Wooof.

COMEDY in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

Am I right, or am I right? It's what Vick wanted all along. "He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance" (page the last one)

Depending on your point of view, this could be viewed as a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by Vick.

But that's just a joke. This book was so depressing. I can't wait to read a sappy romance novel.

This post is actually about the resolution of the novel. I can't figure out what's going on in Mario's mind? His entire (short) life, he had NO ONE to really talk to.. his purpose at the beginning was to learn language so that maybe he'd be accepted, but that failed big time. Then he made it his mission to make Vick's life a living fire burning pit of flames. But then Vick died. He has nothing left.. He basically took away everyone from Vick and then took everything he had away too. (not that he had much). The only thing he had left was death. At the beginning, I thought Mario was like a baby, but now he is sorta like an old man.

This really makes me cry. And You could kinda compare Brooks from The Shawshank Redemption to Mario... They both just lost purpose in their lives and both are rejected by society.

Who's Chasing You, Jules?

"I pursued him, and for many months this has been my task" (page 193)

So the rest of Vick's life is dedicated to hunting down Mario to kill him. It's pretty funny that he never catches him, but he tries so so hard. This situation sorta reminds me of the scene in My Best Friend's Wedding where Jules starts chasing Michael and Michael chases Kimi at the wedding to win their love or something. And Jules gets on the phone with her best friend (her other best friend) who says "...and who's chasing you, Jules? No one and that's your answer." or something like that. Vick is chasing Mario all around the world, but who is chasing Vick- to get him back home, so he can stop killing himself? No one. Because everyone he ever loved is dead (except for that one brother that he just kinda ignores) But who's fault is that? Directly, it is Mario's fault, but indirectly--Vick's. And no one was chasing Jules because she also ruined everything by lying and stuff. Jules eventually stops the chase and can be happy for Michael and Kimi, but Vick doesn't stop until he dies. He definitely made his bed for himself and paid the price. There is no one left for him to go back to. This is so much rambling.

Jolly Joe

"A fiend had snatched from me every hope of future happiness; no creature had ever been so miserable as I was; so frightful an event is single in the history of man." (page 188)

Or how about being born and then immediately being left alone to fend for yourself? Add to that being hideous. I don't want to keep blogging about how stupid Vick is, but I want to keep to blogging about how stupid Vick is. I feel like the second half of the book is Vick wallowing in self pity. He is a character of many ups and downs, but by the end of it he sort of mellows out into just a down. Mario's threat to "be with [Vick] on [his] wedding night" really haunted the irritating fellow for a long time. From that point on, nothing could put him at ease. Not even marrying Liz made him happy, because he feared her death every moment. I think it is pretty ironic that Vick was so worried about Liz the entire wedding and when he was finally like- I need to figure this out and check around for Mario-she is murdered. Way to take the initiative, bud. But you were a little late (and wrong).

Silly Red Sheet

"The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions" (page 169)

Some hero. I could go on about how there really hasn't been a hero in the novel so far.. but I'll just concentrate on how Vick is definitely the antihero. Here is a list of things he has really screwed up.

1. Creating the monster. Really, Vick? You couldn't just leave that up to God? This was probably my favorite quote so far: "God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance" (page 124-25)

2. Fearing your own creation. What if God did that to us? We'd be so lost and would have no reason not to kill everyone. I mean, really, Mario is pretty justified in his murders. (kinda)

3. Not saving Justine with your knowledge of Mario. A hero has courage, but you definitely don't, dude.

4. Not creating that woman for Mario. You know what it is like to be alienated. Imagine that ALL the time. Mario has never felt loved, and you and your stupid fear of monster colonies is the main cause of that.

After he killed Liz, I don't think there was much else he could have taken away from you. I think if you had just created Mario's Princess Peach, then a little guilt would have been taken off your shoulders (plus Henry and Liz would still be alive). You are so dumb.

P.S. I actually have no idea who Mario, the Italian-American plumber's, girlfriend is.

Scream 5.

"Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father. to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick... my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness..." (page 129)

I'll admit this is pretty sad, but not sad enough for tears. Rejection of Mario by the family encompasses his external conflict with society. This clash between Mario and the rest of the world brings the worst in him. Whereas before Mario had natural instincts to be kind and make people happy, now his natural instincts result from bitterness and loneliness. The De Laney family was Mario's last hope for acceptance, and that clearly didn't go as planned. And when he happens to come across the brother of his creator (the man who abandoned him to misery), his anger gets the best of him and he kills the little guy :'(. (I didn't really cry there either).

Do you think maybe Shelley was really ugly and she wrote this novel to tell the world that evil in the world is a result of discriminatory practices? I guess she didn't really have to be ugly to make that point.

She really isn't that ugly.

Sweet Mario

(Mario=Monster, btw)

"This trait of kindness moved me sensibly..." (page 106)

I think the emotions that Mario experiences display humanity at its purest. He has never been influenced by anyone (well, directly influenced). So every emotion he has is his own. He knew what sadness and happiness was before he knew the words to describe them. Isn't that just weird? It reminds me of a baby's laugh.

No one has taught the baby to laugh at this, he just thought it was funny and laughter was his natural reaction. Mario saw the sadness of the family and kindness was his natural reaction. In many ways Mario is like an infant (just a huge one). He has to learn everything from observance.

Frustrating

"My firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union" (page 42)

The relationship between Vick and Liz is kinda confusing. I feel like if I lived with a guy my age from the age of 5ish, I would grow up with him like a brother, not a lover. A sibling relationship would be inevitable. But I guess it is a sci-fi book, so crazy thing happen.

I think it is interesting that they take the same side in the whole Justine-William drama. Because even though Liz doesn't even know about Mario or anything, she sides with Justine and Vick. That's love? Right? Man, I'm out of stuff to talk about. I hate the perfectness of this novel.

I feel like Mary is just copping out a whole lot.

First of all-this relationship, definitely shouldn't work. And then her explanation of how the monster came to be-way too easy. Everything is just so oversimplified.. I'll try to find another quote. Okay, what about how the monster just left.. no explanation of how that happened or anything. And I think the biggest example- Mario's speech is impeccable! Yeah, right he learned all that on his own.

It's an Alien Nation

My three themes that my little group is focusing on are alienation, education, and justice. I feel like both education and justice fit into alienation really well. There are three characters that are alienated: Waldon, Vick and Mario.

Waldon and Vick isolated themselves on purpose because of education and whatnot. And then Mario is alienated because, well, he is huge and ugly (also, he lacks social skills). And because of his alienation, he is able to learn through observing his surroundings.

But I guess I want to talk about this justice theme. So far, I haven't seen any. (unless of course for some reason Justine really did kill William..) There is no justice involved in killing an innocent woman. But by killing Justine, I think maybe Vick is punished, which I guess is justice.

"Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain in sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts." (page 85)

His guilt he experiences is justice for the death of the two characters..but not really. I guess it is justice for Vick creating a Mario and then just letting him lose. He should have taken immediate responsibility for his creation.

Umm.. Anti-Suspense?

"I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet" (page 56) and then he did. Umm, anticlimactic?

What will the monster be like? I feel like it just happened and then the suspense came afterwards. Vick's little freakout created the suspense that we all expected to occur during the creation, which probably created more suspense that way.

I need to refocus.

I kinda thought that the monster would play a bigger role right after he was created, but he just sort of disappeared. This made me crazy curious as to what happened to Mario (the monster's name). "My enemy had fled" (page 60).. Well that's cool. I'm glad that all my thoughts about what Frankenstein was before reading this book were really, really wrong. I think maybe the purpose of making Mario runaway is to show Vick wallowing in self-pity.. he has time to think about what he has done and it sets the stage for the murder of William.

Motivation?

What has driven Waldon to drop everything and explore?

