Literature Analysis #2

1. Exposition-
The primary characters: Amir (protagonist and main character/ narrator)Rahim Kahn( Baba's friend and confident and a father image and support for Amir)  Baba (Amir's father and a wealthy and well respected man in Afghanastan) Ali (Baba's servant and friend and the man whose wife he slept with and with whom he created Hassan)  Hassan (Amir's half brother/friend/servant) Sohrab (Hassan's son) Assef (the bully) and Soraya (Amir's wife).
setting: Kabul, Afghanistan during 1970s when there was trouble with power in Afghan and when the Taliban came into power and destroyed the country 
Give background to class differences and how Hazaras are treated as dirt and servants and have no power. Focuses in Amir when he was a child and he was practically brothers with Hassan who was his servant. They went everywhere together but Amir was always jealous of Hassan and how his father treated Hassan better than him. Hassan was brave and stood up for Amir and Amir turned his back on Hassan one day after a kite flying tournament that Amir won(finally made dad proud) and Amir watched Hassan get sexually assaulted and this guilt lived inside Amir until adult hood. Him and his father left to America before the politics got bad in Afghan and Amir drove off Hassan and his dad Ali who was like a brother to Baba(AMir's dad). In adult life AMir gets married and travels back to visit Rahim, who was always nice to Amir as a child and encouraged his writing, because he was very sick. He gets sent on mission to save Hassan's son after Amir find out Hassan died. The climax is when Amir finds Sohrab who is being held by Assef, the childhood bully, and Sohrab saves Amir from death and they escape. Amir found out that Hassan and him were half brothers and he realized the gravity of what he had done when he was a child; he split up the family and knew why his father cared so much for Hassan and Amir had broken his heart. Initially Sohrab is reserved because he was badly abused but he warms up to Amir who breaks his trust and Sohrab tries to kill himself but Amir saves him and brings him back to America where Sohrab never forgave Amir and became mute until a year later when Amir and Sohrab where flying kites and Amir saw Sohrab smile and this brings the story ending back where it started.
2. The theme is breaking tradition and forgiveness. In the Afghan culture tradition was everything to them. Their image and how they were unified as people. Amir was different than everyone. He wasn't like his father and he felt alone and by himself because he broke thinstradition. He was selfish unlike those around him and this led to disappointment and he even left his country for a better one. When he went back he adopted a Hassan and was friends with one when he was little and that was strnage. He went against his own family instead of uniting with them. When he was a child he witnessed something that haunted him forever and he could never give Hassan what Hassan had given to him, kindness. Hassan died before Amir cold talk to him again and this broke AMir's heart and really exemplified the moral of forgiveness and kindess. Sohrab had to forgive those around him who had hurt him and Amir had to forgive himself and Hassan had to forgive Amir and find the good in him. 
3. The authors tone was remorseful and elf depricating. The narrator and point of view is through the eyes of Amir who is dealing with the troubles of his actions throughout the whole book. Every action he made had a consequence and those hovered over him throughout the book. 
"Hassan had loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him lived on."
"I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan."
"I wished he would. I wished he'd give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I'd finally sleep at night."
4. -metaphors and similes to give extra info and image of situation and mental state/ mind of Amir.
"Baba had wrestled bears his whole life. Losing his wife. Raising a son by himself. Leaving is beloved homeland. Poverty. Indignity."(pg 174)
-Foreshadow especially with setting to give incite on something bad and preparing the readers of a change of events.
"The sky darkened as a crowd gathered around us."(pg 158)
- irony contradicts what the narrator and reader believe to be true and give depth to characters and their situation
"Strangely, I was glad that someone knew me for who I really was; I was tired of pretending." "I'll never forget the way Baba, being unbreakable, said that, the pain in his plea, the fear."(106,107)
- foil is with Amir his father and Hassan. Father is strong part of Amir and Hassan is kind and forgiving part.
"Do you always have to be a hero? Can't you just let it go for once? But I knew he couldn't- it wasn't in his nature." "That was another thing about Hassan. He always knew when to say the right thing."(pg37)
- stream of consciousness gives insight to Amir has a person and how he chooses to do what he does. The logic behind his actions
"I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never forgive me... I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate."(105)
- motif instills specific idea to readers
"Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef's face. His hand trembled with the strain of the pulled elastic band and beads of sweat had erupted on his brow."(pg 42) "His hand was cocked above his shoulder, holding the cup of the slingshot at the end od the elstic band which was pulled all the way back. Sohrab had the slingshot pointed at Assef's face." (pg290)
-symbolism gives deeper meaning to text and message
"It was only a smile, nothing more. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight."(371)
-breaking the fourth wall engage the reader and put them in exact situation characters are in
"You open your mouth. Open it so wide your jaws creak. You order your lungs to draw air, NOW, you need air, need it NOW. You want to scream. You would if you could. But you have to breathe to scream. Panic" (pg 121)
- diction sets better image of situation and mood
"'Successful,' Soraya hissed."(182)
- personification helps create sense of reality and feeling
"And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya's womb, like it was a living, breathing thing. I'd feel it rising from Soraya and settling between us. Sleeping between us. Like a newborn child."(pg 189)

Characterization:
1. direct: "While Sanaubar's brilliant green eyes and impish face had, rumor has it, tempted countless men into sin, Ali had a congenital paralysis of his lower facial muscles that left him permanently grim-faced." "'Your boss could use some manners'... 'Poor Ray. He hasn't been the same since his daughter died.'"
indirect: "Midway though the speech the wind knocked his hat off and everyone laughed. He turned back to the microphone and said he hoped the building was sturdier than his hat, and everyone laughed again." " Baba and Rahim Khan built a wildly successful carpet-exporting business, two pharmacies, and a restaurant."
These are both examples of direct and indirect examples embedded as both within one. Each one gives a side of a character that is obvious and stated and known by all the other characters but if you think about what is actually being said there is a deeper meaning that enriches the text and depth of every character. Each character is enforced throughout the novel and Amir I think is the only character that truly changed, barely by the end. Most everyone were passionate characters that had strong personalities. 
2. No. The author is constant with his tone of voice. The narrator says things in  great detail and passion in thought. He always adds his opinion or thoughts at the end of explaining something to add the depth of character to the story. He tells in a "matter of fact" voice when explaining situations rather than people.  
"Baba slapped my hand away. 'Haven't I taught you anything?' he snapped. He turned to the grinning soldier." "Outside the walls of that house there was a war raging. But the three of us, in your fathers house, we made our own little haven from it."
3. The protagonist is round but static. Amir is a man that always refuted tradition and he continued to do so even in his adulthood and he was also still a coward and allowed others to dave himself. He was so focused on surviving that he forgot to live his life and love the people he as closest to. He betrayed those closet to him but he eventually forgave himself after he saw the change in Sohrab. 
4. I legit cried during this book. It is such a good and rich book that I felt like I lived the life of Amir and went through the whole experience as him. I felt for Hassan and Amir and Sohrab. I wanted everything to be happy in the end and be ok but it wasn't and that'd the difference between what society has made me and what real life is. I honestly am still sad and mad and happy and excited and nervous after reading the book and I read it 2 weeks ago so I think it did its job.