End & Beginning

Thank you.
Encore!!! haha~
(This crown the girl weared in the picture is similar to what I weared in the play of Hamlet.)

It is the end of the ISP.
Today we have finished all the presentation and handed in the ISP essay. Though it was a hard work for us to do as well as it took much time and energy for us to do the reserach, I really aprreciated that Ms. Vetuna gave us the chance to improve our learning ability. We did lots of research and selected useful information. While reading the original english novel, it also provided us a chance to enlarge my vocabulary.
As I mentioned before, I wrote my essay about the hero's journey in the Kite Runner. In a sense, I thought myself had just finished the hero's journey. :P
The call is to read the book and finish the ISP task well.
The helper in the Threshold is Mr. Venuta, espeically the conference with her.
The challenges is that I had lots of work to do, such as searching information and finding second resources.
The Abyss may be that when I had to do other reports and much homework for other courses, even had 3 tests in a busy week, but I still had to handle the ISP!
The transormation and revelation happened when I finished all the reading and got some valuable points about the books.
The Atonement may be when I found that I forgot to update the blog for some time, from that day on, I tried my best to make my blogger more informative as Ms. Vetuna suggested.
The return is that I finished the ISP task and I returned to everyday study life and prepare for my final exam. I returned to study with my new independent learning ablity, which I gained from the ISP learning.
Consequently, I am happy to say that I complete my hero's journal. (LOL~)
After the hero's journey, I had formed the ability of independent reading.

I still remember that when I did some research in the library, a kind woman said that the Kite Runner is a good book and I suggest you to read his another novel: A thousand Splendid Suns, it is better than the kite runner.

I think I would read A thousand Splendid Suns in my short semester.
It is a new begining for the my personal reading.

Encore. Once agian.

My plan for my presentation

Here is the outline for my presention~
★Remind of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.A.
★Show the picture of war in Afghanistan
★Introduce the Taliban
★Talk about their radical Islam which somehow destroy the culture
★Especically they ban the kite flying
★Connect to the book of The Kite Runner
★Compare the picture of children's flying kites past and nowadays
★Show a wonderful vedio about the kites flying tournament referred to the book
★Display a serious of picture from New York Times about the kites flying again in the open
★Make my wish for the peace in the Afghanistan
I will make a presentation on Tuesday. wow~
I prefer to find other interesting information to add to my presentation.
Cross my fingers~!!!

After the conference with Ms. Venuta

Today, I had a conference with Ms. Venuta.
It has already past 4 o'clock, she may have something else to do after school but she still talked with me. Thanks for your care.
I talked about the idea of essay and presentation.
For essay, I wanna connect the Kite Runner with the hero's journey. I want to write how the
hero's journey applied to the Amir. I was glad that Ms. Venuta said it was a good idea~~
For presentation, I want to do some information for the background of Afghanistan. I planned to introduce some culture and religious about Afghan, which are affected by the war in the Afghan.
I searched great amouts of informaion, so it seemed to be hard to know what was the first step I should do. The culture and religious are too broad and complex to talk in only 20 minutes. What's more, it may be boring, I thouhgt.
Ms. Vetuna gave me suggestion that I had to find a hook in the presentation. The purpose of the presentation is to teach others something.
I thought I got a sense. Maybe I would talk about How war destroys culture in Afghan, especially flying kites.
OMG~
I will make a presentation on next Tuesday. I feel a bit nervous mixed with excited.
HURRY UP~~TIME IS UP~

Thinking for my Essay!

It's time for me to prepare for the essay! I has a idea that I want to write the application of the Hero's Journey in the Kite Runner. Since we had just leaned the mythlogy and the Alchemist, it helped me to gain a understanding of the hero's journey more clearly.

There is a quotation of the handout about the hero's journey, which impressed me a lot.
"The Hero's journey isn't just a pattern from myth. It's the pattern of life, growth and experience--for all of us. We see it reflected everywhere, from a televsion comedy to the great works of literature to the experiences in our own lives."

This sentence gave me the inspiration for the essay.
The narrator in the Kite Runner has a journey of return to Afghanistan to redeem himself from the sin he had made when he was a young boy. I
n the end of the story, Amir has became a good brave and faithful man, which is a sharp contrast to what he used to be, a cheater and coward.
The narrator completes his transformation in his personality!

