Blog post 2 The Kite Runner

I just started reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Immediately starting this book I can notice a really strange thing ( I personally think).This is that Hosseini puts the main character in a very different position than most writers do. In most of the books I have read the main character is always the one that is portrayed as being the protagonist and the side characters are portrayed as being the antagonist's.The reader is always supposed to emphasize with the main character. Feeling bad when the character makes a mistake and feeling proud when the character achieves success.Were also angry whenever the side characters tries to prevent the main character of doing anything. In The Kite Runner this natural balance is switched around so that we feel bad when the side characters are hurt and even though we feel bad when the main character is hurt we feel even worse when we know that the main character is hurting the side character.

In this book the side character is named Hassan and the main character is Amir.This book is a perfect example of this switched aspect because Amir tries to antagonize Hassan and doesn't give Hassan any help when he greatly needs .For example, Amir always lets Hassan take the blame. A character called Assef is bully that always torments Amir and Hassan.Since Hassan is almost the servant of Amir when someone is getting beaten up it's always Hassan.The worst part about about this is that Amir sees this happen before his own eyes twice and he just pretends to forget about it.

Another thing Amir does is try to get Hassan in trouble.Even though you can imagine all Amir wants to do is just forget about the incidents and move on it's still not good to use unfair force to get what he wants.This is exactly what Amir does and he does this by taking the watch his father gave to him for his birthday and hiding it under Hassan's bed to make it look like Hassan stole it.He hopes hat this will make his father kick Hassan out of the house.His father forgives Hassan but neither or less Hassan leaves for no apparent reason.

Throughout these two examples I felt really angry at Amir for doing all this and really empathized with Hassan.I hope that in the end it works out for Hassan.

Bog post 1 Heroes of 9/11 response

I just finished reading the book Heroes of 9/11 by Allan Zullo.I would personally rate this book seven or possibly eight out of ten.The stories in this book included some short stories on the world trade center, The pentagon and finally one short story on the plane that was going to crash into the white house but was taken down by the passengers. These were all really interesting stories to me and helped me to really understand a lot more about this topic having not known none to a tiny bit of information before.I can now really empathize with the characters in this story having read all of it.I personally think that throughout this whole entire book the writer does a great job in keeping up suspense and keeping the reader entertained and interested.He also does a great job of changing his specific writing style according to the character the story is about because he wants the stories to seem more realistic.

One way the writer seemed to do this was by giving the reader the information and details he or she need to form a visual picture of the scene keeping them interested.For example instead of just pointing out that the World Trade Center buildings had fallen down the author writes "the two 1,300 foot tall structures had been reduced to a pile of twisted steel,busted concrete,and gnarled building materials crammed in a heap five stories above,six stories below ground. i think that this is a great example of showing rather than just telling.The authors goes on to continuously create more specific bright detail like this.The author also masters the skill of detail by slipping it in easily.For example he doesn't just tell you the information he pretends to write like he actually is the person that it's happening to and occasionally slips in needed information that would seem like the character would explain.Another thing that the author does to enrich the writing is by changing his writing tone for each short story to fit the character.For example he has stories where the people talk much differently and also have much different generals ideas of what to do.Some characters are scared to act and other immediately jump into the scene to help out however they can.

In conclusion the writer uses his three skills to greatly enrich the stories and make them seem very realistic.When i picked up this book at the bookfair i was not expecting to be given the 100% full exstent of 9/11 in a book.I was expecting some ok stories and a general sense of 9/11. This book has greatly proved me wrong. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in an interesting and information packed book rather than reading from a factual book.

Hunger games entry

Nathan.H.Chackerian 711

Reading Response

Ms O’Hara

1o/26/10

I have finished reading the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Katniss. She lives in a society with a very unfair cruel government . She ends being a participant in the Hunger Games having volunteered for her sister. This is a gruesome unearthly competition between kids where they are forced to fight to the death till only one person stands alive. Katniss manages to stay alive till the end of the game and have the only one winner rule changed. After finishing this book left me wondering why she had chosen to go through so much. My theory is that she was willing to work so hard and stay alive because she believed that she could make the world she’s in better in her opinion.

One example of this is her brave choice of volunteering to go to the games instead of her sister. At that point Katniss might not even have been thinking that deeply. I think that something inside of her had told her it was the right thing to do. She probably knew that her sister wouldn’t be able to survive in the games and that she would have a better chance. This has happened to me before and so many people. You sometimes make choices not from hard thinking but just from what your heart tells you to do. The choices can be risky but it still doesn’t stop you or Katniss from doing it.

Another example of her overcoming something to make something better is the fact that she had the willpower to survive in the Hunger Games. I think that one reason why she did this was to follow up on the promise she made to her sister but mainly it was because I think that she imagined that if she survived and won the game she would be alive to change the way the government worked considering how wealthy and famous she would bedim not sure what I would do if I was Katniss. I think that she does realize that not giving up could give her a lot of mental and possibly physical pain.

At the end of the games she is left just with Peeta the other participant from her district. The speaker in the arena informs them that they will have to battle it out because there aren’t 2 winners in the game. Like before when Katniss took her sister’s spot without much thought she decides that she would rather they both die than one of them killing the other. Peeta agrees with her. They are about to eat poisonous berries at the same time when the speaker tells them that they have both one the games. This is another example of her doing something hard because she thinks it is right.

I think that one of the main reasons why Katniss does what she thinks is best even if it’s hard is because she is constantly surrounded by people that follow that rule. For example her mom and her sister work as doctors. This is a job where you can’t ever give up because someone else’s life is at stake and you have to choose what’s best for them. Another inspiring person is gale her cousin. He goes off hunting in the woods even though it’s permitted because he knows that his family needs the extra food or income from the profit of the things he hunts.

In conclusion Katniss is a type of person who will work incredibly hard to overcome different things. This is because she thinks that she can help the future of her area get better. She makes quick choices because something tells her that what she is doing is right. There is constantly something that she must overcome in her world an she never gives up. She has a great skill and great people to help her on. I think she will succeed.