Post B

First of all, I found a couple passages that included foreshadowing. The first was when he was talking about his relationship with Hassan. Amir wrote, "Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened back in the winter of 1975--and all that followed--was already laid in those first words" (11). The first words he was referring to in the quote was how Amir's first word was Baba while Hassan's first word was Amir. The second quote that showed foreshadowing was when he was talking about his father, Baba. Amir wrote, "Because the truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn't I? The least I could have done was to have the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn't turned out like him. Not at all" (19).

In the first few chapters, The Kite Runner shows that Amir's father isn't very good at raising a child. When Amir wrote his first short story, Baba didn't show any interest in it. Another time, Amir was walking past his father's study when he overheard him talking to Rahim Khan, his father's close friend. He heard his father talk about how he was concerned with Amir and how he always had his nose in a book and was never able to stand up for himself. Rahim Khan didn't think either of these things were bad but for some reason, Baba wouldn't agree.

In a way though, Amir is similar to his father. In third chapter Amir explained, "They told Baba that running a business wasn't in his blood and he should study law like his father. So Baba proved them all wrong by not only running his own business but becoming one of the richest merchants in Kabul" (15). This shows Baba is really determined to prove people wrong and doesn't like it when people tell him what to do. Amir did the same thing the morning after he overheard Baba and Rahim Khan. He said, "The next morning, as he was preparing my breakfast, Hassan asked if something was bothering me. I snapped at him, told him to mind his own business. Rahim Khan had been wrong about the mean streak thing" (23). Then when someone did prove Amir wrong he reacted by turning the whole thing around on his friend. He said, "A voice, cold and dark, suddenly whispered in my ear, What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He'll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you?" (34). This was a little surprising to me because I never thought Amir would start thinking about his friend in such a mean way. He talked a lot about how he and Hassar had grow up together and were always hanging out together and then all of a sudden he changes his mind about him. Hopefully he'll come to realize that life isn't all about proving people wrong.

Post A

Cultural Differences-
This week I chose to focus on the difference of marriage in Afghanistan and the United States. In The Kite Runner, Amir was talking about his friend's father, Ali. He talked about how Ali had polio when his was younger and because of it, his leg was distorted. Then when he was older, he married a woman by the name of Sanaubar. Amir said, "She was also his first cousin and therefore a natural choice for a spouse" (8). This shows that it is common and legal to marry cousins in Afghanistan, unlike America. Personally, I think it's gross to marry someone related to you and kind of awkward but I guess people there are used to it so it's not considered unusual.