From The New York Times: Afghan Kites

From Afghanistan, The New York Times brings us Tomas Munita's photography in a (too) short slideshow titled Back In The Air. Kite-flying is a traditional pastime in Afghanistan, however it was banned during the Taliban’s rule. Now, flying kites is once again the main recreational escape for Afghan boys and some men. It still remains largely off limits to girls and women. The big kite-fighting day is Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and the objective of the kite fight is to slice the other flier’s string with one's own, essentially disabling it from flying. Kite-fighting string is coated with a resin made of glue and finely crushed glass, which turns it into a blade. With the release Friday of the film “The Kite Runner,” based on the best-selling novel of the same name, a much wider audience will be introduced to Afghan kite culture. Kites were invented in China some 2800 years ago, and its use migrated to Japan, Korea, Burma, India, Arabia, and North Africa, then farther south into the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the islands of Oceania as far east as Easter Island. In Bali, annual kite-flying festivals draw teams from all over the country to compete.

Funny and Useful Vedio about the flying kites

Afghan Fighter Kite
This video shows how Afghan fighter kites are flown. These kites are similar to the kites from "The Kite Runner" book and movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fixJaV5Ja_g&feature=related

It really is a wonderful vedio about the fighgting between the kites fighters, which shows their excellent skills at flying kites. There kites are like dancing in the sky!!! Amazing~

AFGHANISTAN : THE TOUGHEST BATTLE: CHALLENGE: KITE PROBLEM
Here is a video clip of Afghanistan: The Toughest Battle. This is with regards to the problem with kites flying. This was aired on Al Jazeerah TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHILUBHB2MQ&feature=related

Kites flyijng is banned by the Taliban. Kites flying also is a traditional game for Afghanistan. As a result, there comes a conflict.
Historical and Political Context for "The Kite Runner"
Peter Bergen and Massoud Aziz discuss the historical and political context for the book and movie of "The Kite Runner."

In breif version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYd117Dj2Y
A detailed version:http://fora.tv/2007/12/18/Kite_Runner_A_Panel_Discussion

The Kite Runner author visits Afghanistan

Khaled Hosseini, author of the best-selling novels "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" visits with Afghan refugees who have returned to their homeland after living as refugees for decades.


More information on the website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6aAgCPSdOw

The Kite Runner Study Guide

The Kite Runner Themes

Major themes explored in the novel are war, loyalty, forgiveness, friendship, redemption, sacrifice, race, class, fear and the relationships between father and son. With race, class, and gender, a theme could be the inhumanity inflicted by one man unto another based on one's race. The Kite Runner is a novel to be read, discussed, and enjoyed by anyone who has wanted a chance to make things right again. It also provides a sense of traditional Afghan lifestyle, and culture. However, the four main themes shown to us by the author are strength of character, sin and redemption, realationship between parent and child, as well as Loyalty and friendship between two people.

http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Kite_Runner

Themes

Identity and Self-Discovery

Throughout the novel, the protagonist struggles to find his true purpose and to forge an identity through noble actions. Amir's failure to stand by his friend at a crucial moment shapes this defining conflict. His endeavor to overcome his own weaknesses appears in his fear of Assef, his hesitation to enter a war-torn country ruled by the repressive Taliban, and even his carsickness while driving with Farid into Afghanistan.

http://www.enotes.com/kite-runner/themes

Style:Flashback and Foreshadowing

Khaled Hosseini frequently uses flashback and foreshadowing. Indeed, most of the novel, which begins in 2001 and ends in 2002, is an elaborate flashback that brings the reader from the narrator's childhood to his young adulthood to his manhood. Within this overarching structure, Hosseini's use of time devices provide the reader and the narrator with information about what has happened outside the action of the novel so far.

Historical Context

The Kite Runner, set in Afghanistan and the United States from the 1970s to 2002, presents a story of intertwined personal conflicts and tragedies against a historical background of national and cultural trauma. The early chapters tell much about the richness of Afghan culture as experienced by the young Amir and Hassan in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Frost over the World - The Kite-Runner(Vedio)

Khalid Abdalla, who plays the lead role in the film of the 2003 bestselling novel 'The Kite-Runner', joins Sir David to talk about the film.


