Assignment 2: The Kite Runner Chapters 3&4

Please respond in a blog entry to ONE of the questions below. Your response should be at least one paragraph in length and should be posted by Monday, February 2, 5 pm. Also, please comment on at least one of your classmate's responses.

1. Describe Amir’s relationship with his father: Are they close or distant? What kind of bond do they share? Do you think they have a healthy or unhealthy relationship? Give at least 2 examples from the text to support your response.

2. At the end of chapter 3, Amir says that “Rahim Khan had been wrong about the mean streak thing.” What does he mean by this? Explain this statement and give at least 2 examples from the text to support your interpretation.

Just a reminder that a typed copy of your narrative essay is due 5 pm Friday the 30th!

Some thoughts after reading chapter one and two of "the kite runner"

After finishing the first two chapters of this book, I really moved by those words which Hassan said to Amir:for you, thousand times over. What kinds of deep love in Hassan's mind that can make him swear this to Amir firmly. There are so many differents between them.Amir born in a richful family which enjoys highly reputation in thier society. But,Hassan is just a poor boy live with his father who has nothing at all.Amir is a Pashtuns which group of people occupies the main status in people's life while Hassan is a Hazara which kind of people are looked down upon by others in their society.However, these differents cannot become the obstacle between the two little boys.The kinship is created and seems firmly enough to withstand every difficulties.May be some really bad things will happen,but til now, they are brother-like and care each other. What's more, Hassan's loyalty and the nature that won't hurt anyone empressed me alot. Born in poor family,live in a little shack or even his cleft lip had not strike him down. So,from this point of view,I think Hassan is somelike a worrior.I'm really appreciated.
Amy

homework

Grray Trudeau 

        Trudeau's essay My Inner Shrimp is about hem being short. He had this problem and always blam his parents about it. After high school he got six inches taller. He wanted to return to high school to see his classmates and show them that he is not that short anymore. In the end he found that being tall is not everything.

I disagree with him because if somomeone keeps thinking about the past, he will never improve the abilities he has. All of us came to this world with something we cannot change, such as colore or hight. However, everyone has some abilities inside, if he works on these abilities, he will reach a place or a position that everyone would love to achieve. My openion, just look to the positive side and avoide the mistakes we have done before. Life is a full of many examples, many scientist were blind and they overcame such this disability.

Hiyam

homework 1

What will be, will be!! Trudeun is make too much of his problem. He could not make up his own mind. He wanted tall, because people make fun of him in school. But does he really need to grow tall?
Like most the female who wants to lose weight. However, often time some of they does not need to lose weight. They just do not know how to control the balance of activate and eating. Or they compare to other people all the time. Same as Trudeun, they need clear what they really need.

Responding to My Inner Shrimp

Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon was greatest people who controlled many countries and people. Even though they were really short people, nobody could disregard them. I think that these kinds of people could be Trudeau's role model in other to overcome his weakness part which is a sense of inferiority. A sense of inferiority also could develop his depression, and it might pressure his entire of life to be unsecured condition. Therefore, I empathize with him that he have suffered from so many problems.

Yelei Xia Response

Everyone would be sad if he or she was dubbed with a ugly name in high school.It will have a bad effect on their growing.

In my opinion,it doesn't matter about stature.Stature can't demonstrate all aspects of the people.A man should be evaluated from diverse aspects,not just in the aspect of

stature.Many historical famous people don't have beautiful height,such as Nepoleon(a famous army leader in France),Xiaoping Deng(a successful Chinese chairman).

I empathize with him. In fact I am not tall enough to get more respect ,but sometimes you should ignore others.It's not a problem for everyone. You must live for yourself,not for

others and you can't change the nurtural situation. That's why you should be optimistic about it sometimes.

Yelei Xia

Stella's Response

In my opinion,Trudean's "soul of a shrimp"just a symble of self-abasement. As when he was young he was very short,or he underwent some unhappy things. In his memory, he was a butt. So although when he is tall, he can not release himself from those unfortunate things. He think every remember that he was very short,actually the "soul of a shrimp"is only a yoke he set up for himself.

My inner shirmp (HW)

I sympathize with his childhood experience,but i do not agree with him.
In my childhood memories of them.if use at that time perspective i would have a lot of unpleasant memories.but nowday when i recall these things i will feel warm and fragrant even very funny. The child is a child so we can not make them sense 'know a thing or two' as an adult, i think this is why we call children are boy and girl not man and woman.
So in my opinion he should forget it.Midgets is really not a good word,but now he grow up not only 6 feets,do not need care somebody call him midget anymore. please give himself more confidence and forget it.

Everyone has something crazy or unbelievable in his childhood. In this way he wouldn't know it until he grow up. What happened with the writer is he couldn't believe that he became tall. In this case I don't blame him because he had bad experience with his childhood. Finally, he wouldn't write this paragraph except that he found out that he becomes taller than he thought.

Homework 1

I may understand him but, forgive me, I disgree with what he thought.
It's not his fault he's a "shrimp" because he's born that way. The genes have already been in his body and can hardly be changed. Thus, it seems to be reasonable that he grews but at nowhere near the rate of his peers. I know the facts of life often make people upset, especially when there's nothing can be done. In this aspect, I may understand him.
However, the reason I disagree with him is I believe firmly that "the greatest threat to mankind is mankind itself"(ancient adage). That means if he's full of confidence then no one can hurt him any more. In other words, if he can overcome the blocks in his mind, he completely has no need to think too much about his problem. Just "follow your own course, and let people talk!"(Dante,A., Divina commedia)

Soul of a Shrimp

I emphathize with him. I think a fault and complex are minded by a person himself rather than others. Even though the comlex seems to be trivial for others around him, he might feel like being made fun of by them. Moreover, he was dubbed the "Midget" by taller boys. So he has had a feeling of mortification and wanted to get back at the boys since he was fourteen years old. His obsession is kind of excessive but the feeling like "Soul of a shrimp" can be haven by everyone. I can understand his feeling because I also have a complex like him.

