Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Kite Runner 3

Hassan proves to be a christ figure once more by being "one last sacrifice for [Amir]...He knew [he] betrayed him and yet he was rescuing [Amir] once again, maybe for the last time."

It "rained the afternoon Baba took Ali and Hassan to the bus station.." sybolizing a new beginning. Not necessarily for Hassan because i think what's done is done for him, but for Amir and Baba. They will be the only  company for eachother now and in the next chapter we descover they are making their way to America to start a new way of life, to make a new beginning because "America was different." Amir describes America as "a river, roaring along unmindful of the past. [He] could wade into this river, let [his] sins drown to the bottom...Some place with no ghosts, nomemories, and no sins." So even though Amir's past still haunted him he planned to forget his memories and move

Hassan isn't the only one taking the blame for Amir any more! Amir has become fond of a girl named Soraya and when he thinks about the gossipers staring their way as the talked he became aware that "she would bear the brunt of that poison, not [him]." The poison referring to the dirty looks.

Friday, March 29, 2013

The Kite Runner 2

Amir notices two different faces that Hassan seems to have; one is the smiling face he shares everyday and the other would appear for "a fraction of a moment, long enough to leave [Amir] with an unsettling feeling that maybe [he'd] seen it some place before." Hosseini seems to be implying that Amir knows someone else with this face that Hassan seems to have a similarity to and a reasonable explanation would be that their "brotherhood" is an actual brotherhood! Hassan and Amir are related! Dang father.

I discovered by re-reading some notes that I jotted down from the first section we were assigned to that Hassan sacrificing himself for Amir and Amir sacrificing Hassan for Baba was foreshadowed on page 11! Amir is saying "Hassan and I fed from the same breast. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name." He even tells the reader "I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975-and all that followed- was already laid in those first words."

On the day that Hassan was raped, Amir described the streets as "[glistening] with fresh snow and the sky was blameless blue." The snow represents Hassan's purity and innocence along with the "blameless blue" kite because Hassan always take the blame for Amir.

Monday, March 25, 2013

The Kite Runner 1

The first chapter introduces Amir, his servant/friend Hassan, and their fathers who we discover later on in the reading are opposites of each other. When Amir's not in school him and Hassan cause trouble, like every boy does, and Hassan always seems to be the scapegoat. "Hassan never denied [Amir] anything..[but once] Hassan's father Ali [caught them, Hassan] never told that [it] was always [Amir's] idea." Hassan seems to sacrifice himself just to make sure Amir is happy. Could that make him a Christ figure?

Also the reader finds out that both Hassan and Amir's mother died so they fed from the same breast of a Hazarian woman and "there [is] a brotherhood between people who [feed] from the same breast, a kinship that not even time [can] break." This foreshadows the mistake that Amir made in the winter of 1975 that he has to return to Afghanistan to fix. I think this proves they will become friends once again and live happily ever after.

On page 5 in the top line of the first paragraph Hosseini uses Asyndeton while describing Baba's favorite things: "politics, business, soccer."

Monday, February 25, 2013

Tale of Two Cities 7

Darnay is shown as the "sinner" figure once again because "His mind was so full of others, that he never once thought of Carton." Being as Carton is the Christ figure Darnay seems like a typical person to me in today's society. Most people don’t acknowledge God until they’re in dire need of a miracle. But since Carton doesn’t even come across Darnay’s mind it shows he needs more than a miracle.

My hypothesis of a foreshadow was actually accurate!! YAY! In one of my previous blogs I foreshadowed a change in Mr. Cruncher. Of him in general and also his look on Christianity or Mrs. Cruncher’s prayers. Mr. Cruncher asks Ms. Pross of she’d “take notice o’ two promises…to record…” )probably just in-case he died trying to escape). First he vowed to never participate in grave digging; “Never, no more!” And second, he would never “interfere with Mrs. Cruncher’s flopping [(praying)], never no more!” Cruncher stated “that wot my opinions respectin’ flopping has undergone a change, and that wot I only hope with all my heart as Mrs. Cruncher may be a flopping at the present time.”

