Kite Runner: "For you, a thousand times over"

 เคยไหมที่มีเพื่อนที่ทุ่มเทให้คุณได้ทั้งชีวิต โดยไม่คิดถึงตัวเองก่อน

ส่วนตัวชอบมากๆที่นักเขียนสร้างตัวละครสองตัวนี้ขึ้นมา ทำให้เราสำนึกได้ว่าเพื่อนดีๆ นี่หายากจริงๆ

เรื่องนี้ต้องขอเตือนว่าอ่านแล้วน้ำตาร่วงแน่นอน แล้วก็ภาษาอ่านง่าย ลื่นตา​(จริงๆต้องลื่นหู)

จขบ.ใช้เวลาอ่าน สองคืนจบ ที่ตัดสินใจหยิบมาอ่านเพราะ ใครๆ ก็แนะนำกันเหลือเกิน 
(จำได้ว่าตอนซื้อ คนขายที่ร้านมือสอง บอกว่า ต้องอ่านเล่มนี้เล่มแรกเลยนะคะ จขบ.ซื้อหนังสือมาทั้งหมด หกเล่ม)

เรื่องนี้ก็เกี่ยวกับเด็กชายสองคนที่โตมาด้วยกัน คนนึงเป็นลูกคนรวย(เจ้าของบ้าน) ชื่อ อามีร์ อีกคนเป็นลูกคนจน​(คนรับใช้) ชื่อ ฮัสซัน
สองคนนี้มีชนชั้นที่ต่างกัน ไหนจะเชื้อสายที่สืบทอดมาก็ต่างกันลิบลับ
อามีร์ถือเป็นคนในชนชั้นสูง เป็นเชื้อสายที่มีจำนวนประชากรมากในอัฟกานิสถาน
ฮัสซัน เป็นลูกคนรับใช้ เป็นเชื้อสายของชนกลุ่มน้อย มีจมูกแบนๆ หน้าตาเหมือนคนจีน
ในเรื่องก็มีจุดพลิกผันที่ทำให้เด็กสองคนนี้ต้องจากกันไป มีอะไรลึกลับซับซ้อนให้ต้องคิดตลอดเรื่องค่ะ
ฉากแต่ละฉากในเรื่องส่งอารมณ์ให้กับจขบ.จริงๆนะคะ อ่านไป มีกล่องทิชชู่อยู่ข้างกายกันเลยทีเดียว

โอ๊ย นี่ถ้าพูดต่อมันคงเป็น spoil เนอะ แต่ขอแนะนำให้อ่านจริงๆ

theme ของเรื่องก็ คงเป็น
Alienation ของ ethnic minority ทั้งใน อัฟกานิสถานเอง และ อเมริกา, burden, race discrimination, father-son relationship, migration, แล้วก็มีกลิ่นอายของความยากลำบากในสงครามกลางเมือง
จขบ.คิดสภาพไม่ออกจริงๆว่าตัวเองจะอยู่รอดไหม

เล่มนี้จขบ.ขอให้ สิบคะแนนเต็ม สำหรับ พล็อตที่พลิกไปๆ มาๆ ทำเราดีใจ สะเทือนขวัญ​ และ เศร้าตาม บวกกับน้ำตาตกไปแทบทุกๆ สิบหน้า

Spoiled
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Reading Guide Questions, อย่าอ่าน ถ้ายังอ่านหนังสือไม่จบ
จขบ.ต้องการบันทึกเอาไว้ด้วยการตอบคำถาม เหล่านี้ก่อนจะลืมเรื่องนี้ มีบางคำถามเริ่มตอบไม่ได้เพราะจำเนื้อเรื่องไม่ได้แล้วค่ะ

1. The novel begins with Amir's memory of peering down an alley, looking for Hassan who is kite running for him. As Amir peers into the alley, he witnesses a tragedy. The novel ends with Amir kite running for Hassan's son, Sohrab, as he begins a new life with Amir in America. Why do you think the author chooses to frame the novel with these scenes? Refer to the following passage: "Afghans like to say: Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]." How is this significant to the framing of the novel?

