DIGITAL TRAILER PROJECT FOR A KITE RUNNER SCENE

DIGITAL TRAILER PROJECT FOR A KITE RUNNER SCENE

FOLLOW ALONG ON “DIRECTIONS HANDOUT” • THIS IS A GROUP PROJECT. YOU WILL WORK WITH THE PEOPLE AT YOUR TABLE. TRAILER DUE DATE - TBD. UPLOAD LOCATION - TBD. PAPER AND PRESENTATION DUE DATE - THURSDAY, APRIL 7

PROJECT OVERVIEW PART 1 - GROUP DIGITAL TRAILERS PART 2 - INDIVIDUAL REFLECTIONS PART 3 - GROUP PRESENTATIONS PROJECT EXPECTATIONS QUESTIONS?

EXAMPLE HTTPS: //WWW. YOUTUBE. COM/WA TCH? V=ITR 0 D 6 ANQXM

KITE RUNNER: CHAPTERS 7 -12

CHAPTER 7 • The night before the kite tournament, Hassan has a dream that “a monster had come to the lake, ” but brushes it off and encourages Amir to compete: “Remember, Amir agha. There’s no monster, just a beautiful day” (foreshadow of the events in Ch. 7). (pgs. 59, 61) • Amir was nervous, but eventually won the competition. “Then I saw Baba on our roof. He was standing on the edge, pumping both his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last” (parental approval). (pg. 66) • Hassan goes to get the kite. “For you a thousand times over!” What does this mean? (pg. 67) • Hassan refuses to give kite over to Assef after he is cornered in alley, “Amir agha and I are friends. ” Assef sexually assaults Hassan, “It’s just a Hazara. ” (pg. 75) • Amir runs. “I actually aspired to cowardice… Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba… He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he? ” (sacrificial lamb). (pg. 77) • SYMBOLISM OF AFGHANISTAN UNDER ATTACK, OTHER COUNTRIES DOING NOTHING. • Walk home: Did Hassan know? Blame or devotion? (pg. 78) • Amir returns home - cries to Baba doesn’t question him. “I forgot what I’d done. And that was good. ” (pg. 79)

CHAPTER 8 • The side effects of Chapter 7: Amir’s relationships with Baba and Hassan. • Relationship with Baba improves: “It shouldn’t have felt this way. Baba and I were finally friends… I’d finally had what I’d wanted all those years. Except now that I had it, I felt as empty as this unkept pool I was dangling my legs into. ” (pg. 85) • Relationship with Hassan deteriorates: “I was that monster” (from the dream). “That was the night I became an insomniac. ” (pg. 86) • Hassan kept trying to rekindle things. Amir resists, “Everywhere I turned, I saw signs of his loyalty, his goddamn unwavering loyalty. ” (page 89) • Amir suggests getting new servants to Baba. “Hassan’s not going anywhere, do you understand” - Baba. Why? (pg. 90) • Pomegranate Tree: symbolizes relationship between Amir and Hassan (friendship and then falling out). Amir is guilty - throws pomegranates to try to get him to fight back, “I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night. ” Hassan crushes pomegranate on own head (unwavering loyalty). (pgs. 92 -93) • Assef attends Amir’s 13 th birthday, “I saw something I’ll never forget: Hassan serving drinks to Assef… Assef grinning, kneading Hassan in the check with a knuckle. ” (pg. 100)

CHAPTER 9 • Baba gives Amir bicycle and watch for his birthday. Ali and Hassan give him a new book (adds to guilt). Amir frames Hassan by putting money and watch under bed. • Hassan admits to stealing the watch and money, “This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me. ” (Hassan never lies, until now? Baba would have never forgiven Amir). (pg. 105) • “I forgive you, ” - Baba. He breaks his one rule, theft. Why? (pg. 105) • Ali says they are leaving. “Ali glanced my way and in his cold, unforgiving look, I saw that Hassan had told him. He had told him everything… I could imagine the two of them in the dim lit hut, weeping, Hassan pleading him not to give me away. But I couldn’t imagine the restraint it must have taken Ali to keep that promise. ” (pg. 107) • Baba is devastated. Pleads and cries for them to stay. “I’ll never forget the way Baba said that, the plain in his plea, the fear. ” (pg. 107)

CHAPTER • March 1981. Amir is 1810 years old. • They are in a truck escaping Kabul because of the Russian invasion and are on the way to Pakistan. “I wondered where Hassan was” (still cares? ). (pg. 113) • Truck stops and Russian soldier asks for a half hour with one of the women. Baba intervenes and is almost shot. “Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place. ” (pg. 116) • When they arrive at the checkpoint to change trucks, the driver Karim admits the truck is broken and needs new parts. Baba is furious and begins to choke him. (pg. 118 -119) • They hide out in basement where they discover Kamal and his father. His father reveals now Kamal’s wife had been killed and he had been attacked. (pg. 120) • Karim offers them another way to Jalalabad after the truck is reveled to be beyond repair. Before they left, “He [Baba] emptied the box and picked up a handful of dirt from the middle of the unpaved road. He kissed the dirt. Poured it into the box. Stowed the box in his breast pocket, next to his heart” (last memory of home? ) (pg. 121) • On the truck, Baba tells Amir to think of something happy. Amir thinks of a memory of him and Hassan (thinking of Hassan in times of fear / pain? ). (pg. 123) • They arrive safely in Pakistan, but when they arrive Kamal has stopped breathing. Kamal’s father steals Karim’s gun and shoots himself (loss of hope? ). (pg. 124)

