply this technique to just this essay but in all the essays that you are asked to write for this course. I can only hope that as time goes by,my writing skills will get better. I have a pretty good teacher who I can pick her brain about writing and she also shares quite a bit too. For the most part, I think I am in pretty capable hands.

Churchgoers aren't perfect

Dante Rozier
S.Aiken
English 1101
September 24, 2009

Churchgoers Aren’t Perfect

Some churchgoers have a tendency to push other people into something they don’t want to do. Whether it is intentional or not, most people do not like to feel pressured into anything. My grandparents are very religious people and they tried to raise me according to their biblical values and beliefs. The type of person that my grandparents wanted me to be and the person, that I would become, are two different people. It is not because there wasn’t enough love or too much hate. The main point is that my grandparents should be proud of the man that I have become and as churchgoers realize that things don’t always go according to plan.

Do churchgoers have a plan when it comes to their religion? At one point in time, I used to think that when you become a member of a church, you are subject to a membership clause. For example, some members act like it is a sacrilege when you want to visit other churches even though you are a member of that church. Churchgoers have to understand that it is not an act of betrayal when you want to experience other churches. Sometimes, you want to try something different without making it sound like you are leaving the flock.

When you look at churchgoers, you see people that put their faith in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the morals and values that come with it. It is possible to have churchgoers that put their faith in the wrong things. It is possible to have churchgoers that put their faith and morals into the wrong things. It is said that we should not put ourselves above physical things such as money. Money is used in a lot of ways whether it be good or bad. Some people can "reap what they sow" or face certain consequences for their actions. The cliche:"For every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction" comes to mind when you made bad choices. Churchgoers are capable of making bad choices. There is no law or bible scripture that says that a churchgoer has to be perfect. As long as you treat people the way you want to be treated, the rest will take care of itself.

Feeling the Holy Ghost has many different ways and explanations. There is no right or wrong answer as far as how to explain it. It could mean a feeling of rejoice and satisfaction of being a child of God. I have visited churches that shown different ways of feeling the Holy Ghost. One way is by praise dancing. Praise dancing has become very popular in a lot of churches. I do not know the origins of the dance,but it is exciting to watch. In most churches, the church members have their children do the praise dances for the whole congregation to watch. Watching the children dance with such grace makes you feel really good about being there whether you are a member or not.

Sometimes, there are people, in this world, that can be as friendly as Mr. Rogers from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”. Then, there are people that can be the meanest human being you have ever met. Churchgoers are people who are naturally nice by nature. How do we know when a churchgoer can be perfect or flawed? Churchgoers are human beings that should not judged by a person like myself. At the same time, Churchgoers should not start a crusade for the purpose of judging other people just because they can. Churchgoers are not perfect nor should they be treated as such.

My First Essay

My First Day at My Job

One of the things I wanted to do when I left the military was to make sure I am financially stable. A popular strategy that was told to me was to advertise yourself by any means necessary. Advertising myself had to include: hand carrying resumes to potential employers, making frequent trips to the Department of Labor in my town seeking employment, searching newspaper ads for job fairs in the local area and /or around the state, and searching the World Wide Web for the type of job that I am qualified for. With all these tips, I was able to find my current job at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia as an Electronics Technician. There were several factors that lead me on the path to pursue this job and eventually, my first day on the job.

One of the factors, as previously discussed, was my home life. Like many home lives, it had its good times and its pitfalls. I was a boy growing up in a man's time waiting on the day that I would become a man. I grew in a small town called Dudley which is about 45 miles southeast of Macon, Georgia. I lived with my grandparents in a double-wide trailer that sits on about 2 acres of land surrounded by pine trees with sticky leaves on them. There were pecan trees too. All around me were wooded areas, green fields where the cows live. There were also different flowers that you could smell for miles all around the area. If you sniff too much, you might smell something that you might not find very pleasant. As a kid, I liked to read my fair share of books. I remember a book that I checked out from school for a book report was "A Tale of Two Cities". Reading that book, like countless other thereafter, gave me a sense of actually being a part of the story. You would actually feel enchantment and great joy all at the same time as if you are one with this book. Besides reading, I was very curious about a lot of other things.

