Julian Hernandez

Period 2
Dialectical Journals 21-40 - TKR


1. But she still had the face
of a Grand Ball Princess, with
her bird-in-flight eyebrows
and nose, elegantly curved
like a letter from ancient
Arabic writings. pg. 191
Literary This literary term is a simile.
It describes Soraya, Amirs
wife. Soraya symbolizes hope
for Amir because her past was
also very bad. She ran away
from her house to live off
with a random guy when she
was a teen. Knowing that her
past had been bad gives Amir
hope that he wasnt the only
one that made mistakes. Amir
is too hard on himself, yet he
commits too many mistakes
and they are quite horrible.
2. So when the Taliban
came...
They were heroes, Rahim
Khan said. pg. 200
Text to Society The Taliban was created back
in 1996 to create the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan. The
Taliban was formed to
preserve and enforce a strict
rule of Sharia Law. They are
Islamic Extremists that thrive
for power. They were only in
control until 2001 when the
US shut them down.
However, the Taliban are still
there and spreading their
extremist ideas throughout the
world.
3. He nodded and dropped
his head. Agha sahib was
like my second father...God
give him peace. pg. 208
Direct Importance Rahim Khan came out with
the truth while he was dying.
Hassan is Babas son as well
which means Hassan and
Amir are half brothers. Its
ironic how Hassan said was
like my second father, when
he was his real dad. Ali was
like his second father. Hassan
never found out about this lie
even when he lived with
Rahim Khan in Babas house.
4. We would sit in the foyer,
by the stove, and Hassan
would read me from Masnawi
or Khayyam, as Farzana
cooked in the kitchen. pg.
209
Text to Itself Back in the beginning Hassan
served Baba and Amir. Now,
hes back serving because he
cared a lot for them. Its cruel
to know that you are looked
down upon by society in your
own country. Hassan and
other Hazaras accepted their
treatment and were raised
thinking they were merely
low class fools. Thats not the
way it is and the Taliban
came in enforcing their bad
treatment.
5. Her good eye rolled to
him. I have walked long and
far to see if you are as
beautiful in the flesh as you
are in my dreams. And you
are. Even more. She pulled
his hand to her scarred face.
Smile for me please. pg. 210
Literary The literary term used here
was a simile and it described
how much Farzana, Hassans
mother, missed Hassan. A
connection that was made
through this was that Farzana
took the same path that
Soraya did except Soraya left
that wrong path to follow the
good one. They were two
different generations that took
the same path. It took hard
work for her to get to Hassan,
which meant that, in the end,
she loved Hassan more than
anything which is why
Hassan took her in and
respected her as his mother.
6. As far as I know, he never
asked where she had been or
why she had left and she
never told. I guess some
stories do not need telling.
pg. 211
Question Why did Hassan never ask
her why she left him since she
caused him so much pain?
My only answer to this was
because he knew hed suffer
even more if he knew the
truth. They were living
happily and he didnt want to
ruin their fixed relationship.
The same thing happened to
Farzana. She didnt ask too
many questions just so the
peace was kept.
7. By then--that would have
been 1995-the Shorawi were
defeated and long gone and
Kabul belonged to Massoud,
Rabbani, and the Mujahedin.
pg. 212
Text to Society In December of 1979, Russia
invaded Kabul, Afghanistan.
They lost Afghanistan
afterwards when Babrak
Karmal lost control. The
Mujahedin was established to
run the Russians off of
Afghanistan and in the end it
worked. It was only a 10 year
regime that lasted up until
1989. Thousands of people
were killed during this war
between the Afghans and the
Russians.
8. A few weeks later, the
Taliban banned kite fighting.
And two years later, in 1998,
they massacred the Hazaras in
Mazar-i-Sharif. pg. 213
Direct Importance The Taliban took over
Afghanistan to establish harsh
rules. The killing of the
Hazaras, which were deeply
hated, was what got Hassan
killed. A simple kite running
banishment led to thousands
of deaths since one rule leads
to another rule. Hassan was
killed because he tried to
defend his home along with
his wife. They left their son,
Sohrab in an orphanage.
9.No. God no.
-and shot him in the back of
the head. pg. 219
Text-to-Text The assassination of Hassan
directly relates to the murder
of Tom Robinson from To
Kill a Mockingbird. These
deaths were both because they
were deeply hated because of
their background heritage and
ethnicity. Tom Robinson was
jailed unfairly and killed
when he tried to escape to
preserve his freedom. Hassan
was also killed while trying to
preserve his freedom.
10. How could you hide this
from me? from him? I
bellowed. pg. 223
Text to Itself This part is extremely
important in the story. Amir
probably feels extremely
guilty after finding out the
truth, He was cruel to his own
half brother. They were
basically the same blood and
he never considered him as a
friend and especially not his
brother. He was ashamed of
Hassan and thats societys
fault. Amir jumped on the
bandwagon when he started
hearing the discrimination
against Hazaras.