"...and I feel my heart glow with enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose--a point on which a soul may fix its eye" (page 16)

I believe this is written near the beginning of his adventure, so he is still pretty upbeat about the whole thing. Right now (or right then..?) he is motivated by having a goal. The only thing he can see is the end, but not the challenges. So I think he has to ultimately have another form of motivation, and I don't sense that he does. His goal is to find the north pole magnet or something..and I think that's going to get old. I predict that he'll gain something more from this adventure (maybe from Frankenstein?). Maybe it will just be a deeper appreciation for friends and family.. I don't know. I just know that his enthusiasm is going to end soon, even after he met his new best pal Frank.

Did it happen for me?

"I ran." page 371

I think the end of this novel is so appropriate. When Hassan ran the kite for Amir the last time they were happy together, everything changed. And now Amir is running a kite for Sohrab, which hopefully signifies a major change (well, a good change) coming up too. Kite running united so many characters throughout the book. Amir found pride in his father when he won the competition and Amir and Hassan found friendship. (So I guess not really that many people, but the important ones). I'm sensing that Sohrab will find comfort in Soraya and Amir and that he will learn to become less reticent through kite running. If this happens, then Soraya will also finally be able to act as a mother to a child (in desperate need of nurture). And maybe Amir will live a life feeling a little less guilty. By the way, I think I do like Amir.

Really?

"When the nurse...walked in with a syringe in hand and asked me if I needed a morphine injection. I said yes." page 303

So his whole life he ignores his issues. When he was a child, he ignored confrontation with Hassan by being short and mean to him. When he got older, he ignored issues by moving to America with Baba. And now, when he is trying to redeem himself and make up for his sins, he asked for morphine. People kept reassuring me that I would learn to like Amir after we all hated him in the beginning.. but it hasn't happened for me yet. In a way, I guess it has. He faced death to rescue his nephew. However, the journey to atonement is definitely not over yet. Amir needs to do something big to be forgiven and I hope it has something to do with Sohrab's future.

failure still.

"The grape was sweet. I popped in another one, unaware that it would be the last bit of solid food I would eat for a long time." page 275

This is pretty direct foreshadowing. Obviously, the Taliban is going to do something to Amir. I was pretty sure he was going to land in some kind of jail cell for months and only be given mush for food, but I was wrong. I think it was nice to warn us that Amir was going to be hurt in some way before reaching Sohrab, but the author still left a huge surprise for us in the fight with Assef and whatnot. I feel like that whole fight scene was an extreme twist of fate. But one annoying thing about everything was that Amir still didn't win his own battle; he was saved (once again) by Sohrab (with a slingshot!). I still think Amir is kind of a failure at this point. He better be able to save Hassan's son (without anyone's help).

Risin' Action

"Once, over those mountains, I had made a choice. And now, a quarter of a century later, that choice has landed me right back on this soil." page 241

I think that this point in the novel serves as a major challenge for Amir to overcome. We really have no idea how at this point, so I think it can be seen as a complication. A definite feeling of suspense is also created here. How will he resolve his and Baba's sins? I feel like that decision he made as a child had such an impact on Hassan's life that there is no real way to make up for it. Even if he does save Sohrab from the orphanage.. the kid still will always be an orphan.

I think this quote can also be didactic. Every decision you make in your life will affect something someway, even if that thing is small or big. That decision he made 25 years ago caused his most loyal friend to die and for his son to become orphaned.

guilt

"Come. There is a way to be good again." page 192

Rahim knows what Amir did to Hassan all those years ago. He needs a favor of Amir, and he realizes that the only way to get him to travel to Pakistan is to hit him where it hurts. In this statement there was definitely a connotation of "Hassan was so good to you and you betrayed him. Here's your last shot at making that up to him". I think this really ties into the theme of guilt and it might bring everything full circle. It transitioned from jealously, guilt and I predict it will end with forgiveness because of the opportunity Rahim is giving to Amir. It all depends on whether or not Amir takes on the challenge presented to him or not.

Soraya

"Soraya pulled me to her and the tears finally came" (page 176)

I would just like to reflect on how strange it is that Amir and Soraya are so compatible. He didn't even know her before he "proposed". I mean seriously, things just don't happen like that. But I think it is important that Amir has someone to finally confide in. He spent his whole life trying to hide himself from his father to get the attention he craved.

