The Kite Runner: Post One

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the story so far is about two boys, Amir and Hassan, along with Amir's father, Baba.

Amir, the story's narrator, has grown up with Hassan and they play together every day, but he still doesn't consider Hassan his friend, due to their cultural and socioeconomic differences. Amir thinks, "In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing" (Hosseini 25). Along with this, Amir's father is among the wealthiest businessmen in Kabul, while Hassan's father is a lowly servant (Hosseini 4, 6). Possibly due to this belief in his superiority, Amir is always the leader when he plays with Hassan, but if they get in trouble, Hassan takes the blame (Hosseini 4). However, when other kids bully Amir, he never sticks up for himself; Hassan drives them off instead (Hosseini 22).

Hassan might have less than Amir does, but he makes up for it with his perpetual cheerfulness (Hosseini 25). He is also very loyal to Amir; he never tells on Amir when he gets in trouble for Amir's schemes (Hosseini 4). Although it might seem that Hassan does not care to question the world much, he is actually very bright despite his lack of schooling. This sometimes irks Amir; he says, " I read him poems and stories, sometimes riddles– though I stopped reading those when I saw he was far better at solving them than I was" (Hosseini 28).

Amir's father, Baba, although often distant toward Amir, nevertheless has a deep influence on him. His nickname, Toophan agha or "Mr. Hurricane" (Hosseini 12), sums it up best: he has a very forceful personality. Whatever he wants to happen, happens, except for where his son is concerned. Amir is very different from Baba, which worries him. He tells his friend Rahim Khan, "'He needs someone who... understands him, because God knows I don't'" (Hosseini 23).

Although it is very early in the book, Khaled Hosseini uses a lot of foreshadowing. It is clear that in the pages to come, these three characters will have great impacts on each other's lives.

Black Boy: Post One

Is Richard a "bad" boy?

When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?

I think that Richard is not an inherently bad boy, but much of his bad behavior is at least partly explained by his environment. One place where this seems to be the case is when Richard burns down his house at age four. The reason he chose to play with fire in the first place is because his mother told him to keep completely quiet and still, which is a lot to expect from almost any four-year-old. His decision to burn things was only intended to entertain, not destroy.

Another misdeed that I feel Richard is not fully culpable for is when he kills a kitten. In contrast to when Richard set the house on fire, the murder of the kitten did arise from an evil impulse, so some blame rests on Richard. However, the idea of killing the kitten came to him because his mean-spirited father, who ought to have known better due to his greater age, told him to do so in anger; Richard saw a chance to get back at his father without being beaten. Therefore, Richard's father's abuse also bears some responsibility.

A third event where Richard behaved badly, but was not truly accountable is when he became an alcoholic at age six. The original reason for this is because he was fascinated by the frightening, mysterious saloon; I don't think it's especially surprising that a young boy would be amazed at the odd behaviors exhibited by drunk people. Unfortunately, Richard was captured by a customer, after which all the patrons pressured him to drink, and on top of that paid him for doing so. Thanks to the drunkards' poor influence, Richard soon became addicted to alcohol and to the money he received. He should not have returned to the saloon, but the blame rests far more heavily on the drunks who encouraged him.

Basically, I think behavior can be blamed on people to a certain extent, but the circumstances are very important to determine the degree of culpability. If a person isn't old enough or smart enough. for instance, to know their actions are wrong, they certainly are not accountable for them. Circumstances also come into play when things such as provocation and motive are taken into account. If a person was adequately provoked into a misdeed, then the provoker deserves part of the blame. If a person's intent was harmless when they acted, they should not be considered completely evil for their deed.

After all, people don't live in a vacuum. Our surroundings affect our lives as much as we do.

Welcome to my Enriched English blog! Isn't it delightful? So... This welcome has to be 5-10 sentences long. What more can I say? Well, props to Blogger on the template and the font. They both seem fairly good-quality for a website. Of course, this is run by Google. They tend to have fairly good-quality products.
Anyway, TTFN and TGIF!