-In my opinion, the framing that the author used in this novel leads the reader to understand how important the reconciliation of both old relationship of Amir and Hassan is. Maybe the last scene of Amir as kite runner implies the process of asking for forgiveness from his brother's son. The very first scene gives reader for tension of Amir's guilty, and the author finally give the resolution with the beautiful last scene which release and resolve all the tension haunting throughout reading this novel.

2. The strong underlying force of this novel is the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Discuss their friendship. Why is Amir afraid to be Hassan's true friend? Why does Amir constantly test Hassan's loyalty? Why does he resent Hassan? After the kite running tournament, why does Amir no longer want to be Hassan's friend?

- Their friendship is social constructed, unconsciously in Amir's mind. For me, Amir's reaction towards Hassan can be changed if they learn that there was no line to divide them apart. Amir is afriad of being mocking by his high-class friend, and also scared of being perceived as the minority as Hassan is.

3. Early in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visit a pomegranate tree where they spend hours reading and playing. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours." In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentions that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." Discuss the significance of this tree.

- This tree is symbolic for the relationship between Hassan and Amir. The pomegranates that Amir threw at Hassan as begging for Hassan's forgiveness.  The act of Amir during that time, I guess, he stronly needs Hassan to punish him for doing nothing to help when his friend is in trouble.

4. We begin to understand early in the novel that Amir is constantly vying for Baba's attention and often feels like an outsider in his father's life, as seen in the following passage: "He'd close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups time with him. I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter." Discuss Amir's relationship with Baba.

- Baba thought that he has given Amir enough happiness with the wealthier, higher position than another son, Hussan. The reason that Baba gives a lot of attention to Hussan because he feels guilty for doing wrong things with Hussan's mother and that he cannot accept Hussan as his another son. I blame Baba's overreaction towards Hussan for the motif for Amir who choose to ignore to help Hussan in the alley. If Baba give balanced weight to love them both, Amir wouldn't find it difficult to make his decision in helping his best friend. The relationship between Amir and Baba becomes a little better after they move to the U.S.

5. After Amir wins the kite running tournament, his relationship with Baba undergoes significant change. However, while they form a bond of friendship, Amir is still unhappy. What causes this unhappiness and how has Baba contributed to Amir's state of mind? Eventually, the relationship between the two returns to the way it was before the tournament, and Amir laments "we actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between us." Discuss the significance of this passage.

- In Amir's eyes, the distance between him and his father force him to feel so alienated and unhappy. He has longed for his father's compliment. He need to be in his father's "grown-ups world". He believes that if he wins the kite running tournament he would have win his father's heart. Unfortunately, the guilty of leaving Hussan behind and blaming him for stealing haunt Amir during the time he is with his father. Still his father wishes that Hussan was there with them. The kite, a simple toy made of tissue paper, implies the very little thing that people usually do not believe that it could brings about the big change in life. Winning the tournament gives Amir a chance to be closer to his father, but in the same time, Amir has to lose his best friend, Hussan.

6. As Amir remembers an Afghan celebration in which a sheep must be sacrificed, he talks about seeing the sheep's eyes moments before its death. "I don't know why I watch this yearly ritual in our backyard; my nightmares persist long after the bloodstains on the grass have faded. But I always watch, I watch because of that look of acceptance in the animal's eyes. Absurdly, I imagine the animal understands. I imagine the animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose." Why do you think Amir recalls this memory when he witnesses Hassan's tragedy in the alleyway? Amir recollects the memory again toward the end of the novel when he sees Sohrab in the home of the Taliban. Discuss the image in the context of the novel.

