Frankenstein: Foils

"Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. His hope and his dream was to become one among whose names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species." pg. 37 I think that Henry Clerval and Victor Frankenstein are foils in many regards. They both have a desire to learn, but in very different ways. Victor wants to become the master of science and has no use for morals, which Clerval focuses on. Also, Victor has an obsession with knowing and learning science that ultimately leads to physical illness. Clerval, on the other hand, is motivated to become one of the moral benefactors of the human race, but when his father does not allow him to go to university he does not become ill. Also, I wonder if it was Clerval who was desiring to make the monster, whether he would ponder the morality of his actions. Also, if Frankenstein was a little more like Clerval and instead of thinking "Can I do this?," he thinks "Should I do this?" I think that because he is a foil to Clerval and because he is so driven by discovery that the thought never crossed his mind and would have never crossed his mind. The foils bring out the characteristics of Frankenstein and show his progression as the story moves on.

Like Father, Like Son

"The slingshot made a thwiiiit sound when Sohrab released the cup. Then Assef was screaming." pg. 291 This quote describes a situation where Amir is being mutilated by Assef and Sohrab, a little abused boy, step in to save his life. This situation is almost exactly the same as when Hassan stepped in to save Amir and himself from Assef twenty years earlier. A change, however, was that this time Amir fought and didn't leave it all to Hassan or in this case Sohrab. I think it shows a lot about Hassan when his little boy steps in to save a man he never knew. It also shows a lot about Sohrab and his little fighting spirit. I think it is interesting the line of father-son traits that are in this book. Firstly, Baba finds himself more in Hassan and Sohrab is definitely Hassan's child. I think that these lines are very important to the novel as a whole and that the situation with Assef was almost identical and the Hassan and Sohrab acted the same way showed a lot about their character and their upbringing, as well as the familial ties.

Always Thinking of You

"Hassan had so many questions about you." pg. 207 I think that this quote and the letters that came after it really shows the bond between Amir and Hassan. Even though Amir made a terrible mistake and let Hassan down in the worst possible way, they never stopped thinking about each other. Did they marry? Did they have kids? Were they happy? These were things that seeped into Amir's thoughts everyday and every special occasion that he attended, but always with grief and regret. We don't know what Hassan thought when he thought about these things except for what he said in his letters, but I think that he never stopped loving Amir or wanting the best for him. The bond that lasted years and generations was strong and had been tested in the most terrible and life-altering ways, but they never forgot. Eventually, I think Hassan forgave Amir and Amir was able to move on and realize the bond they has without grief and anger and with more love and respect.

Vernacular: Farsi Language

"By then, Khala Jamila's initially subtle hints had become overt, as in 'Kho dega! So! When am I going to sing alahoo for my little nawasa?' " I was interested by the insertions of the Farsi language into this novel while the rest of the book is written in English. I think that these words show how important country, family, and tradition is to the Afghan people. The words that are in the vernacular are usually very important to the novel as a whole, but also to the Afghan people. Nawasa refers to the grandchildren that Jamila is asking about and alahoo is songs that she had been forbidden to sing by her husband except to her grandchildren. Also, the title Khala is always added before he name, so familial titles, not just Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, or Grandpa is English were sufficient in these cases, the author had to show how the Afgahns think and what they respect and believe. Earlier in the novel, the author also uses naang and namoos, his honor, because that is what an Afghan person is defined by and honor does not cut it. It had to be in the vernacular because it is so ingrained in these people that it is Afghan itself almost. The vernacular makes the reader think about what those words are and what they mean because they are changed from English to Farsi for a reason.

Foils: Soraya and Amir

"Then I did something I hadn't done in fifteen years of marriage: I told my wife everything." pg. 325 I have always thought of foil characters as one good and one bad, or the hero and the goofy sidekick, but I think in this case Soraya and Amir are foils to each other in at least one area. They are foil characters because to a similar situation, they each responded in a way totally different. Earlier in the novel when Amir asked for her hand in marriage from her father, Soraya had the honor, guts, and courage to do the right thing and tell Amir her story. Even though she had run away, been with a guy, and was shunned by most of the Afghan community, she knew that the honorable thing to do was to tell Amir of what she did before they got married. She knew that he could shun her like the other men, but she still told him. However, Amir did not tell Soraya his story until fifteen years later after he was bashed by Assef and told Hassan's story. Instead of telling Soraya what he did and his past failures when she told him, he opted out and let Soraya take the whole weight upon her shoulders. He did not have the courage to tell her and did not have the courage to let her judge him as a suitable husband as he had judged her. He did redeem himself when he told her the whole story, so it took courage to tell her after fifteen years and to also take on the extra burden of her realizing he had kept things.

Symbol: The Kite

" 'Do you want me to run that kite for you?' His Adam's apple rose and fell as he swallowed. The wind lifted his hair. I thought I saw him nod. 'For you, a thousand times over.' " pg. 371 I think that the kite is a symbol for redemption. Throughout the story the kite shows up, especially in connection with Hassan and the past. It also shows up in connection with Amir and Baba frequently. It is a symbol for redemption firstly because it was the one thing that Amir and Baba had in common and the one thing that Baba could be proud of his son for. Amir wanted that kite so badly because he felt like it was the only way he could redeem himself in his father's eyes, however, that drive led to a different need for redemption. Secondly, it is a symbol for redemption in the last few pages of the novel too where Amir needs to make amends with Sohrab and in doing so redeems himself for what he did to Hassan as kids. The last kite and the flying experience with Sohrab started to heal the void in between them. I saw the redemption come from the quote and it showed that Amir had done for Sohrab what Hassan never stopped doing for him.

Amir's Tests- The Kite Runner

"But I was a man, and all I had risked was a bruised ego. Bruises healed. Reputations did not. Would she take my dare?" (pg. 147)
I found this quote interesting because it almost seems like Amir is doing the same thing to Soraya that he did to Hassan when they were kids. He never took the real risk in anything; he let others do it for him. In this quote, he was only risking his ego as a man because men had a lot more freedom when it came to morality. Soraya, however, had to deal with the double standards of women and her reputations would never heal. Without a good reputation, Soraya didn't have a chance at a good life. So instead of keeping her from a situation where she could have problems, he let her potentially take the fall because he wanted to know her better. Similarly, Amir "tested" Hassan in his childhood on page 54 when Hassan said that he would eat dirt for him and Amir said "you would do that?" This interaction was a test because Amir truly knew that Hassan would eat dirt for him, but I don't think Hassan or even Amir knew if hew would actually ask Hassan to. These tests show that Amir has had two good friends and he always tests them.