I remember, at one point in time, the very first radio that I owned. I would often think about a popular song by LL Cool J when he said “I can't live without my radio". I think the name of that song was called "Radio". One day, I decided to open up my radio and see what it would look like on the inside. I guess it was a combination of boredom and curiosity all at the same time. Either way, I was determined to see what made this radio tick. When I opened it up, I saw a lot of strange pieces of equipment that I did not understand. I wanted to ask one of the adults to help me identify the components inside the radio. Then, I was thinking that might not be such a good idea because of questions from them such as: “Why did you do that?" or “What on earth were you thinking?". My family, in a sense, would not understand my curiosity or yearning to learn new things.

Another factor involved in pursuing my current career was determining:"Where I would get the training to do the job?” During my senior year in high school, I was a teenager with a lot on his mind. The typical questions of a teenager include: "Do I want to go to college?”If so, which one? "Do I want to join the military?" After a great deal of thought, I decided to join the military. I proceeded to see a recruiter for the United States Army right after graduation from high school. A couple of months later, after signing my life away, I was on my way to a training center right outside of Columbia, South Carolina.

If you ever served in the military in any capacity, then you would understand the brutal hardships endured during your stay in Basic Training (otherwise known as "Boot Camp"). Being in Basic Training for two months was like being in the worst place that you would never want to go in your life. You are constantly being harassed by a man that would stay in your face day in and day out. This person would do this just because he could (or at least that is the daily lie that he told me). The good news is that when you leave that place, you would forever be a changed person for good or bad. My next destination, after Basic Training, was A.I.T. (Advanced Individual Training) school. The school, at the time that I went, was in Augusta, Georgia on a base called Fort Gordon.

While at Fort Gordon, I was able to acquire the electronic skills necessary to advance myself to the next level. During my travels in the military, whether it is the beaches of the Dominican Republic or in the United States, I found out that hard work and perseverance were the key factors in pursuit of my current job position. On June 18th 2001, I reported to building number 624 on Robins Air Force Base. In this building, I would be given access to the facility in which I will be working. After getting access to the facility, I would have to wait until someone come down to the Visitor Control Center and escort me to my work area. That someone would either my supervisor or someone from my work area to walk me inside. Once I get inside the facility, I walked around and met my fellow co-workers. Afterwards, I would have a face to face conversation with my new boss. I have to admit, despite all the paperwork I had to fill out, that it was a pretty, interesting first day on the job.

Descriptive Paragraph

Dante Rozier
Mrs. S. Aiken
English 1101-descriptive paragraph
August 25, 2009
My Most Recent Vacation Spot
I t was on a Thursday morning in the month of July. It was a nice summer day but somewhat humid. I was really excited about going on vacation since it is the first one I have taken in quite some time. When I get outside of the Professional Science Building at Macon State College, I decide to sit down in one of the chair outside the Jones Buliding after a busy but enjoyable day of class. The chairs were not particularly comfortable but it will have to do for only a short period of time. I decided to go back inside the Jones Building to use the restroom. While I am in the building, my cell phones rings and it is my daughter asking where I am. I tell her I am in the restroom and that I will be right out. So, When I get outside, there is Mini van waiting in front of the building and the back door opens. I see my daughter and her friend in the backseats, my wife in the driver's seat and her brother in the passenger seat. Before we embark on this journey,we have to make a quick stop to pick up my mother-in-law and the rest of the family to follow. Finally, We are on our way to Jeckyll Island to begin our three day family vacation\reunion. The first day was pretty much the travel day enjoying the drive and admiring the scenery. Day two was fun day. The whole family gets togther and spend the day at the water park on the Island. Afterwards, we go to the mall and look around at the different stores that are in the mall. Day three was the day of the cookout where everyone get together and fellowship amongst each other. Finally, on day four, everyone gets back on the road and make their way back to their separate lives.

English 1101 class expectations

My expectations for this class include(but are not limited to): getting to know my classmates and see if I can make some lasting friendships. I am a firm believer in helping anyone so as long as it is within my capabilities. I hope to able to gain alot of knowledge from my instructor about this class so it can help me achieve future endeavours. I have to admit that I am not a big fan of writing. I guess it is because I am not that creative when it comes to writing. I am taking this course to try to get a better perspective on writing and get some help on how to overcome whatever it is I don't like about writing. i also hope to make the best of this class and enjoy myself in the process.