Because I have no idea how to download from youtube,I just find a way to convert it in 90 seconds and upload it.
If you want to see more about this vedio, you can see it on the website as follows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CdqMIKQbqs

Finish!!! Accept the advice from Ms. Venuta

Say YEAH!!!!!
This blogger will be a part of my treasure, which records my process of learning.
I deeply felt excited when I reviewed all the books journals. I wrote each chapter in a short brief. One thing I was proud of myself was that I tried to match each journal with a picture which was closely related to this chapter; it was another good way to remind me of the plot in the book as well.
I regret to not update the book journals for such a long time!!! So I catched every minutes to make up for missing journals about the books. According to Ms. Venuta's suggestion that the blogger should not only have journals, I am pleased to accept the advice. It really seems boring if there were only journals about the books. People can search the summaries of the book from many different websites which is more detailed and academic. Why they come this blog just to see my summaries about the books ?! LOL~it's boring~ I will put some interesting vedio and useful news , which are connected to my book, or they will be helpful to my presentation and essay writing. Besides, I will post some personal journal about what I think from the book and my plan for the ISP.


Have a rest~Good Night~

Journal---Chapter 25

Soraya had found a way to solve the problem. Unfortunately, Sohrab slit his wrists with a razorblade in a hopeless mind. Amir was really sorry for what he had done. After Sohrab woke up, he told Amir he wishes that he had died. Since then, Sohrab hadn't even said a word in a year, no matter he was in Afghan or in the United States. Things changed at a party, because Amir bought Sohrab a kite. Sohrab was so interested in fly the kite. He inherited this gift from his father. Amir and Sohrab beat the kite beside theirs. Then Amir went to run the kite for Sohrab. Sohrab finally smiled.
I really like this quotation in the end.
"Do you want me to run taht 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 thousang times over," I heard myself say.
Then I turned and ran. It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right.
Only a smile.
A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods,shaking in the wake of startled bird's flight.
But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow on flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.
I was really moved by this story. In the end, Amir redeemed himself and tried his best to atone for what he had done to Hassan. The roles had exchanged, for that it was Amir that who said "for you, a thousand times over". At first, I felt sorry for Hassan for his poor fate, however, I changed may view because I believed that Hassan would forgive Amir. Amir was really a good man. He experienced and grew through his return to Afghanistan. It is definitely a good book. I am happy I had chose it to read! I highly recommend everyone to read it!

Journal---Chapter 24

This chapter Sohrab finnally flied to the United State with the narrator, which lead to a happy new life.
The narrator gave two thousand dollars to Farid as thankfulness. One night in a hotel, when the narrator woke up, he found Sohrab was not there. Amir was very worried. Later, he found Sohrab at the mosque. The narrator wanted to take Sohrab to the United States and adopt him. He called his wife, Soraya, and told her about adopting, Hassan and his experience in Kabul. Amir promised to Sohrab that he would never sent Sohrab to orphanage again. The staff at the American Embassy, Raymond Andrews, said it was nearly impossible to adopt Sohrab. But he still decied to help Amir. Andrews recommend a good lawyer, Omar Faisal. Faisal said that if Amir can sent Sohrab to orphanage for a few days. It would be easier to adopt him. But Sohrab had rather die not to go back to orphanage again. Finally, they found a new way. Soraya can arrange for a humanitarian visa to get Sohrab into the United States.

I am glad it is a happy ending for Sohrab!

Journal---Chapter 23

The narrator stayed in the hospital for a long time with blurry memories. When the narrator woke up, he found himself had got a harelip, like Hassan. One day, Farid and Sohrab went to see Amir. Farid gave some clothes to Sohrab. And he also gave a letter from Rahim Khan to Amir. Rahim Khan left some money at a safe place to Amir. He thanked Amir for taking Sohrab back. He told Amir to forgive his father and himself. Amir finally knew that his father atoned for his sin all his life. Getting better, Amir began to play panjpar with Sohrab. Sohrab was happy with it. Later, Farid told Amir the Taliban was looking for him. Amir shouldn't stay in Peshawa any longer. In addition, he should take Sohrab with him back to American immediately.