Soul of shrimp (Homework1)

My idea about soul of shrimp essay:

Writing about some problems that we have never encountered with is hard. I think it is true that some ideas are easier to say than done, but problems can be classified according to their resource, human resource and non human resource. First group are those problems which produce by ourselves such as disability to read or other kind of ability which are acquired, any default in this area is belong to us so we have to try to solve them. But some problems have the non human resource which we don’t have any idea to produce them such as being short, tall, black or white, girl or son. In my opinion these kinds of events have a reason but we don’t know. Blaming and hurt ourselves about something that we haven’t any response of them is not reasonable at all. I believe we have to try to change something that we can and accept the others that we cannot, and also enjoy every minute of life. I found most of problems events that usually seem terrible are not as bad as they seem. They have a great rational reason that we discover it later.

writing 1

I am sorry for Trudoau having been obsessed by his “soul of a shrimp.” We often see and hear that many people are dissatisfied many things which they have owned such as their height, their weight, their look, their hair color, skin color, etc. Do people desire too much? What are facts behind those evidences? Discover those evidence behind. It is not a simple dissatisfaction mater. It is about the feelings of obsession they have gotten from their experience of life. These feelings affect who they become later also.
I empathize his obsession. We live in society. We cannot avoid the unfair treatment from the circumstance we are around. Also, you can't change the situation at that period when you don’t have that magical power. Otherwise, you are not big enough to help yourself to deal with all the terrible experiences at that age.
I don't think Trudoau makes too much his problem. People not only learn from book, and also learn from their experience. The early ages’ experience will go with the person's whole life. Even though later things have been changed, the hurts still remain there, in the memory especially at the fragile teenage time. Those terrible experiences may become a nightmare in the person’s life. It also may turn the person to opposite.
I think if parents, teachers, counselors can observe what happen on children from their actions at the beginning to give them help. It will be a great help for both of sides. One is to prevent the kids like Trudoau from having a bad experience at that age. To give them support to make them stronger in mind. The other is to teach the kids like bullies realize the things they have done are not good, unmoral when you build the happy on another's pain. Otherwise, people like Turdoau should learn to leave this kind of shadow behind and overcome it to stand on their feet become a strong person with a positive statue after they grow up.

After reading an essay “Inner Shrimp” by Garry Trudeau, in Mirror on America, from my point of view, his case is pretty understandable. From my understanding I believe that it takes a long time for someone to forget their bad memories. Trudeau was dubbed the term “midgets” and was treated irretrievably during his adolescence. Even though things had changed a lot comparing to before the inner shrimp, memory still reminds Trudeau, and makes him uncertain. We might know why most people often try to visit their psychologists. Because sometime is hard for us to control mental problem on our own, that is why the inner shrimp memory remains part of Trudeau life.

Wei's homework

There are things that we can not change or control.Like height and everything that we are born with.So i don't think it is positive to look things in that way.However, there are still something that we can change and control---it's our attitude towards it, how we deal with it,how we look at it.In that issue, i can't totally agree with him.He did make to much of his problem.We should always look on the bright way of life and try to be positive with it.

Homework

His obsession with his "soul of shrimp" can understandable. Because being a short person is unforgettable in Trudeau's life. For many of people, high school is one pf the most important part of their lifes. He had been dealed with a lot of taunts and mocking all his high school life. That may cause deep scars on his soul.
But on the other hand, Even though he is taller now, he still has the " soul of shrimp". The reason of this, At high school he was known as shrimp and he identified himself as a shrimp too. So he tried to forgot it. But in reality, It became a part of him. he can not just get out of it.
Definitely, I empathize with him. Because, that situation effects the way of his character. An event that big can not just being omitted easily. As a matter of fact, it became an indispensable part of that people.This is the thing that makes who you are. In good way or in bad way.

Homework 1

I can understand Trudeau’s feeling. Because I think teenage memory is very important for a person to grow up. And it also affect one’s life in the future .In the essay I know when Trudeau was teenager he was short, and always taunted by classmates. So he lost his confidence and become a bit self-abased. In my opinion that is the reason why he still has the “soul of a shrimp”. If this kind of issue happens to me maybe I also cannot get rid of the shadow. Although “soul of a shrimp” is not good for him, I do not think he makes a lot of his problem.

1/24/2009 xinyue yao

Homework1

When we were in high school, classmates like to give other students ignominiously dubbed. This happened on him too.
He was really short when he was in high school, because his height, a contingent of students named him “Midgets”. It hurt this young boy’s feeling, this made him retreated into self-pity, started to absence of a social life and so on. Before those students gave his dubbed name, he had a normal life. He had lived in pain and uncomfortable life since then.
Until few years later, he grown up became really tall. He started to have confident and get back his life again. However, deep down in his heart, he still have the feeling that his is the “Midget”, he still feel shrink and scared. He cared about what people said about his highs, he feels like he still in adolescent hierarchies.
In my point of view, I think it was not easy for everyone to face or lived in those kind of environment. Nobody wants to be taunt or scorn. I don’t think I feel the same way as him. I think he shouldn't care about what did people say or call him. He should live his life and become stronger to protect himself. Be scared won’t help you, stand up and be brave to tell them how to respect people instead of scorn them.