Focus: How is Amir growing through his road of trials?
1. Warming up with a vocabulary review: The Kite Runner, Words 1-10
2. Celebrating yesterday's thesis statements on the road of trials
Jaden: Along Amir's road of trials he has learned to stay strong and never give up.
Amanda: Amir has learned that in order to overcome his battles he needs act and not think.
Annie: So far, Amir has learned about loss, compassion, and bravery through his road of trials.
Grace: Amir has gone through a winding road of trials so far in the book; the most important thing he's learned about himself is that he needs to face his fears to have a successful and fulfilling life.
3. Enjoying our Kite Runner Fishbowl #5: Chapters 19 and 20
HW for next week:
1. For TUESDAY: Read Chapters 21, 22, and 23. If you have fallen behind in your reading and/or annotations, use the long weekend to catch up. If you're a leader in one of the last two fishbowls, consider using the long weekend to finish the book entirely.
2. For THURSDAY: Finish reading and annotating The Kite Runner.
3. For FRIDAY: Complete the two IXL lessons on Semicolons, Colons, and Commas (Level J recommended).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI do think he can save Sohrab but its not gonna be as easy as it may seem.
DeleteI think he will be able to win this one because he has learned how he needs to act in order to do the right thing. -jaden
ReplyDeleteWhy was Amir especially disturbed to see that the Jadeh Maywand had been destroyed?
ReplyDeleteI think Amir was so upset that the Jadeh Maywand was destroyed because that was where he had happy memories with Hassan there. I think that having this detail in the book could symbolize the change in Amirs life (even though the Jadeh Maywand was destroyed in real life too). Having a place of light happy childhood memories become a pile of rubble shows how bad the present really is for Amir.
DeleteIt might have been that he had a personal connection to it.
DeleteAmir has lost all of his trials so far, so I think he will really pull through this tike and save Sohrab. He wants to rescue Sohrab so much he told Wahid and the orphanage director that he was directly related to him(237), even though he's a Haraza and that is not considered a good thing for his reputation.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Amir is very determined to save Sohrab no matter what it takes.Amir says, "I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab" (255).
DeleteIt is his chance to finally "be good again". Even if it is not what we expected, it makes the story more engaging.
DeleteWhat trials did Amir have to go through to come to terms with Hassan being his half brother? On page 252 Amir says he is Sohrab's half uncle, confirming that Amir is finally able to say he was related to Hassan out loud.
ReplyDeleteI think that Amir went through a lot of internal conflict finding out that Hassan was his 1/2 brother and it brought up a lot of returning guilt about what he witnessed with Hassan. I think that after he thought about all the clues it kind of helped him make peace with it, but I still think he hasn't gone through all of his trials with finding out that Hassan and Sohrab are related to him.
DeleteAmir had to look through his past and realize all of the mistakes that he has done not just to his servant friend, but a relative. I think that he felt a sense of guilt and relief when he got to say that for the first time.
DeleteI think after all Amir went through he is finally trying to make it right with Hassan by saying he is related to him and that Hassan was more than just a Hazara to him
DeleteDo you think he just said this because he was trying to get him out of the home or did he really mean it as an acceptance, because I feel like he said it as a last resort. He called himself his half uncle after he attempted to prove that he knew Sohrab through who he is as a person? (page 252)
DeleteI would agree with Leah. Amir already felt a lot of guilt for everything he had done, but now that he knew Hassan was his half brother, he was overwhelmed with even more guilt.
DeleteFarid's family is not very wealthy. Amir states, "They hadn't been staring at the watch at all. They'd been staring at my food." (page 241). How do you think Amir felt after leaving that conversation?
ReplyDeleteHe probably felt really bad for the kids, because they were so interested in the food because they never eat any.
DeleteI think Amir had realized the hardships that are occuring in his home town since he had left and the Taliban have taken control.
DeleteHe probably felt bad but also in a way helpless. In the old days, he could have used Baba's power to help them out. But now that the Taliban are in power, he cannot do anything but watch hardworking families live a life of poverty and hunger.
DeleteI think Amir felt super guilty for eating all of the family's food, even though he didn't know he was doing it. Amir left money under the mattress for someone to find so he was trying to help the family while still letting them keep their honor.
DeleteHe probably felt very bad but then again he cant go back in time and offer them food instead of his watch.
DeleteOn page 246 Amir is describing how it feels to be back in Kabul "Returning to Kabul was like running into an old, forgotten friend and seeing that life hadn't been good to him." In this quote do you think he's actually talking about the land Kabul itself or is he thinking about what he learned about Hassan?