Journal---Chapter 22

Farid let Amir face that man alone. Two men toting Kalash nikovs led Amir into the large house. The Talib official still wore that black sunglasses. Unexpectly, he knew Amir is not a Talib. He told the narrator a lot of cruel things the Talibans had done and they actually took delight in it. It made Amir sick. When the narrator told the Talib that he wanted to bring Sohrab back, the Talib took Sohrab out. Sohrab was so like Hassan. But he was forced to dance for the Talib. Later, the Talib official took off his sunglasses. He actually was Assef. It shocked the narrator a lot. Assef said that Amir can take Sohrab away, but he had to win him back. Assef command his guard not come in the room whatever happened. If Amir won the fight, he, with Sohrab, would also win the freedom. Assef beat Amir badly. At the time Assef was ready to kill Amir, Sohrab shot Assef's eye with his slingshot. Then Amir and Sohrab ran out of the room to Farid's car. They were free. This chapter, something happened was similiar to what it was twenty-six years ago. Amir had changed his attitude and behaviour to face Assef. He bacame brave instead of coward when he was a young boy. Personally I thoungt it was a great meaning in this book. Besides, it displayed suitfully for the sentence: There is a way to be good again.

Journal---Chapter21

Had left the orphanage, Amir and Farid reached where Amir lived before.
There were abjective changes happened there. The narrator can't enter his former even once again. He thought about life in the house before and those happy memories with father and Hassan. And he also reached the tope of the hill just north of father's house. He find that the pomegranate tree was still there and the
words they carve on the tree remains as well.
It was the symbol of the relationship between the narrator and Hassan. The next day, they went to Ghazi Stadium. Father used to bring Amir to watch football matches there. During halftime, Amir and Farid saw a man and a woman stoned to death. Also they found the man they want. He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing black sunglasses. Surprisedly, Amir and Farid made a appointment with the man through a extremly way. It would be three o'clock. Next chapter, there must be something important!

Journal---Chapter 20

This picture shows the small poor orphanage.
They were still on the way of finding Sohrab in this chapter. Farid's attitude had changed a lot. He began to talked with the narrator. What changed as well was Kabul. Kabul was no longer beautiful as before. All things in the narrator's memory about Kabul had been in great difference to what he had seen. On their ways, they met some Talibans looking for someone who could anger them. Farid preach to Amir not to stare at them. After that, they found an old man. This old man happened to be the narrator's mother's friends. He really knew some thing about Sofia. He told nearly all he knew about her to Amir, which Amir's father would never told him. They reached the orphanage in the northern part of Karteh-Seh. At first the man who answered the door pretended that there was not such a boy in the orphanage. He is the chargeman of the orphanage, Zaman. He didn't let Amir and Farid in until Amir said a lot of things about Sohrab and showed the man that he was the boy's uncle. However, Sohrab had been taken away by a Taliban official. Farid got mad about that. In Farid's mind, things like compromise to Taliban shouldn't be forgiven. He really wanted to kill him, but finally stopped. They were told that they can find that Taliban in Ghazi Stadium the next day.
I hope I could see Sohrab in the next chapter~

Journal---Chapter 19

In this chapter, Amir was on his way to Afghanistan.
In other words, he was on his way to redeem himself from what he had done wrong.
Farid was the drive who take Amir to Kabul. On the way, the narrator got the car sickness again.
At first Farid was really cold to the narrator. In his mind, Amir just came back to Afghan, sold off his house and land and then came back to the United States again. Those Afghanistan who stayed behind and fought the wars wouldn't give a warm face to Amir.
That night, the narrator stayed in Wahid's. Wahid was Farid's brother. At his place, Farid asked a lot of poignant questions to Amir, which made Wahid angry. However, Farid finally saw the truth.
Wahid serve Amir so kindly though his family didn't have many food.
When the narrator left, he planted a fistful of money under a mattress, like what he had done twenty-six years before. But this time, it was for good.
This chapter made a sharp contrast to what Amir had done before. What Amir did displayed the words said by Rahim Khan:
There is way to be good again.

Journal---Chapter 18

It is quite a short chapter, which only consists of 3 pages.
Have known the secret, Amir thought about a lot of things in the past what can show father's love to Hassan. In Amir's mind, it really meant a big lie to him.
However, after thinking over it, Amir finally decided to bring Sohrab back.
He wanted to atone for his and his father's debt.

Journal---Chapter 17

The narrator really wanted to see Hassan. Rahim Khan showed him a picture of Hassan's Family. Amir read the letter written by Hassan. The letter expressed that Hassan also hoped to see Amir. When Amir asked to Rahim Khan about the recent situation of Hassan, He was told that Hassan had been killed by Taliban. Hassan's wife was killed at the same time. Then Taliban move into the house Hassan used to live in. After his parents' death, Sohrab began to live in a orphanage. Rahim Khan wanted Amir to bring Sohrab back. Amir hesitated about that. Rahim Khan wanted him to be brave and to take on his responsibility. Rahim Khan told Amir the secret had been kept for so long a time.
Hassan was Amir's half brother, which shocked Amir and made him angry.