The scene when Ms. Pross and Madame Defarge are “[speaking] in [their] own language; neither [understanding] the other’s words…” is seen as a comic relief to me. Picturing two women from different countries screaming criticizing remarks at each other is pointless if they can’t understand the language! But never-the-less, their point was made by “[deducing] from look and manner, what the unintelligible words [meant].”

Monday, February 18, 2013

Tale of Two Cities 6

Dickens uses humor in the scene where Miss Pross and her long-lost brother, or so we think, are reunited. Miss Pross "uttered a scream, and clapped her hands" while her " no means affectionate" brother told her to "hold [her] meddlesome tongue." Miss Pross always talks about her brother being away for so many years and never visiting but Solomon was "not surprised [to see his sister and] knew [she] was [there]." So it makes me wonder if he's always kept an eye out for her or known about her whereabouts. Dickens also uses humor when Carton has brought Solomon to Mr. Lorry "playing cards" with him. "He saw the spy was fearful of his drinking himself into a fir state for the immediate denunciation of him. Seeing it, [Sydney] poured out and drank another glassful."

Once again Carton begins to show characteristics of a Christ figure. He wears an all white riding coat and begins to devise a plan to save Darnay and referring to the morning as "death's dominion" the reader can assume Carton's not only thinking about Darnay's threatened death but his own as well. "It was the settled manner of a tired man [Sydney], who had wandered and struggled and got lost, but who at length struck into his road and saw its end."

The setting around Carton while he walks through the town the night before the final trial reminds me of the night in the Garden of Eden when Jesus is taken to be cruicified. "...among the heavy shadows, with the moon and the clouds sailing on high above him." Then Carton says to himself, "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live..." Carton has foreshadowed his death in order to save Darnay's life and the life of the others he loves dearly.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tale of Two Cities 5

Madame Defarge "[stopped her] work for the first time, and [pointed] her knitting-needle at little lucie as if it were the finger of Fate...The shadow attendant on Madame Defarge...seemed to fall so threatening and dark on the child..." This foreshadows darkness falling on the child and danger coming after her life. But then "...her mother instincrively kneeled on the ground beside her, and held her to her breast. The shadow...seemed then to fall, threatening and dark, on both the mother and the child." Once again Lucie comes to the rescue to someone she loves greatly and, once again, is put into the darkness because of it. This foreshadows both mother and daughter being put into danger and it never once describes the golden ligh tof Lucie's hair so it makes me wonder if she'll be strong enough to save both their lives. But I'm still waiting to see where Sydney Carton comes in to die for the sake of their lives and change their fate.

In chapter 4 of book three, La Guillotine is described as "one hideous figure [that] grew as familiar as if it had been before the general gaze from the foundations of the world...It superseded the Cross. Models...were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where teh Coss was denied.It sheared off heads so many...like a toy puzzle for a yound devil." This shows that the poor citizens that are rebelling are so inspired by the evil of La Guillotine that they are forgetting their religion, sanity, respect for themselves, and are worshiping this insane and gruesome woman that loves anything with spilling blood. I see a brighter future for Mr. Cruncher though because "he had worn all his rust off long ago, but nothing would file his spiky head down...[and] in an access of loyalty, growlingly repeated the words after Miss Pross, like somebody from church." In the talk of all the demons and evil I think this foreshadows his safety. Also because of the beatings he would give his wife just for thinking she would pray against him, he repeated what Miss Pross said "like somebody from church". Maybe that foreshadows him being saved or more leanient to the idea of Christianity.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Tale of Two Cities 4

There is more foreshadowing about the up-coming rebellion of the citizens in chapter 21, describing it as "somthing coming in the echoes, something light, afar off...there would arise the sound of foorsteps at [Lucie's] early grave." Lucie also foreshadows her death here but I believe that this whole revolution is going to be an 'adventure' and her assumed outcome will be altered by the christ figure, Sydney Carton. Just as Jesus said "let the children come to me" "...children had a strange sympathy with him...[and] Carton was the first stranger to whom little Lucie held out her chubby arms..."

In the beginning of the book when there was foreshadowing by spilt whine we see the outcome that was predicted when "people...set themselves with bleedding hands...round Defarge's wine-shop, and every human...had the tendancy to be sucked towards the vortex.."