Category Archives: NCEA

The theme of guilt in The Kite Runner

Throughout the novel Amir is plagued by guilt. He constantly thinks about his actions, is bothered by them, but doesn’t seem to know how to resolve the situation, until Rahim Khan gives him a way.

In The Kite Runner it is like it is a genetic part of his make-up as Amir seems to have been born with the inherited guilt of his father. When he was young he blamed himself for his mother’s death and believed this was why Baba had a problem with him:

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.

It was years before Amir learned the truth from Rahim Khan. After the death of Ali, Hassan and Baba, Amir was alone and left to not only sort out his own sins but also those of his father. Amir had learned to silence the guilt that gnawed away at him and he would need time to deal with the truth.

From the moment that he saw Hassan raped Amir defined himself by his guilt. The novel even opens with, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve.” Amir’s failure to act to prevent Hassan from being raped left him stained with guilt. He went through life with a secret sin and guilt. Amir feels unclean and realises that he is cursed. “I watched Hassan get raped … I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.” Amir is beginning to realise the connection and conflict between his inner desires and his behaviour. “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price? … He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” Amir learns that to win the prize there will be costs and sacrifices. Amir not only sacrificed Hassan and Ali, but he has sacrificed his own soul.

When Soraya confessed her past before they got engaged, Amir thought:

How could I, of all people, chastise someone for their past?… I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out and destroyed a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them.

It would take Amir fifteen years before he would be able to tell Soraya the truth. When he gets the call from Rahim Khan Amir is set on a journey that will strip away all his protective layers. Layer by layer he loses the weight of guilt and he is able to find forgiveness. When Sohrab attempts suicide Amir prays that he lives. He asks God to forgive him but it took more time for Amir to forgive himself. Amir and Sohrab both found it difficult to forgive themselves. The fact that Sohrab feels guilt is so sad. He felt dirty because of Assef’s abuse and he even feels guilty for hurting his abuser. Amir assures Sohrab that he has done nothing wrong but his guilt and his fear of going back to the orphanage is too much to bear.

The novel ends with the first rays of hope that Sohrab is recovering mentally, emotionally and physically. Amir has put so much energy into saving Sohrab and through this journey he has also saved himself. Amir was able to finally forgive himself and he has been able to turn his guilt into good. He finds redemption.

Anthem for Doomed Youth Notes

Image by Chance.

Here are a few brief notes on Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem for Doomed Youth for those of you who want to revise.

Anthem for Doomed Youth is one of Owen’s most famous poems.  It is often read aloud at Anzac Day services and the poem seems to silence the audience.  Is it the sound of the guns in the poem or the themes it explores or the images it conveys?

It  is a powerful poem that still has an effect on people today.

Examining the title of this poem is a way to look at the contrasts and themes which this poem explores.  An anthem is usually a song of praise, but this poem, which is has the solemn style of an anthem, is about the death of the thousands of doomed youth in war.  The use of the word youth in the title adds to the theme of the pity of war.  The poem is written in sonnet form.  The first 8 lines (the octet) lament the horror of the loss of these young men “who die as cattle”.  The simile comparing the soldiers’ deaths to the slaughter of animals is one the audience can relate to.  The first section poses the question of how do we most appropriately bury our war dead?  The answer is in the sounds of battle.  Owen’s use of alliteration and onomatopoeia in this section artfully create the sounds of battle.

The sestet (the next 6 lines) moves away from the sounds of war to the stillness of the home front, where the men are being mourned by their loved ones.  These men, by the nature of war, have been left to lonely graves away from home and denied a burial service attended by their family and loved ones.  This section acknowledges their grief and shows empathy for their loss.

The poem has bitterness, as it examines the brutality of war, and poignancy, as it examines the grief of the soldiers’ loved ones.

Language Techniques Essay

I thought I would post another essay on Wilfred Owen’s poetry. This essay was written by a Year 11 student in exam conditions. The essay looks at language techniques.

In the poem Dulce et decorum est the language techniques Wilfred Owen uses are important as they convey the main theme that war is a horrible reality.

Owen uses similes, such as “bent double like old beggars” this gives the impression in my mind that these young soldiers have been prematurely aged, and seemingly deformed by the harsh conditions of war. ‘Coughing like hags’, another simile develops the idea of these young men seeming old.

When Owen goes on to graphicly describe a soldiers death by gas attack he uses sharp words to create harsh images ‘guttering, choking, drowning’ Owen involves the audience,

‘If in some smothering dreams you too could pace’.

Owen uses vivid verbs so the audience can visualise the war scene ‘writhing, hanging, gargling.’

Owen uses a simile again ‘like a devil sick of sin’. This gives a strong image that I as the audience can visualise.

In the poem Anthem for doomed Youth Wilfred Owens language techniques are also important as they convey the main theme, but the main theme in Anthem for doomed youth is that war is a pointless and cruel waste of lives.

Owen uses a rhetorical question to begin the poem instantly involving the audience, ‘What passing bells for these who die as cattle? ‘Owen compares the death of young soldiers in battle to the slaughtering of beasts and cattle.

Owen uses personification ‘monstrous anger of the guns’, stuttering rifles’. This helps the audience really picture the scene in their minds. A metaphor is used to compare normal funeral services to the battle scenes of war ‘The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells’.

Again, a rhetorical question is used to begin the last stanza of the poem, the sestet.

‘What candles may be held to speed them all? This emphasises the fact that these young soldiers have no proper funeral service, as they are miles from home and there is no time for a proper burial.

Both poems convey a central theme that war is not ‘sweet and honourable’ but a horrific reality and a waste of lives.

The language techniques of both poems are used well, to help convey the themes, making them very important to the poems.

Essay Introduction #3

This question is more like the NCEA questions that you are familiar with. The introduction is from Rose.