ReplyDeleteI think he is just seeing khabul from a completely different perspective since baba and hassan aren’t around anymore it’s just very different for him.
DeleteI think he is talking about both. He is saying how he hasn't been there in forever, but it holds all his childhood memories, good and bad. But, I think it also relates to Hassan and what happened.
DeleteI think the place of Kabul in a way symbolizes what had happened to Hassan, we learned that Hassan had been through a lot in life. Since it's been taken over and destroyed Amir realizes the place that he grew up in is completely different now than it was before.
DeleteI agree with Sophia, I think Kabul represents or symbolizes Hassan. When Amir and Hassan were young, Kabul was a beautiful and happy place and Hassan was a sad and broken little boy. Now it's like Hassan and Kabul have switched roles. Hassan became a strong happy man and the city of Kabul broke down and shattered.
DeleteI think Amir is comparing Hassan to Kabul when he says "Returning to Kabul was like running into an old, forgotten friend and seeing that life hadn't been good to him."
Delete'"He's great with the slingshot"'(page 253), shows how Hassan's son is just like him and I think that because Hassan's son is just like Hassan it gives Amir a chance to be good again. Do you think that Hassan is "reborn" into his son?
ReplyDeletei do think hassan’s son will be the successor of hassan and do everything that hassan wasn’t able to do.
DeleteYup I agree with this because through it all Amir loved Hassan and they were brothers and I think Amir wants Sohrab to be just like his father because his father was a good man.
DeleteI believe that hassan's son has had a great impact of his fathers personality passed down to him and it really gives Amir a chance to restart and rewrite his regrets towards Hassan
Delete-nikolay
DeleteI think showing the similarities between Hassan and his son is more to show how this is the one way Amir can come to peace with himself after all these years. Even though Hassan is dead, Amirs debt to him still has to be payed through his half brothers son.
DeleteI think that's how Amir will see it. I think he will imagine that by taking care of Hassan's son he is actually taking care of Hassan and gaining closure from his past.
Delete
ReplyDeleteDo you think Amir will be able to rescue Sohrab, so far he has lost all of his trials/battles. Do you think this one will be different? How?
I think this is part of the Hero's journey where he starts to succeed so I think that Amir will rescue Sohrab.
DeleteI think this is part of the Hero's journey where he starts to succeed so I think that Amir will rescue Sohrab.
DeleteI think this trial will be different because at this point he has learned from his mistakes and the battles hes lost so he will finally learn how to win this one.
DeleteI think that Amir will in the end be willing to face his final battle and that he will be able to rescue Sohrab because Amir has felt so guilty for so long about what happened that winter, so I think that this will be that "equalizing" battle Amir wanted.
DeleteI think he will be able to rescue Sohrab but only if he put himself in great risk which I think he will do to try and make things right
DeleteI think Amir will definitely pull through and finally realize that he already messed so many things up for himself and for other people, doing this would make him feel better about himself, and make him a better person to society.
DeleteI do think Amir will save Hassan's son. Amir has spent his whole life shying away from his responsibilities and trials. I think this will be his biggest trial yet, the one that truly matters, and I think he will do whatever it takes to get back Sohrab.
DeleteI'm sure that Amir will be able to save Sohrab. After realising that He and Hassan were brothers, he will make up for it.
DeleteI think it will be different for Amir because he realizes that by saving him that's the way to be good again. I also think that Hassan would be very grateful if he did this and even though hes not here now he would have gained respect.
DeleteI think this is going to be the most important battle for Amir (aka the dragon battle) and it will be the one he wins. Because if he loses then he will never have a way to come to peace with Hassan.
DeleteI think he will save Sohrab because after all that has happened there has to be something good to come out of it.
DeleteEarly in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visit a pomegranate tree where they spend hours reading and playing. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours." In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentions that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." is there a bigger significance to this tree? now that amir returns and sees a destroyed land.
ReplyDeleteDo you think if Hassan rescues Sohrab it will make Amir a better person? Or do you think that he will ignore him like he started to ignore Hassan? Will he be like Baba?
ReplyDeleteI think that Amir saving Sohrab will make Amir a better person because Amir is looking for redemption and he can do this by not ignoring Sohrab and acting like Baba.
DeleteI think Amir will have a better relationship than he ever had with Baba and Hassan with Sohrab. We've seen the differences between Amir and Baba so I don't think that Amir will be anything like his father.
DeleteI agree with Matthew, Amir saving Sohrab will probably be his redemption and it'll also probably show how he's different from his father.
DeleteI think Amir is going to care for Sohrab like it was his own son.
