Metacognition: Kite Runner Essay

"Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing." ~Melinda Haynes

For me, writing has been almost like breathing for as long as I can remember. Even in first, second, third grade, I would put my pencil to the paper and the words would flow out, almost effortlessly. Now, I'm definitely not saying that it's easy for me, or I'm a novelist already. But, unlike math and science, which come naturally to other people, writing is second nature to me. In fact, I'm writing this right now and my fingers haven't stopped typing since I wrote the first word. But, this is the kind of writing I like; writing in which my voice can be clearly heard; writing where I can be me. All throughout middle school, and into high school, most of the writing we had to do bored me. The teachers are unknowingly forcing you into writing in that "generic" way we discussed in class today. So when I heard about this paper, I have to admit that I was not overly excited. Not even close. I was actually dreading it.

Now, again, writing comes easily to me compared to other things. I could crack off that five paragraph paper with ease, but I didn't enjoy it; even last year, I didn't enjoy it. I was definitely expecting writing this Kite Runner essay to be the same exact way. When I started writing it, on Tuesday, which, in and of itself, is an accomplishment for me and my record of extreme procrastination, I discovered something that I didn't expect to, I wasn't having a terrible time. Like Mr. Allen said, the evidence plan was the hard part, the writing was the fun part. And I am not an overtly happy or optimistic person in any sense of the words, I tend to look on the bleak side of things, but I was almost enjoying myself. No joke.

I spent a better part of the next day trying to figure out why, besides the evidence plan, I was not burning up with hate for this paper. The only answer I really have is that I liked what I was writing about, it wasn't some stupid thesis from a book I hated about characters that I thought were uninteresting and dumb. The more and more I wrote the paper, the more I became engrossed with explaining to not just Mr. Allen, but "The World," why it is mostly Baba's fault that Amir could not find redemption. So many emotions and thoughts were swimming around my head that my fingers and the keyboard keys could not keep up with my mind.

That, is a great feeling. And, for a piece of writing like this, I've never felt that before. Ever. As a matter of fact, I feel enlightened. Absolutely everything about that process surprised me; I liked absolutely everything; nothing could have worked better. I'm absolutely not kidding. Thank you evidence plan, thank you Mr. Allen, thank you Khaled Hossieni, thank you Kite Runner, thank you Amir. Even thank you Baba...

Blogging Around: Rachel and Lindsay

1. Rachel’s Blog - Connection: Lion King and Kite Runner

She talks about how Amir and Simba are both living in their fathers' shadows and how it affects them

I can definitely see the connection here. I would even go as far as to say that Amir and Simba are both hindered by their “oh so great” fathers. Amir constantly feels as if he is worth nothing because he isn’t enough like Baba, and Simba struggles to be the great man/lion (??) that his father wants him to be.

I can definitely relate to this because of my relationship with my brother. When I was little all I wanted to do was be just like him. At school, I was constantly compared to him; everyone expected that I would be just like him. Now, I know that this sounds like every younger sibling’s debocle, but you don’t know my brother. In high school, he was one of those guys that walked through the halls and everyone gave a shout out to, or high-fived, all the girls said hi ;). He’s funny; he’s smart; everyone likes him. We are similar in some ways, but totally the opposite in some. I always sort of felt like I should be more like him; if I didn’t do everything the same way, I wasn’t as good, I had done something wrong. Yet, I eventually learned that my brother had his strengths and so do I, and there’s no rule about them being different.

2. Lindsay’s Blog – Best of the Week: The “Real” Afghans

She tells us about how learning about the history of Afghanistan was helpful to better understand the way Hosseini wrote the novel in regards to the setting

This is some good insight. The part about how we criticized Amir and called him a whiny brat definitely struck a chord with me. All along I have been saying that we don’t truly understand why Amir is the way he is. We’re not in his position, and we can’t say what we would have done in the same situation. The biggest part, which is explained very well here, is that we don’t live in a world where there are Pashtuns and Hazaras. In America, everyone is American, no matter your heritage. Yet, the social divide that Amir and Hassan struggle with is realer than our reality television. Was it right for Amir, a Pashtun, to abandon Hassan, the Hazara boy? No. But, in some sense, didn’t he abide by the societal standards? I definitely am not saying that Amir should have watched Hassan get raped. My point is that we don’t live in 1970s Afghanistan, therefore there is no way for us to fully condemn Amir for his actions because we don’t know, for sure, that we wouldn’t have done the same thing ourselves. All over the world there are dynamics that we can’t begin to understand, and it is the effects of those dynamics that we most frequently and profoundly unfairly criticize.