Analyse how one or more minor characters helped you understand a main character.

The novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is written from the perspective of an adult, Amir, reflecting on his childhood, growing up in Afghanistan. From the outset of the novel the reader feels that Amir is somehow weighed down by his past. That despite his efforts to repress it, “the past claws its way out”. As we begin to delve into Amir’s past we quickly learn that a figure who had a huge influence on Amir’s life was Hassan, a Hazara boy whose father was the servant of Amir’s father. It is through the contrast between Amir and Hassan’s personality that we are truly able to see who Amir is, and begin to understand his motivations and thoughts.

Essay Introduction #2

‘Baba sighed, “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir.” To what extent was Baba prophetic?’

Baba’s statement is the essence of this novel, for it describes exactly what Amir, from Khaled Hosseni’s The Kite Runner faces during this gripping text. One moment of a single great day ends up haunting Amir’s life forever, however, Baba’s statement could also have been a reflection of his own past rather than prophetic words for Amir. Baba, before moving to America, is more of an authority figure for Amir than a father and his statement may well just be a secret indication to Amir about his relationship with Hassan’s mother.

Any thoughts on Quentin’s introduction?

Historical and Political Context for The Kite Runner

Peter Bergen and Massoud Aziz discuss the historical and political context for the book and movie of “The Kite Runner.”

Peter Bergen is a print and television journalist, and the author of Holy War, Inc. – Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden. His new book is The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda’s Leader. Both books were named among the best non-fiction books of the year by The Washington Post, and documentaries based on the books were nominated for Emmys in 2002 and 2007.

Masood Aziz is at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington. He is the founder and acting Executive Director of the Afghanistan Policy Council, a think tank providing a distinct voice to challenging policy issues pertaining to Afghanistan.

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/12/18/Kite_Runner…

Important Chapters in The Kite Runner – #1

The first chapter I will look at is the opening chapter. Chapter one begins with the narrator of the story  stating, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve.” He describes a crumbling mud wall and an alley beside a frozen creek in 1975. He affirms that he has been “peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”

The narrator then tells us that he had received a telephone call from his friend, Rahim Khan, in Pakistan. To him, it isn’t just Rahim Khan on the line; it is his past which is filled with sins for which he never atoned. After he hangs up on the call, he goes for a walk along Spreckels Lake on the edge of Golden Gate Park where he sees a pair of kites soaring in the sky. They remind him of Hassan, the hare lipped kite runner who had once told the narrator, “For you a thousand times over.” He replays the last words of the telephone conversation from Rahim Khan, “There is a way to be good again.” All the names of that time in 1975 flood back into his mind, the time when everything changed and he became who he is today.

We do not yet know our narrator’s name, but we do know some significant things about him: he lives in San Francisco and is of a Middle Eastern background. We learn that 1975, when he was twelve years old, was a pivotal time in his life; and there was a young man called Hassan who was an important part of his life. This young man Hassan seems to have been devoted to our narrator. The purpose of this chapter is to prepare us for the extraordinary story about to unfold.

The opening sequence of The Shawshank Redemption

Here is a brief summary of the opening sequence:

  • blank screen with major credits and Inkspots’ song over: ‘If I Didn’t Care’.
  • fade-up to night scene; long shot of two lights at the beginning of a drive; lit building in background
  • camera tracks back to pick up dark shape of car; silhouette of driver lit by dash lights; music track decreases in volume
  • camera tracks forward slightly and pans around to pick up driver in medium-side shot; he looks dishevelled, leans forward and reaches over to glove compartment; Foley track becomes more prominent
  • close-up of hand retrieving bundle from compartment; camera follows as bundle taken across to driver’s lap and opened to reveal a revolver and loose bullets; hand moves to find and open a small bourbon bottle
  • cut to medium-front-on shot of driver swigging
  • soundtrack of courtroom scene becomes prominent; cut to front-on close-medium shot of character being asked a question about a murder in court; piano music track in background
  • sequence of question-and-answer shots in day-lit courtroom
  • cut to medium-night shot of man backing through doorway; woman follows; door is pushed closed and they embrace against it
  • cut to another medium shot; question-and-answer sequence in the courtroom
  • cut to close-up of hands loading the revolver in the car
  • cut to medium-front shot of driver through windscreen
  • cut to sequence of question-and-answer shots in courtroom
  • cut to slow pan of jury
  • cut to close-medium question-and-answer sequence with characters becoming more intense
  • cut to close-up of hands preparing revolver, cut to close-medium shot of driver taking another swig
  • dash lights go out; courtroom voice-over becomes prominent; interior light comes on as driver opens door
  • cut to close-up of foot emerging from car; soundtrack of things falling; glass breaking; close-up of feet walking towards drive
  • cut to front-on full shot of driver walking unsteadily forward towards gate; he walks into medium shot
  • cut back to courtroom sequence, cut to series of close-ups of the lovers against the door; courtroom soundtrack still over
  • cut to sentencing scene in court; close-up of judge; cut to zoom in on Mr Dufresne
  • cut to black; soundtrack of door slamming loudly

Betrayal in The Kite Runner

At the heart of The Kite Runner is an act of cowardice in the face of abuse. Amir chose self-preservation over taking a stand to protect the vulnerable Hassan. It is about being a witness to something shocking and not taking action to prevent it or to hold the perpetrators accountable. It is about doing nothing when coming across bullying. It is a theme both universal and deeply upsetting.

Think about the following quote:

It is this day in ‘the winter of 1975 (that) changes everything. And made me what I am today’.

  1. How has it made Amir what he is today? What has he become?

After dealing with his guilt by denial, cover up, making false accusations and an escape to a new life in America, Amir is given an opportunity to revisit his past and find ‘a way to be good again.’