DeleteI think that there is no way Amir will ever act like he did in the past, and there is no way he will act like Baba. Amir knows what it's like to grow up with a father like Baba and how sad and painful it is. I think he will try to learn to do the opposite of what he knew when he was growing up.
DeleteOn page 232, Amir says, "'I grew up in Afghanistan.' Farid snickered again. 'Why do you do that?'" Farid then goes on to bash Amir for how he grew up. Do you agree with Farid? Amir grew up among powerful people and always had everything he needed. Knowing how much of Afghanistan around Amir was experiencing poverty and hardships, do you agree that Amir was always a tourist in his country?
ReplyDeleteI do think he was a tourist even without thinking he was because he really dodged all the hardships everyone else who wasn't wealthy went through
DeleteI don't agree with the statement Farid made about Amir being a tourist in his country. I think that it's just that Amir lived a different life style. It's like homeless people telling us we're tourists in our country when we just live different lifestyles.
DeleteYes I agree with your statement because Amir grew up rich and the general population in Afghanistan was poor so Amir really did grow up as a tourist.
DeleteI don't agree with what Fariid thinks. Amir might not have been in his country when the Taliban took over, but he faced many hardships as a kid. Just because he lived with the powerful, doesn't mean he felt powerful. Farid assume that Amir was a happy as a kid because he was rich but Amir was never happy.
DeleteI think Farid is just annoyed with Afghans that have fled because he sees them as wimpy people. I don't agree though because he grew up there. Just because he moved doesn't mean that he hadn't lived there at all.
DeleteI think that just because he grew up in a different position then most people in Afghanistan, it doesn't make him a tourist. He is still from the country and he still understands the culture.
DeleteI agree with Liam because i feel like Amir dodged a lot of things because of his wealth.
Deleteon page 231 amir said," I feel like a tourist in my own country," then, Farid said," you still think of this place as your country?" i feel like he said that because he's 38 and hasn't been back in afghanistan in like 20 years or so then Farid said you still think of this country as your home and i think he meant you ran away when times got hard
ReplyDeleteI agree because when times were getting hard Amir would just shove his problems to his side and find the easiest way out
DeleteI think he also said that because so much has changed since he left that his "own country" isn't even recognizable anymore.
DeleteI like this part of the book because it shows how detached he is with Afghanistan. He tried so hard to forget the bad parts of his childhood that it made him feel life Afghanistan was only a distant dream.
DeleteI think Amir calls Afghanistan his country because he grew up there for the first eighteen years of his life.
DeleteOn page 231, Amir talks about "I spotted a cluster of men sitting on their haunches, like a row of crows, on the carcass of an old burned-out soviet tank" Do you think that Amir was having some sort of PTSD from when he was a kid and he was leaving Afghanistan? Do you think that Amir feels empathetic towards these people because of how used to war they have gotten?
ReplyDeleteI think Amir does pity them because he always had it good in life and never really had to go through anything until he was older and his journey basically started after he won the kite battle
DeleteI think that Amir does have some severe flashbacks about Afghanistan because he has so many horrible things happen to him as a child.
Deletethese chapters show the change in amir because of hassan not being there with him, his past comes up when he goes back and sees afghanistan. amir sees his home as a unknown place.
ReplyDeleteI agree, All of Amir's memories are coming back at once. With everything that has happened to Amir with Baba and Hassan he must be really overwhelmed.
DeleteI agree, Amir sees his home as not his home anymore and instead the place where he lost his brother.
DeleteWhy do you think Baba never spoke more deeply about Amir's mother? "I had just just learned more about my mother from this man on the street than I ever did from Baba." (251) and "Baba took his memories of her to the grave with him"(250).
ReplyDeletei think baba might have experienced bad things with amir’s mom and just did not want to relive the things that he had gone through with amir’s mom
DeleteI think Baba probably just wanted to forget about a bad time in his life and move on.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteBaba might of felt a sense of guilt for the cause of her death. She died giving birth to Amir and Baba is the father of Amir. It probably was a hard subject for him to talk about.
Delete"Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under a mattress." (page 242)
ReplyDeleteThis shows how a piece of this story has come full circle. Although instead of planting money to get someone out of Amir's life, he did it to help give back to someone who had helped him.
I think this is just another example that shows the progress Amir is making to become good again.
Deleteon page 231 amir states "I feel like a tourist in my own country" and Farid says "You still think of this place as your country?" Amir is visiting his country where his broken past was. Do you think that now Afghanistan being broken, is a reflection of Amir's childhood?
ReplyDeleteI think it is a reflection of Amir's childhood, so it going back there probably makes it so real to him. But, I think there were many ways that Amir could have avoided having a broken childhood.