7. America acts as a place for Amir to bury his memories and a place for Baba to mourn his. In America, there are "homes that made Baba's house in Wazir Akbar Khan look like a servant's hut." What is ironic about this statement? What is the function of irony in this novel?

8. What is the significance of the irony in the first story that Amir writes? After hearing Amir's story, Hassan asks, "Why did the man kill his wife? In fact, why did he ever have to feel sad to shed tears? Couldn't he have just smelled an onion?" How is his reaction to the story a metaphor for Amir's life? How does this story epitomize the difference in character between Hassan and Amir?

9. Why is Baba disappointed by Amir's decision to become a writer? During their argument about his career path, Amir thinks to himself: "I would stand my ground, I decided. I didn't want to sacrifice for Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I had damned myself." What has Amir sacrificed for Baba? How has Amir "damned himself"?

- Amir sacrifice  is the ignoring to help Hussan, blaming him for stealing to get rid of him, and finally lost his best friend whom he finally discover as his younger brother. Amir feels that this sacrifice doesn't worth for getting attention from Baba.
This guilt haunts him throughout his life by giving him to be insomnia.

10. Compare and contrast the relationships of Soraya and Amir and their fathers. How have their upbringings contributed to these relationships?

11. Discuss how the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan affect each of the characters in the novel.

12. On Amir's trip back to Afghanistan, he stays at the home of his driver, Farid. Upon leaving he remarks: "Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under the mattress." Why is this moment so important in Amir's journey?

- The acts are exactly the same except its purposes. The first time he did that he meant to blame Hussan for stealing (a sinful act) but the second he did as an act of helping and thanking Farid for helping him so much (a mindful act).

13. Throughout the story, Baba worries because Amir never stands up for himself. When does this change?

-Amir changes his behavior after he had grown up, and realized that no one could really stand up for him, even his heroic Baba. The tough times during his life brings him into the real man Baba always dream of.

14. Amir's confrontation with Assef in Wazir Akar Khan marks an important turning point in the novel. Why does the author have Amir, Assef, and Sohrab all come together in this way? What is this the significance of the scar that Amir develops as a result of the confrontation? Why is it important in Amir's journey toward forgiveness and acceptance?

- I think this scene is foreshadowed when Hussan challenge Asssef that he would make Assef becomes one eye boy. Amir's journey is significant because he has longed for forgiveness from his true friend Hussan and for acceptance from his Baba. His reactions towards situation teach him how to live in such cruel world, as well as how to complete the task of asking for forgiveness. 

15. While in the hospital in Peshawar, Amir has a dream in which he sees his father wrestling a bear: "They role over a patch of grass, man and beast...they fall to the ground with a loud thud and Baba is sitting on the bear's chest, his fingers digging in its snout. He looks up at me, and I see. He's me. I am wrestling the bear." Why is this dream so important at this point in the story? What does this dream finally help Amir realize?

16. Amir and Hassan have a favorite story. Does the story have the same meaning for both men? Why does Hassan name his son after one of the characters in the story?

17. Baba and Amir know that they are very different people. Often it disappoints both of them that Amir is not the son that Baba has hoped for. When Amir finds out that Baba has lied to him about Hassan, he realizes that "as it turned out, Baba and I were more alike than I'd never known." How does this make Amir feel about his father? How is this both a negative and positive realization?

18. When Amir and Baba move to the States their relationship changes, and Amir begins to view his father as a more complex man. Discuss the changes in their relationship. Do you see the changes in Baba as tragic or positive?

19. Discuss the difference between Baba and Ali and between Amir and Hassan. Are Baba's and Amir's betrayals and similarities in their relationships of their servants (if you consider Baba's act a betrayal) similar or different? Do you think that such betrayals are inevitable in the master/servant relationship, or do you feel that they are due to flaws in Baba's and Amir's characters, or are they the outcome of circumstances and characters?

Create Date : 24 กันยายน 2551
Last Update : 26 กันยายน 2551 13:23:29 น.		2 comments
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