Metacognition: Kite Runner Essay

At first, when I sat down to even pick a topic for the Kite Runner essay, I encountered a familiar feeling when in a situation like this: complete, udder confusion. I was lost, and several questions raced through my mind. What do I want to say? How am I going to say it? Is my topic clear/important/well thought out/unique enough? I was glad to find that just amassing evidence to support my topic helped me narrow it down considerably. Starting out, I picked three topics that really interested me, but when I thought about writing an evidence plan, I was quickly able to eliminate... all three of them.
I went back to the list of questions, though, and saw the one about closure. At first, I hadn't thought that there was enough evidence to support it, but when I looked at it again, I found that I had been wrong. My thesis kept popping up all over the book and I knew that this would be an essay that, if nothing else, would have a great topic.

Best of Week: Paying Closer Attention to Descriptive Paragraphs

I think the best comment in class this week came from Margot, regarding the metaphor Hosseini makes out of Amir putting a lot of sugar in his tea and Amir Khan drinking his black. When she said it, I wondered why I didn't even remember reading about that at all. I have to admit that a lot of times when I'm reading, I more or less skim over long descriptive paragraphs or the short sentences in between dialogue, thinking they're boring. Unimportant. The dialogue, to me, really shaped a story and the plot more than those descriptive paragraphs. Obviously, I was wrong. Though what a character says is significant, in a good piece of writing we can always glean more about their inner thoughts from what they do. Many times, a character won't say what they're feeling outright. Instead, the author choses to give us clues using their actions or behaviors.

Not only will I make sure to pay attention to non-dialogue parts of a story when reading, but I will try to say more by having the characters say less in my own writing. Not only will I be able to make it more interesting, but I will be able to give the reader more information that otherwise wouldn't have been there.

Change of Mind: Kite Runner

After Amir had his life-changing experience, there were many parts in the book where he was trying to "bury" his memories. This leads the reader to believe that that's what he wants. I thought that it would be best for Amir to try to forget about what happened. As the story progresses, though, it becomes clear that he isn't going to be able to do that. I now believe that the only way for him to get the proverbial monkey off his back is to go back to Afghanistan and confront his past.
Fortunately for Amir, he is getting a chance to atone for his sins by going to visit Rahim Khan. I think that Rahim Khan will probably have kept in touch with Hassan and that Amir will set out to find him and make things right. This, I have come to think, is the only way that Amir will be able to be at peace with himself.