The Fall of Amir

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

OH my goodness. You must agree with me when I say that in this last chapter, this is exactly what happend. Evil triumphed. I am so astounded by what Amir did, I knew he was jealous and selfish, but I never thought of him as beign capable of abandoning his best friend, even if he never said it. When I was reading the book, there was a part when I just couldn't go on. I feel so letdown by Amir and the way he acted and the worst part is that if he had been the one in trouble and it was Hassan that found him, he would have defended him. The worst part about it is that in the proceeding days Hassan doesnt show himself any more, and all he does is sleep. Amir doesnt even go confort him, and when Ali askes him what's wrong, he even had the nerve to tell him that he doesnt know and that if he;s just going to stand in the door way and let him freeze. The nerve of the kid.

I hope that in the future he at least tells Hassan the truth and then never speaks to him again. If it were me I would forgive Amir but I'd never want to see him again. What do you guys think?

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Hi there, ho there. I know we have barely started "The Kite Runner" but I just could not resist starting a post on it...

First off, there was a myriad of passages that stood out to me, especially when pertaining to Amir, the protagonist, and his relationship with his father:

"Of course, marrying a poet was one thing, but fathering a song who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting... well, that wasn't how Baba had envisioned it" (Pp. 20)

That one passage touched upon a very serious situation that many young people go through with their parents: a misunderstanding of one another. Amir alluded to "... a past of unatoned sins" (Pp. 1). What could he possibly be saying by correlating his relationship with his father and these "unatoned sins"? A lot of questions arose within me while reading these first three chapters... but one thing is for sure; We're in for a bumpy ride alongside this troubled character, Amir.

Were there any specific portions in the book that stood out to you guys?

The start of your outside reading book

As i started reading The Alchemist, there were parts that started to interest me and gave me thoughts of foreshadowing, the main characters view in life, and religion that consisted of finding ones own path. The beginning of this book leads me to the hope that it will be similar to Siddhartha as i liked that book i actually read Siddhartha rather than skimming a few chapters. The Alchemist has shown a few details of what the main character will face in up coming events, Which maybe a journey to Egypt for the main character in the search of hidden treasure. So try to look for any foreshadowing, and try to see the different views that the main character of your book sees.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
- Greek Proverb

When I first saw this qoute it shook me and made me realize that it's so true that in a way, it is what we all thrive aspire to. We all want to leave something important in this world that will some day inspire future genorations and at the same time create a legacy for us. It also reminds me of the project we are working on, because the people we will find all did this, they only thought about making the world a better place and fighting for what was right, and in the end, they did more than that.

It also makes me reflect on the fact that the very smart people should share their knowledge with the world; otherwise, what's the point of knowing all they know and keeping it to themselves? It also reminds me of Mr. Blankenship's favorite saying: "bright man's burden" because it's so true that bright men have to suffer with the fact of knowing too much, but I think that can be watered down if everyone cooperated in making the world a better place and not just leaving all the work to a few whom we think know best. The only way to improve society is to pitch in, even if we know that we may not live long enough to see the fruit of our work.

Humanity's Poisionous Tusks

For those of you that stayed on Friday watching "The Elephant Man" I would love to discuss the themes that the author implements through his use of imagery, symbolism, etc. These begin to quickly unravel in the opening scene of the Elephant Man's mother giving birth & the stampede of elephants! Here are a couple of things I found:

a. Imagery of Light & Darkness
b. Symbolism of Mirrors
c. Humanizing Light Shed on Elephant Man
d. Society's Masked Personality

Feel free to elaborate on the following :) or to add your own interpretation of the movie and bring in original perspective.

Siddhartha

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm really enojying Siddhartha. I love Hesse's diction and syntax, to a point where I'm constantly finding passages I want to memorize. For instances, "One must find the source within one's Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking- a detour, error."(pg.7). I also noted some atithesis sprinkled within the couple of chapters we have read. "In sunshine or in moonlight, in shadow or in rain..."(16). And, "The young men spoke of well and in ill,in praise and in scorn."(20). Anyways as Gotama said, "Be on your guard against too much cleverness,"(35), I hope that Siddhartha doesn't drive hiself mad with this journey of self- realization.