Literature Analysis 1

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

General 

This novel is basically about a boy named Amir who is trying to make things right because of his bad things that happened to him in his past. He was a native to Afghanistan and grew up with his best friend, who alos happened to be his servant, Hassan, whom with he would do everything. Amir wins a kite competition but his kite is cut and blown away so Hassan runs to go get it. Unfortunately while getting the kite he is raped by a couple of other kids. As the story progresses the boys slowly go their separate ways. Amir moves to California and marries a girl named Soraya. But Amir returns to Pakistan and learns that his long lost best friend has been killed, but he also finds out he has a son named Sohrab. After rescuing Sohrab from the orphanage he was living in Sohrab tries to kill himself and fails.  The story concludes with Sohrab winning a kite battle back in America with Amir.

Theme - I believe the theme in this novel is friendship and how it towers over all because of how even years later the two boys are able to do things for each other even though they have drifted apart.

Tone - The tone in this novel is very tragic and sad with all the terrible things that happen to Hassan and eventually Amir in the novel. This could almost be considered a tragic... but not quite.

Irony - Although Amir wants to be jusyt like his father he ends up resembling the traits that his father sees as unnecessary

Symbolism - The pomegranate tree is a symbol for the boys friendship because as the drift apart the tree withers and eventually dies once they drift to far apart

Characterization

I believe that the author uses both approaches to the idea of characterization because with both you are fully able to understand each character because of their behavior and actions throughout the story.

The syntax and diction don't really change when describing a character as to not turn away from the story instead he incorporates his diction and syntax into describing the character to make the novel flow.

Well the protagonists in this story are obviously the two boys in the story; Amir and Hassan. Amir is a definite dynamic character in story especially from when he was a boy to when he becomes an adult. There is a pretty big change in him between these two times as he grows up and realizes who he is and who he has become. 

Im not sure that I could relate with any of the characters from the story since we obviously come from different cultures which makes it hard to relate but i do feel as if I had met Amir and understood where he was coming from and his connection to Hassan. And especially when he grows up you start to respect him a little more because of his decision to save Hassan as a redemption for leaving his friend out to dry in the past.

Literary terms 6 - 30

6. Analysis - a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny

7. Anaphora - a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

8. Anecdote - a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

9. Antithesis - a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

10. Aphorism - a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

11. Apologia - a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing cause or action; also apology

12. Apostrophe - a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

13. Argument - the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

14. Audience: the intended listener or listeners

15. Characterization - the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality

16. Chiasmus - a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order

17. Circumlocution - a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served

18. Classicism - art, literature, and music reflecting the principle of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance

19. Cliche - a phrase or situation overused within society

20. Climax - the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the point of greatest intensity oir interest at which plot question is answered or resolved

21. Colloquialism - folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

22. Comedy - originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed to provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter

23. Conflict - struggle or problem in a story causing tension

24. Connotation - implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition

25. Contrast - a rhetorical device by which one element is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity

26. Denotation - plain dictionary definition

27. Denouement - loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, conclusion

28. Dialect - the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds grammar , and diction employed by people distinguished from others.

29. Dialectics - formal debates usuall over the nature of truth

30. Dichotomy - split or break between two opposing things

Dickens Map

• Well I plan to do most of my reading over the weekend since that is when I have the most time, but I also intend to do some reading during the week to give me a little more wiggle room over the weekend if I need it and also so I dont have to rush through the book.

• Tale of Two Cities AP Questions(URLs):

Well here are four good ones from one site:

1. The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities are some of the most famous in British literature.  They introduce the contradictions in the world of the novel, between positive and negative forces: “light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, hope and despair,” and so on.  In an essay analyze whether positive or negative forces triumph at the end of the novel.  Make sure you consider the fates of all the major characters in your analysis.
2. Choose a complex and important character in A Tale of Two Cities who might - on the basis of the character's actions alone - be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.
3. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake.  Choose a scene in A Tale of Two Cities that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary. 
4. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote:

“Power, like a desolating pestilence,

Pollutes whate’er it touches”

        Using examples from A Tale of Two Cities as support, you should defend or challenge Shelley’s assertion.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ogzwcKY9mf4J:www.nisdtx.org/cms/lib/TX21000351/Centricity/Domain/2548/essay%2520prompts%25202011.doc+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg5ZuF4Z_CIn8NhxFfaYRiyApj61lrxqUvaTyqURyl48ra8ODR2cm30i7VuNVTrPxWaPDH6PR7N-bQ4RT2EtRxf7zpg5bWjKQ0ltHDbo3xg-HIYuYQtkO-SMpWAUercp15FZCkY&sig=AHIEtbRzGB52VH97tzepiGzfpkJ6IhoNWw

5. Has a wide variety of questions:

http://www.getbookee.org/get_book.php?u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mbGF0aGVhZHJlc2VydmF0aW9uLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvcGhzL1RhbGVUd29DaXRpZXMtU3R1ZHlHdWlkZS5wZGYKQSBUYWxlIG9mIFR3byBDaXRpZXM=

• Now how I think I should be tested. This is a hard question for s student to answer but I will be honorable. The best way I think is like an AP test. I gave some free response essays so those are kind of straight forward, write an essay. I also gave some questions for my #5 and maybe have some questions on a test like those along with an essay.

SMART Goal

SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely

All of these things combined represent a SMART goal. My SMART goal is to graduate high school and go off to a 4 year university and obtain a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. But in addition to this I also want, through engineering, to be a part of a project that somehow changes the world like engineering something new that enhances our way of living or allows humans to do something that they could not before. That is like an add on to my SMART goal.

Lit Terms 1-5

Allegory - a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities; a story that uses symbols to make a point

Alliteration - a repetition of similar initial sounds usually consonants, in a group of words

Allusion - a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize

Ambiguity - something uncertain as to interpretation 

Anachronism - something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

1. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who conforms outwardly while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.

(This is a an AP question directly from the 2005 AP test, of course the character you would be identifying would be Siddhartha since that is the topic at hand.)

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap05_frq_english_lit.pdf

New Semester