11. But in its stead, I felt like
a man who awakens in his
own house and finds all the
furniture rearranged, so that
every familiar nook and
cranny looks foreign now.
Disoriented, he has to
reevaluate his surroundings,
reorient himself. pg. 224
Literary The literary term used here is
a simile. It described how bad
Amir feels. After finding out
the whole truth, Amir was
pretty much lost in his own
thoughts. He knew he had to
do something about it. Rahim
Khan asked him to adopt
Hassans son and Amir knew
that was the right thing to do.
He had to do it for Hassan. He
had to do it to preserve that
love he felt for his brother
even though he never showed
it.
12. I wished I could fix my
own life as easily. pg. 225
Text to Self Ive never really ever had a
life struggle in my life but
there are times when stress is
too much for me to handle.
Im mainly talking about
school since its merely my
only responsibility right now
as a young adult. I know in
the future this quote will
probably come out of my
mouth. The workload in this
school isnt even that much
considering I dont take that
many AP classes but I can
surely see myself in the future
in a high state of stress.
13. How had Ali lived in that
house, day in and day out,
knowing he had been
dishonored by his master in
the single worst way an
Afghan man can be
dishonored.? pg. 225
Question The question is basically in
the quote itself: How had Ali
lived in that house...? Its a
big question to ponder on but
I believe he did it for the
welfare of Baba. He knew
that if people found out about
Babas lust that hed lose the
massive reputation he had.
Its very ironic how Baba was
against dishonesty yet he
cheated with Alis wife. Amir
has a big problem taking this
in.
14. Again, the car sickness.
pg. 228
Text to Self When I was a little kid car
sickness would always be a
big problem for me.
Whenever my family would
head out to Santa Barbara.
California, wed have to pass
through a road that had ups
and downs which got me
really dizzy. To this day I still
get kind of dizzy but I
managed to control myself to
not throw up since it would
get really bad. Wed have to
stop every time we headed
out so I could handle my
dizziness side effects outside.
15. ...an artificial beard,
black and chest length,
Sharia friendly-or at least the
taliban version of Sharia.
pg. 230
Text to Society Soldiers serving in
Afghanistan, especially
Special Force such as Green
Berets and Navy SEALs have
to grow beards so they are
respected by society in
Afghanistan. People look
down upon a soldier that
doesnt have a beard and thus
dont listen to them. Green
Berets train soldiers and
having a beard is crucial for
their safety and their work.
16. I feel like a tourist in my
own country, I said ,taking in
a goatherd leading a half-
dozen emaciated goats along
the side of the road. pg. 231
Direct Importance Since Amir had left
Afghanistan before the
Taliban had taken over and
before there was the climax of
the war, he had never gotten
to see the state of Kabul first
hand. Going back to his city
made him feel like a
foreigner. It wasnt a pretty
sight. Kabul was basically
destroyed because of the war
and poverty had stricken a lot
of peoples lives.
17. Only the Taliban can
afford meat now. pg. 238
Text to Society Since the Soviet invasion in
1979, Afghanistan has never
been the same. Poverty has
ruled peoples lives and it is
one of the poorest countries in
the world. At this time
poverty is at a 42%. Thats
worse than the Great
Depression in the United
States. Rural areas in
Afghanistan suffer the most
since they are the poorest.
18. But he was already here,
in the flesh, sitting less than
ten feet from me, after all
these years. His name escaped
my lips: Assef. pg. 281
Text to Itself Assef symbolized fear and
cruelty in the book since the
beginning. The fact that he
came back into the story as a
Taliban Commander really
establishes what he
symbolized. Assef had always
said that he'd massacre
Hazaras and cleanse the
country and he actually lived
up to his dream. Assef is
described as a big and strong
guy so fear is marked all over
peoples faces when they see
him. He lives up to his
reputation.
19. The slingshot made a
thwiiiiit sound when Sohrab
released the cup. pg. 291
Direct Importance We see Hassan in this scene
of the story. Hassan did the
exact same thing by
threatening Assef to save
Amir. Sohrab does the same
thing to same Amirs life. We
see the connection between
the two characters. The two
characters risked their lives
and Hassan actually died in
the future from protecting
himself and his property
against a Hazara hater.
20. But I didnt care. I ran
with the wind blowing in my
face, and a smile as wide as
the Valley of Panjsher on my
lips. I ran. pg. 371
Literary This final line of the story
tells how happy Amir finally
is. The kite symbolized hope
and desire for him. The kite
washed away his stress and it
washed away Sohrabs hate
that had swept all over him.
They were both happy flying
the kite which represented the
relationship Amir had with
Hassan. The kite represented
the ending of the story.