THE SECOND PAPERCLIIIIIP???? :D

          So, the second blog post for us reading "The Kite Runner."

          This section of the book is not nearly as bad... well... at least theres not really any explicit violence. So, to get to it...
          I think that theres a lot that Amir blames himself for. He blames himself for everything that happens to Hassan, he blames himself for he and Soraya's infertility, he blames himself for the death of Baba. Hey, if given a reason, he'd blame himself for the Russians invading Afghanistan. Most of his blame roots from his actions with Hassan as little kids.
          First, Hassan. Amir did so many things he regrets to Hassan. He took advantage of Hassan's illiteracy, he stood by (or, I should say, ran away) as Hassan was getting raped, he framed Hassan of stealing money so that he and Ali would get sent away... but later in the story, you find out that Hassan still cared about him as if he was his brother... even though they were brothers. Sigh... you'd think that they would have told them about their kinship.
          When Soraya fails to become pregnant, and all the test show nothing wrong, Amir starts thinking. He ends up believing that his past sins are the reason it didn't work.

The Kite Runner: "Holy Sheep"

Holy Sheep. I think that "The Kite Runner" is the most messed up book I've ever read. On page 7 it uses the word that starts with a 'C' and ends with a "T." I read that, looked up and said 

"Do you really think this book is appropriate for 9th graders to read?"

It shocked me. That was only page 7. 

It went on, oh trust me. There's racism, violence and rape. You find evidence of racism all throughout the book, with Hassan being discriminated against because he's a "Hazara." It reminded me of Draco Malfoy on page 39 and onward, as if being a Hazara was his equivalent of a muggle. (There's nothing wrong with us muggles *sniff.*) Then of course, the brass knuckles have to come out on page 41: 

 "...I saw with a sinking heart what he had fished out of his pocket. Of course. His stainless-steel brass knuckles sparkled in the sun... 'In fact, you bother me more than this Hazara here. How can you talk to him, play with him, let him touch you?' he said, his voice dripping with disgust."

It shocked me that a little boy could think that way. Of course Hassan saves that day with his trusty slingshot, but the victory is short lived.

On page 75... oh... I don't really want to talk about it at all. It's awful. When I read that part I almost cried. I kept yelling at Amir in my head. I was yelling at Assef too. An act of violence with brass knuckles is enough out of a kid, but going that far just tops my meter of "I CAN'T READ THIS ANYMORE!" Please Mr. Sutherland, can we NOT read this anymore? Holy Sheep.

Of Mice and Men Essay

    John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice And Men” follows George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California, With a dream of owning their own little place and “livin of the fatta the land.” With Lennie’s misunderstood mental problem, George and Lennie have many problems just surviving, let alone getting that little piece of land.

Thesis: The Central conflict in the story “of mice and men” is Character -vs- Society, with Lennie being the character. Nobody really understands Lennie. They just think he’s stupid, when in actuality, he has a mental condition. Society has not yet learned about these mental conditions, so they don’t understand that he has no control over his strength. He has the mind of a child, and he doesn’t even understand himself.

    In this quote, Lennie is talking to Crooks in the barn, and Lennie starts talking about rabbits. “‘You’re nuts,’ said Crooks. ‘You’re crazy as a wedge. What rabbits you talkin’ about?’ ‘The rabbits we’re gonna get, and I get to tend ‘em, cut grass an’ give ‘em water. an’ like that.’ ‘Jus’ nuts,’ said Crooks. ‘I don’t blame the guy you travel with for keepin’ you outa sight.’” (pg 69) Crooks doesn’t know that Lennie isn’t insane, he’s mentally challenged. When Lennie starts talking about rabbits, he always gets a trance-like obsession with them, and all he can talk about is them for the next minute or so. Since he has a mind like a little kid, he has a need to touch things... something most people grow out of, but alas, Lennie did not.
    Here, Lennie wanted ketchup, but they didn’t have any, but he kept asking anyways. Then George said...“‘Well we ain’t got any,’ George exploded. ‘Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if i was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble.’” (pg 11) Although George is just one character, he pretty much makes up most of Lennie’s “society.” Lennie keeps getting them in trouble, and George keeps saving their butts. They can’t keep a job, and this again points to the thesis, because most of the problems come from Lennie’s mental problem.
    Here, everybody starts chasing Lennie because he accidentally killed Curley’s wife (who never gets a name!,) and George finds him. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. ... The group burst into the clearing, and Curley was ahead. He saw Lennie lying on the sand. ‘Got him, by God.’” (pg 106 and 107) Now, George didn’t do this to bring justice or anything, he actually did it to spare Lennie. Almost everybody was in a near mob, and more than one of them had an intent to kill Lennie. They would have ripped him apart. George shot him in a place that kills instantly, with no pain. Society, and when you think about it even Lennie, didn’t know or understand Lennie’s strength.
    All in all, Lennie’s disability made him incredibly strong, but made it so he never developed the brains to use them. Society didn’t know or even come close to understanding  this, and blamed Lennie for it all, as if he had control over him how he had developed.

Qfwfq...

Qfwfq does not know people like he thinks he does.

Fern-Flower was telling Qfwfq about her dream, in which a dinosaur came and assaulted her. “That dream should have made me understand many things and especially one thing: that Fern-Flower wanted nothing more than to be assaulted.” (pg 101 from The Dinosaurs.) Qfwfq is dead wrong wrong on this, and it shows how he assumed things. Saying that someone wants to be assaulted is one of the most awful things you can say. Qfwfq is convinced that this is all that she wants. Dreams can not usually be interpreted that directly. Throughout the story Qfwfq makes these radical assumptions about Fern- Flower.

Qfwfq makes another assumption about someone. Here, Qfwfq has approached a New One at a spring, apprehensively waiting for her to recognize him. “I could already imagine her desperate scream  the moment she saw me, her breathless flight. She would spread the alarm, and the New Ones would come out in force to hunt me down. She turned and said ‘nice and cool, isn’t it?’ ” (pg 98, The Dinosaurs.) As Qfwfq is approaching the New One, he expects her to run off in fear, he expects to BE feared. That kind of behavior shows off how he doesn’t know what he thinks he knows, because things didn’t work out like he planned they would. She didn’t react violently or defensefully.

Here, Qfwfq and Lll have just gone to see his great uncle Nba’ Nga, who Qfwfq is very embarrassed of. After a humiliating few hours with him, this happens: “I was thinking that now she would begin her comments, that the worst was still to come. But then Lll, without stopping, turned slightly toward me: ‘He’s very nice, your uncle,’ and that was all she said. More than once in the past her irony had disarmed me; but the icy sensation that filled me at this remark was so awful that i would rather not seen her anymore than to have to face the subject again.” Qfwfq finds out later in the story that Lll actually liked his uncle (maybe a little TOO much, but you know,) and that her opinions were the exact opposite of what Qfwfq thought they were.  Qfwfq assumes that since his uncle is so unlike Lll has ever seen, that she will be repulsed be him and his stick in the mud (literally) personality.