CHAPTER 11 How are they adjusting to America? “Baba loved the • Fremont, California. 1980’s. idea of America. ” Why just the idea? (pg. 125) • “Does he think I’m a thief? ” Baba said, his voice rising (when store owner asks for ID). “What kind of a country is this? No one trusts anybody!” (pg. 128) • “For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, it was a place to mourn his. ” (pg. 129) • Baba bringing Amir to America was “one last gift for Amir. ” (pg. 130) • Baba would not accept food stamps. “I work always, ” - Baba. “That was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments at the cash register and alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money. ” (pgs. 130 -131) • Summer 1983 - Amir graduates high school. “I am moftakhir (proud), Amir, ” - Baba after kissing his brow (father-son relationship? ). Baba gives Amir a car for college. (pgs. 131, 133) • We are introduced to General Sahib and his daughter Soraya (also from Kabul). “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir” - Baba. (pg. 142)

CHAPTER 12 to walk past Soraya’s grey van at the flee market, but he • Amir would make up excuses never spoke to her until he one day builds up the courage to ask her where her father is. (pg. 145) • Amir asks her what she is reading and she tells him she would like to read one of his stories. Amir tell her he may bring her one some day (Amir and Soraya bonding over books the way Amir and Hassan did? Parallelism? ) (pgs. 147 -148) • Amir would visit Soraya when her father was not around. • Baba is diagnosed with cancer but refuses treatment and tells Amir to tell no one (honor? ) (pg. 156) • “I want you to ask General Taheri for his daughter’s hand, ” - Amir (pg. 161) • The General accepts, but Soraya wants to talk to Amir. “I’m happy too, Amir… I don’t want us to start with secrets. ” She reveals that when she lived in Virginia she ran away with an Afghan man until her father made her come home. When she got back her mother had a stroke and Soraya felt guilty. • Amir says it doesn’t bother him (although he admits it does a little). “I envied here. Her secret was out… I suspected there were many ways Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them” (what about Amir’s secret and his guilt? ). (pg. 165)

THEMES In The Kite Runner

WHAT IS A THEME AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO NON FICTION LITERATURE? WORK WITH YOU GROUPS AND COME UP WITH AN ANSWER IN YOUR NOTES

THEME • PART OF YOUR JOB AS A READER IS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO SAY. YOU, AS THE READ, NEED TO MAKE INFERENCES (A CONCLUSION REACHED BY REASONING) AND DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHAT THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO SAY. THE AUTHOR WON’T FLAT OUT TELL YOU THEME OF HIS OR HER WORK, YOU NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT.

THEME * THEME IS THE UNDERLYING MEANING OF THE STORY * • It is a universal truth (something valid in all times and places) and is a significant statement that the story is making about society, human nature, or the human condition. • Themes are usually about BIG IDEAS (i. e. friendship, good v evil, trust, etc. ). • A theme is a message from the author and is found everywhere (literature, art, movies, and more). • The theme of a fable (short story, typically with animals as characters) is a moral. • The theme of a parable (simple story used to illustrate a lesson) is a teaching. • The theme of a piece of literature is its view about life and how people behave.

MORE ON THEME • The theme of a story is not the topic (what the story is about). • It is the POINT being made about the topic. • The theme expresses the author’s opinion or expresses a question about human nature of the meaning of human experience.

WILL THEME OF A STORY ALWAYS AGREE WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL BELIEFS?

OUR CONNECTIONS WITH THEMES • NO, THEME OF A STORY WILL NOT ALWAYS AGREE WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL BELIEFS. • HOWEVER, IF IT’S SKILLFULLY WRITTEN, THE WORK WILL STILL HAVE A THEME THAT ILLUMINATES SOME ASPECT OF TRUE HUMAN EXPERIENCE. • AN OPINION AND AN UNDERSTANDING OF A THEME IS BASED OFF OF ONE’S PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF LIFE AND LITERATURE. WHY? • AT THE SAME TIME, THEME IN LITERATURE CAN ENLARGE ONE’S UNDERSTANDING ON LIFE.

THE THEME NEVER COMPLETELY EXPLAINS THE WHOLE STORY. HOWEVER, IT IS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS THAT IS NEEDED TO GAIN FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE STORY. AS SHOWN IN THE KITE RUNNER, TEXTS CAN HAVE AND USUALLY DO HAVE MORE THAN JUST ONE THEME.

HOW TO FIND THEME • • • WHAT IS THE TOPIC OR BIG IDEA OF THE WORK? WHAT DO THE CHARACTERS SAY OR DO THAT RELATES TO THE TOPIC? WHAT DO THESE THINGS TELL YOU THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO LEARN • ABOUT LIFE? THE TOPIC IS… • THE BIG IDEA IS… • THE CHARACTERS SAY… • THE CHARACTERS DO… • THE TEXT TELLS ME… • IT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE…

WHAT ARE SOME THEMES WE’VE SEEN IN THE KITE RUNNER SO FAR?

IMPORTANT THEMES IN THE KITE RUNNER GUILT LOYALTY REDEMPTION DEVOTION / DUTY FRIENDSHIP HUMANITY (OR LACK OF) JEALOUSY COMING OF AGE / GROWING UP RELATIONSHIPS (FATHER-SON, MAN-MAN) DISCRIMINATION