DeleteIf hassan wasn't shot by the taliban and he lived do you think he'd be happy about seeing Amir when he came to kabul, and then Amir telling him the truth about him, and how Ali isn't his dad baba is?
ReplyDeletei think it would be really hard for hassan to understand that and it would take some time to recreate the bond that they had
Deletei do think that hassan would have been calm and forgiving to amir. he would have been ok, amir would have had another battle in my eyes if hassan was still here.
DeleteI think Rahim Khan told Hassan that Amir was his half brother before he died. This could explain why Hassan still seemed to care so much in his letters.
DeleteBut if Hassan were still there Amir might not have gone back to Afghanistan because he wasn't necessarily needed. But maybe he would have gone back anyway because he had been looking for the chance to restart their friendship.
DeleteI think that Hassan would be happy to see Amir because Hassan forgave him a while ago, but I also think that if Amir told Hassan that Ali wasn't his biological dad that it would put Hassan in a internal battle. For Amir I think that just seeing Hassan would put Amir in a whole nother internal battle.
Delete"What happens to the children he takes?" say's Amir near the end of chapter 20. Why do you think the orphange gives these children to the Talib offical?
ReplyDelete-nikolay
I think the Taliban demands the children rather than the orphanage just giving them away.
DeleteI'm not sure why they gave the children to the Talib official maybe because the Talib can help the children.
DeleteWho do you think the Talib with black sunglasses is? Could it possibly be Assef who was so supportive of the Talian for the beginning or could it be someone completely different?
ReplyDeleteI think it might be Assef, because he always supported the Taliban since a young age so it wouldn't be surprising if he grew up into it.
DeleteI think Assef is still an important character that will definitely come up in the story later.
DeleteIt could very be possible that assef is this man with the sunglasses because it is a character we know who has a history of being bad, and if it is it would impact Amir greatly.
Delete-nikolay
On page 244, Amir thinks "Hearing is not the same as seeing." What do you think he meant by that? Do you think it has a deeper meaning than it's supposed to have?
ReplyDeleteI think he means that you may hear about bad things but you never really realize how bad it is until you witness it yourself. It's kind of like that whole "seeing is believing" thing.
DeleteI agree with what jenna said because you can hear about something but it could be worse or better when you see it in person.
DeleteAmir feels like a foreigner like Farid said to him, because he never really had to go through these hardships that everyone else went through. Do you think he will be more exposed to the bad side of Afghanistan in these upcoming chapters?
ReplyDeleteYeah and also in the book it said buildings were destroyed and everything changed after the war finished
DeleteI think he will be exposed. He lived in a very sheltered environment growing up and he might finally see some of the stereotypes of some Afghan towns.
DeleteI think he will be exposed to the bad side because now that the Taliban have more control they bring chaos with them and Amir will face these in the upcoming chapters.
Delete"They only let you be this happy if they're preparing to take something from you." pg. 250. It's as if she knew that something bad was going to happen to either her or the people around her.
ReplyDelete-nikolay
"I haven't been paid in 6 months. I'm broke because I spent my life savings on this orphanage"(257) Do you consider the orphanage director to be a good person? He does do everything he possibly can to keep 250 orphaned children fed, although he sells one to that Talib official every two months as well.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that Sohrab will live?
ReplyDeleteI believe that he will. With all of the deaths that Amir has had to face, this is someone that will stick with him for the rest of his life.
DeleteI think he will be alive because it will give the book a happier ending.
DeleteYes I think he will, I think this book will have a good ending, considering all the bad things that have happened so far.
DeleteI think Sohrab will live because at this point in the story Amir is giving his all to be good again so I think this is where the story takes a turn for the better.
DeleteI think that Sohrab will definitely live because right now Sohrab seems like the thing that will make Amir good again. There's also not much left in the book and he still had to face his final battle and his return home, so it seems like Sohrab is the only thing left to make Amir pure again so he has to stay alive.
DeleteYes and just like how Baba died I think that Amir will probably save Sohrab at the cost of his life.
DeleteI think that Sohrab will not only live, but I think Amir might take him in as his own son. I think it is an important part of the story that Amir and his wife can't have kids, and the one thing he can do to redeem himself is rescue Hassan's child.
Deletedo you think the kids that the taliban took from the orphanage they either kill them, or they grow up and they train them to be in their group?
ReplyDeleteI think both, and the ones they don't kill they abuse badly.
DeleteThe Taliban will definitely grow them to be in their group, I think the Taliban is notorious about this ideology.
DeleteThey train them to become soldiers and they abuse and treat them very poorly.
DeleteDo you think it is going to be hard for Sohrab to trust anybody because of what happened with the Taliban?
ReplyDelete