Kite Runner 1 Flashcards
(25 cards)
The Party (birthday)
“Sat in the dark waiting for the night to be over ” “Then, mercifully, darkness” “Fireworls!” “In one of those brief bursts of light…I saw something I’d never forget….I saw Hassan serving drinks to Assef…The light winked out, a hiss and a crackle.”
-dark parallels true inner turmoil
-out out brief candle macbeth-death is merciful -fleeting insignificant nature of life-existentialism?,marxism, onomatopoeia
Rahim Khans key quote
There is a way to be good again
Hassans key quote
“For you, a thousand times over”
Baba and lying
“There is only one sin. and that is theft… when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.”
Babas quote of standing up
“A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.”
Baba speaking about war as they flee?
‘Tell him he’s wrong. War doesn’t negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.‘”
Amir about the past and guilt staining
“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
juxtaposes the way he claims america was a way for him to bury his past
-growth is demonstrate and depicted
Juxtaposition of Hassan
He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘For you a thousand times over!’ he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph.”
Variations of theft
“Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every sin is a variation of theft.”
Amir watching the rape
“I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t. I just watched. Paralyzed.”
Rahim on goodness and suffering
“But I hope you will heed this: A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer.”
-is this the charcterization of the superego emerging? then leaving when not needed anymroe
Rahim khan on children shaping
“Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.”
Stories not needing telling
“Some stories don’t need telling.” (referring to why Hassan never asked his mother where’d she’d been and why’d shed left). (he forgives and accepts, does not question).
“Stories make good books”
Baba and Ali stories
But in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend
America
“For me America was a place to bury memories. For Baba a place to mourn his.”
Farids tourist quote upons Amir return
“You’ve always been a tourist here, you just didn’t know it.”
Lamb slaying
I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.
“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
Assef beating up Amir
My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.
Simon de Beauvoir on otherness (philosopher)
Philosopher Simone de Beauvoir thought “Otherness is a basic category of human thought”. As soon as we think about what something is, we think about the opposite – the Other. However, natural or not, Othering isn’t a neutral process – it tends to lead to the mistreatment of the people we decide are Other.
Yongting Yang’s article, “Freedom and Responsibility:
An Existential Analysis of Amir from The Kite Runner,” examines protagonist Amir’s journey. Yang suggests that Amir’s path to inner peace involves confronting guilt and embracing responsibility, highlighting the existential interplay between freedom and accountability in his decisions.
An analysis titled “The Kite Runner: America as a River of Love and Freedom”
ontrasts the oppressive societal norms of Afghanistan with the liberating environment of America. It posits that while Afghan society imposes rigid moral codes leading to hypocrisy and guilt, America represents a flowing river of freedom and love, allowing characters like Amir to seek redemption and break free from past constraints.
Kristine Putz’s article, “The Kite Runner From A Marxist Perspective,”
explores how class and social structures in Afghanistan restrict individual freedom. The analysis delves into Amir’s internal conflict regarding his relationship with Hassan, illustrating how societal hierarchies and class consciousness influence personal choices and notions of freedom.
David Hume’s suggestion for a solution of othering
it would seem like the solution to Othering would be, as David Hume suggests, to focus on what we have in common rather than what sets us apart. But this isn’t a perfect solution either, because the process of distinguishing who we are from who we’re not is part of the way we develop our identity.
Quote of Amirs return and kinship
The kinship i felt suddenly for the old land…it surprised me… I thought I had forgotten about this land . But I handt…maybe it hadnt forgotten me either…
-kinship refers to a blood origin