Journal---Chapter 16

This chapter was all quoted from Rahim Khan's words. Rahim Khan went to Hazalajat to look for Hassan. He can't afford to live to live alone. Hassan had married with a Hazara woman. At the time he was found, his wife had been pregnant. What was sad was that Ali had been dead for two years. He was killed by a land mine. Hassan learnt reading and writing from an old Farsi teacher. He wrote a letter to Amir. Then hassan move to Kabul living with Rahim Khan. But he declined to stay in the house. He just live in the hut in the backyard. In addition he wore black for 40 days to mourn for Amir's father. That autume, Hassan's daughter was stillborn. And next year, Farzana, Hassan's wife was pregnant again. Some time later, Hassan's mother found him and lived with him together. They took good care of her . Winter, Hassan got a son. He was named Sohrab, after the hero of "Shahnamah". Hassan's mother died when Hassan's son was four. Hassan taught his son how to run a kite. But the Taliban banned kite fighting and massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Journal---Chapter 15

The narrator reached Peshawar. All the scene there made him think about Kabul. Kabul is busier and more crowded. Rahim Khan lived in the "Afghan Town" in Peshawar. Since the narrator and his father came to the United States, Rahim Khan had kept in touch with them. The narrator told him that he had married General Taheri's daughter. Also he said about his father's death and his novels. Of course, the topic came to Taliban. At first, people's in Kabul thought that Taliban brought the peace to them. But soon they became the nightmare. On the other hand, the narrator knew that Rahim Khan only had a few months to live, but Rahim Khan never showed any sadness about that. Then the narrastor was told the real reason why he was in Pakistan.
It was about hassan.

Journal---Chapter 14

This chapter ended the recollection.
The narrator received a phone call from Rahim Khan.
It was a turning point of the book.
He told the narrator that there was a way to be good again, which hinted that Rahim Khan must had knew everything between he and Hasson. All the memories about Hassan came out from the bottom of the narrator's mind. He decided to go to Pakistan. He was on the way to healing himself.

Journal---Chapter 13

This chapter is a sad chapter. Baba is dead.
The two family followed all the tradition but only cancel the "Eating of the Sweets" ceremony, because every one knew that Amir's father wouldn't live for a long time. Father spent all his money to prepare for the wedding. The wedding parties is fantastic. All the guest enjoy them. Soraya adviced to move to live with Amir and his father so that she could take care of him. A month later, father passed away in his sleep. Amir's so sad about his father's death. On the other hand, Soraya cared so much about the crazy and stupid thing she had done when she was young. Amir was very tolerant. He let her forget the past. The narrator's first novel was published in 1989. In the same year, the husband and wife decided to have a child. But unluckily, the fact was not so perfect as they hoped.

Journal---Chapter 12

Marriage
After the first time Amir met Soraya, every night meant a "Yelda" to him. He can't help thinking about her. Father, of course, New the secret in Amir's mind. ention hHe just gave me the playful smirk. He let Amir pay attention to his word and behavior. As a Pashtun, General Taheri cared about their honor and pride so much. One day, the narrator tooke heart of grace to speak to Soraya for the first time and what's surprised was that Soraya's parents had talked with her about him. She loved to read the stories Amir's wrote that was fantastic. However, there was a really bad thing happen on the narrator, actually it was on his father. He was dignosed the illness of cancer, but he declined to use chemo-medication. Later father's cancer became serious. He had to stay in homelieing in bed. One day, the narrator made a decision that he wanted married Soraya. Father was happy to ask General Taheri for his daughter's hand. And soraya's family accepted it. Then soraya told amir about the detail fo things she had done. It can't move Amir's mind of marrying her.
There is an quotation impressed me a lot inn the end of this chapter the moment soraya told him frankly about her secret.
"I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her now I'd betrayed Hassan,lied,driven him outm, and destroyed a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn't. I suspected there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them. "

Journal---Chapter 11

A new begining~~
They lived in the United States~
Amir found his love~
This chapter began with the life in the United States. Father was not so rich and famous as before. He got a job at a gas station to support the family. In addition, he reject the charity money from the government of US because of his proper pride. When the narrator was 20, he graduated from senior high school. Amir had decided to work for a year so that he can help father support the family, and his future study as well. But father insisted that Amir should keep on studying without any break. Father is so happy about Amir's graduation. But they have some big diffrence in opinion about the major in college. The narrator loved to study English, but father want me to learn something more useful to earn more money. There was another important thing. When the narrator sold the items at the flea market he met Soraya. She was the daughter of General Taheri. Amir had fallen love with her.