I think there is major significance in the fact that Soraya has a questionable past, even if it is not nearly as terrible as what Amir did. I think eventually her opening up to him will allow Amir to open up to her. But I can't quite draw a parallel between their problems other than that they are both problems.

Maybe: Soraya's past is really only an issue because of the double standard held over women in the Afghani culture. Amir's past is rooted in the division of race in the Afghani culture. So.. Hazaras and women. Does anyone see any kind of connection?

moftakhir

"Then a smile played on my father's lips...I his arms, I forgot what I had done. And that was good." (page 79--in reference to Amir winning the kite competition) & "His eyes gleamed when he said that and I liked being on the receiving end of that look" (page 131--in reference to Amir's high school graduation)

There were only a few events in Amir's life that Baba was "moftakhir" (proud) of him. This always made me question whether or not he really loved his son. In Amir's childhood, he craved Baba's attention. But the only two times received that acceptance was when he became the Kite Runner champion and at his high school graduation. (Baba's other proud moments came later in Amir's life).

I think this is a result of the stark difference in cultures between what we perceive as normal and what an Afghani would perceive as normal. Baba sometimes cared more about status or class more than he tried to care about his family. And when Amir failed to do anything "impressive" for him to brag about, it could have been misconstrued as disappointment.

Throughout the entire novel (so far), the relationship between Baba and Amir has been so confusing. The man ended up spending his life savings on a nice wedding for Amir, but was that out of love or out of a desire to impress? Even as he died, he accepted no sympathy. He wanted to leave a proud man. How sincere could his love for Amir have really been?

Hidden Guilt.

"America was different. America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins. If for nothing else, for that, I embraced America." (page 136)

This metaphor as America as a river continues to conceal Amir's guilt he still carried about Hasaan. The culture in America was incredibly different than it was in Afghanistan. He didn't have constant reminders of Hasaan and Ali, although it is brought up in his mind at certain points in his life.. usually when something important was happening. America was "unmindful of the past".. He led a new life. Amir allowed his new life to bury his past. But I think this "river" he thinks he's wading in is a lot closer to his past than he thinks. As he reaches important milestones in his life, he is reminded of his guilty conscience. First of all, when he is able to talk to Soraya about her secret past, he is reminded of his own. And at his own wedding, he contemplates about Hasaan. Was he able to get married too? Had he destroyed Hasaan's future?

Pomegranate

"I wished he'd give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I'd finally sleep at night... 'You're a coward!' I said. 'Nothing but a goddamn coward.'" (page 92)

Isn't this ironic? After everything Hasaan had done for Amir, he had the nerve to call him a coward? (just so Amir could actually have the acceptance he craved from his father). I see this pomegranate scene as more of a catharsis for Amir. Although this feeling of relief didn't last very long, I think it was ultimately the reason Ali and Hasaan had to eventually leave. It was a critical point that highlighted Amir's immaturity in dealing with such adult (not even issues that adults should know how to deal with) issues and Hasaan's ability to continue to show love and devotion despite the pain he endured.

Amir's guilt was so powerful he could not deal with it in any other way than shutting out what "caused" it: his best friend. The most ironic part of this is that by ignoring the issue, his guilt was amplified.

Oooohkay. Here we go again.

"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" (page 23 of The Kite Runner.)

I think this is the beginning of a recurring theme throughout the novel. Amir fought so hard through his childhood for a sense of belonging with Baba. All he wanted was to make Baba proud and to be the son he knew his father always wanted. With this came a tinge of jealousy, which is also a big theme of the novel. Amir always saw Hasaan as Baba's dream son. And I don't think this was just a figment of Amir's imagination.. there are several times throughout their childhood that Baba's expectations were met by Hasaan, not Amir. And when Amir finally achieves recognition that will actually make his dad proud, Hasaan "ruins" it. And Amir basically sacrifices the close relationship he had with Hasaan to win over his dad. So although Hasaan was incredibly dedicated and loyal to Amir, the jealousy issues that were present were too strong for Amir to be as loyal to his friend.