Journal---Chapter ten

The situation in Kabul became tenser. The father and son was ready to leave the place they lived for so long a time. Actually, they were fleeing from a calamity. They only carried a few personal items. On their way, the narrator faced a lot of poorness and death, which he barely met before. At the border, some russian soldiers stop them. The soldiers wanted a woman of the refugees as the cost to let them go. Father stood out. A young soldier was willing to kill father, but finally an old officer stop him. Meanwhile, the narrator saw his father's bravery with his own eyes again. No matter where and when, father always did the right thing at any cost, even it was as precious as his life. Compared with his father, the narrator really regret about what he had done.
"My mind flashed to that winter day six years ago. Me,peering around the corner in the alley. Kamal and Wali holding Hassan Down. Assef's buttock muscles clenching and unclenching,his hips thrusting back and forth, Some hero I had been, fretting about the kite. Somtimes, I too wondered if I was really Baba's son."
When narrator and his father had a ride in fuel track painfully. Baba asked Amir to think about something good and happy. All he thought about was the memoried between Hassan and him.
"I didn't remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray,barren canvas that our lives had become. "(P158)

Journal---Chapter nine

The narrator didn't like most presents except the notebook from Rahim Khan and the new "Shahnamah" from Ali and Hassan. In Amir's mind, he didn't deserve their present.
He trust that the best solution was to let them leave the house,becasue Amir could not stand the sufferance from his guity.
Here is a quotaion impressed me a lot.
And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing.
He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again,maybe for the last time. I love him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone,and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass,the monster in the lake. I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on.
I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again.
So he put the watch that his father gave him and some money in Hassan's room and told a lie to father that they had stolen them.
To Amir's great surprise, Hassan also told a lie. He admitted it. It shocked the narrator. At the same time, he knew that Hassan had seen him at that alley. Hassan was protecting him from father's blame.
Father forgave Hassan. However, Ali decided to leave the house. They were still protecting Amir. Father was extremely sad and did something that narrator had never seen. Baba cried,which shocked Amir a lot.
Whatever he did can't have them stay. It was the sin the narrator did.

Journal---Chapter eight

For a week, the narrator didn't have any talk with Hassan and nerly didn't see him. However, There were something good. It was that his father's attitude really changed a lot. But all that things made him guiltier. The narrator hope Hassan put the blame on him, even beat him, which would release the pain between them, but Hassan did't. The narrator also thought about change the servant, but was scolded by his father. In addition, the wonderful change ran away with it. On Amir's birthday, though father held a big party, there still were nothing happy for him except for Rahim Khan‘s present. He was thinking about tell the truth to someone. It would ease the situation. But the narrator didn't have the bravery. He was afraid that if he told the truth, he would lose everything, such as his father's love.
In this chapter, Amir thought about Hasson's dream that was mentioned in the last chapter.
I thought about Hassan's dream, the one about us swimming in the lake. There is no monster,he said,just water. Except he'd been wrong about that.
There was a monster in the lake.
It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom.
I was that monster.
That was the night I became an insomniac.
Amir felt much guilty for what he had done.

Journal---Chapter seven

At the beginning of this chapter, the narrator was told a strange dream about lake and monster by Hassan. Then It came to the kite-fight tournament.Atfirst, the narrator was so nervous. Hassan's encouragement made hime feel better.The narratorcared about the tournament somuch, because it would lead to the big change of his father's attitude to him which is of the greatest importance in his mide. With any luck,the narrator's kite became the only one remain in the sky finally and Hassan would run the last fallen kite back. With the gift he got, he always finished it well. No one, even the narrator, can't catch up with him. But Assef run after him this time. Unfortunately, when Hassan got the kite, Assef got him. He wanted Hassan give the kite to him. Hassan didn't, of course, Assef knew that. What he only wanted was to humiliate him. The narrator watched all the things happen but didn't do anything. He did not come out to stop them, protect Hassan like Hassan did before. He was so cowardly. To the narrator's surprise, Hassan didn't even say a word about it and just give the kite to the narrator. It made him guilty. This chapter, a beautiful sentence showed up for the first time when Amir asked Hassan to get the kite back.
"Hassan!" I called. "Come back with it!" He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "For you a thousand times over!" he said.

Journal---Chapter six

The kite-fighting tourment turned up for the first time, which lead out the kite runner---Hassan. This chapter is all about that winter. In winters most children in Kabul didn't go to school. It was their favorite thing. And besides, there was a kite-fighting tournament in Kabul every winter. Kites were the only interest the narrater shared with his father. Every time he made a lot efforts to do it well. He can do the kite fight and his assitant, Hassan, was the best kite runner in the distrit. I got the literal meaning of the book from it. In that winter, the narrator took on great stress in mind. Because his father really wanted him to win the tournament though he didn't express his hope so directly. The narrater imagined the love from his father and his happy life after win the tournament. It made him more nervous. In this chapter came the year of 1975 again: In the winter of 1975, I saw Hassan run a kite for the last time.

Journal---Chapter five

This chapter is divided into two parts.
It began with the gun shoot, which came out the political issue about the rebellion and the republic.
Then it decribes the conflict between narrator,Hassan and other three guys who like to bully people in the neighborhood, which is caused by the political factor. Assef agreed Hitler on the religion issue.
"Alghansistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pullute our homeland, our watan, They dirty our blood."
"To rid Afghanistan of all the dirty, kasseef Hazaras."
After hearing this, Hassan still protects Amir as before though he is afraid of Assef.

The second part is about the birthday present for Hassan from Baba. Baba always prepares surprising presents for him. That year, it was a surgery doctor who fixed Hassan's harelip, which caused Amir's jealousy of Baba's affection for Hasson.
After the surgery, Hassan was smiling as he had when he was born.
The ending of this chapter is an aftertaste, which raises my interest to read what happened at the winter of that year.
"The swelling subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon, ti was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar."
"Which was ironic. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling."

Here comes the IRONY again.

Journal---Chapter four

Ali is Hassan's father.
A interesting thing is that Ali and Baba grew up togerther as childhood playmates as the narrator and Hassan.
Another interesting thing is "In none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend.", which is the same way Amir did. Though Amir spent most of the time playing with Hassan, he never thought of Hassan as friend.
Two paragraphs explained these curious things.
"Never mind any of those things. Because history isn't easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change. Nothing."
"But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either."

The rest part of chapter is about narrator's interest in writting. He often read stories to Hassan. Once he read a story which was made up by himself, resulting the highly praise by Hassan.
Amir was inspired to write stories to make his father proud. However, his father showed no interest in reading his work. His father's best friend read his story and sent him a letter which said that" The most impressive thing about your story is that is has irony." Amir at first was not familiar with the word"irony", but after he read his story to Hassan, then Hassan pointed out a obviously stupid mistake he made in story. The narrator suddenly understood IRONY. Amir was taught by Hassen who couldn't read and had never written a single word in his entire life.
The last sentence of this chapter is an aftertaste.
"Because suddenly Afghanistan changed forever."

Journal---Chapter three

This chapter is mainly talked about the stories between the narrator and his father. From the words, I got the information that the narrator admired his father deeply and his father was a great and famous person. " At Parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowrs turning to the sun.", which definitly expressed the great influence of his father. Another funny sentence to show his father's great is "Baba was impossible to ignore, even in his sleep."
Another point in this chapter is the relationship between him and his father. The narrator seemed to not inherit from his father. He was interested in the poems and books, which was opposite to his father who was keen on sports, politics and business. He pretended to like his father's hobbies, but failed.
The narrator was proud of his father while his father was disappointed by the son. The end of the chapter was a conversation between his father's friend and his father. His father said:" If I hadn't seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes. I'd never believe he's my son."
In a word, this chapter reveals the quite obvious differences between Amir and his father.

Journal---Chaper two

In chapter two, it began with the reminiscenece of their childwood---the naughty things they did.
This chapter also introduced their different family backgrounds. The narrator lived in the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, which is in sharp constrast to Hassan who lived the mud shack.
The rest part of this chapter mainly depected Hassan's poor father life and his mother who lost him less than a week after he was born. Thougn Ali( Hassan's father), with a twisted, atrophied right leg, was rusluted by many younger children, even his wife Sanaubar who said that :" This is a husband? I have seen old donkeys better suited to be husband." Ali at last found his joy, his antidote, the moment Sanubar had given birth to Hassen. This is another contrast in this chapter,for Hassan's born disgusted his mother. (" There," she had said. "Now you have your own idiot child to do all your smiling for you!" She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later, she was gone) Hassan was born with a cleft lip, which cause she barked a bitter laughter and said these words to Ali.
There are two quotations touched me a lot.
The first one is the description of the Hassen's born.
"It had been a simple enough affair. No obstetricians, no anesthesiologists, no fancy monitoring devices. Just Sanaubar lying on a stained, naked mattress with Ali and a midwife helping her. She handn't needed much help at all,because, even in birth, Hassan was true to his natrue: He was incapable of hurting anyone. A few grunts, a couple of pushes, and out came Hassan, Out came Hassan. Out he came smiling. "
Another quotation is in the end of the chapter.
Then he would remind us that there was a brother-hood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not enen time could break.
Hassen and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same lawn. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.

In the end, the narrator mentioned the winter of 1975 for the third time. "Looking back on it now, I think the foundaion for what happened in the winter of 1975---and all that followed---was already laid in those first words.

Journal---Chapter one

The beginning of the story is brief. The narrator just told his unforgettable memories on the alley. The phone call from Pakistan made the narrator remind of his father, his friends and his past life in hometown. The sight of twin kites let him think about Hasson who said:" For you, a thousand times over." to him. I also got the information that the narrator called Hasson the kite runner, so I would put more attention to the character--Hassan. Though I have no idea what the relationship between these characters, the sentence actually touched me a lot.

Another significant sentence in chapter one I think is:" There is a way to be good again.", which reveals that there must be something important happened in the past.

Meanwhile,the narrator repeated almost the same words both at the beginning and in the end. The opening remarks of the chapter is: I bacame what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. The ending words of the chapter is: I thought of the life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made me what I am today. Why the narrator showed the same meaning for twice, which arouse my interest in what had happened in the winter of 1975.

Khaled Hosseini From Wikipedia

Biography
Hosseini was born in Kabul, where his father worked for the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry and his mother was a Farsi and History teacher at a girls high school. In 1970, Hosseini and his family moved to Tehran, Iran, where his father worked for the Embassy of Afghanistan. In 1973, Hosseini's family returned to Kabul, and Hosseini's youngest brother was born in July of that year. Several months later, the former King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, was ousted from power in a bloodless coup that was orchestrated by Zahir's cousin, Daoud Khan. In 1976, Hosseini's father obtained a job in Paris and moved the family there. They chose not to return to Afghanistan because communists had seized power through a bloody coup. Instead, in 1980 they sought political asylum in the United States and made their residence in San Jose, California. Having left Afghanistan with only the clothes on their back, they were forced to subsist on welfare and food stamps for a brief period. Hosseini graduated from Independence High School in San Jose in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D. in 1993. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. He practiced medicine until a year and half after the release of The Kite Runner. Hosseini is currently a Goodwill Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He lives in Northern California with his Afghan-American wife, Roya, and their two children.
Influneces
When Hosseini was a child, he read a great deal of Persian poetry as well as Persian translations of novels ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series. Hosseini's memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, "I have very fond memories of my childhood in Afghanistan" [3] as well as his personal experiences with Afghanistan's Hazara people, led to the writing of his first novel, The Kite Runner. One Hazara man, named Hossein Khan, worked for the Hosseinis when they were living in Iran. When Hosseini was in third grade, he taught Khan to read and write. Although his relationship with Hossein Khan was brief and rather formal, Hosseini's fond memories of this relationship served as an inspiration for the relationship between Hassan and Amir in The Kite Runner.
Novels
The Kite Runner (ISBN 1-59448-000-1) is the story of a young boy, Amir, juggling to establish a closer rapport with his father and coping with memories of a haunting childhood event. The novel is set in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy until the collapse of the Taliban regime, and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its many themes include ethnic tensions between the Hazara and the Pashtun in Afghanistan, and the immigrant experiences of Amir and his father in the United States. The novel was the number three best seller for 2005 in the United States, according to Nielsen BookScan.The Kite Runner was also produced as an audiobook read by the author. The Kite Runner has been adapted into a film of the same name with a release date in December, 2007.
Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story of two native women of Afghanistan, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become entwined, was released by Riverhead Books on May 22, 2007, simultaneous with the Simon & Schuster audiobook. Movie rights have been acquired by producer Scott Rudin and Columbia Pictures.

SOURCE CITATION

Khaled Hosseini
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC