Throughout history, people have held people to standards and judged people. In Les Miserables and the Kite Runner both societies had ideas on what was civilized and what was barbaric. This can be seen when characters had to change who they were in order to fit into what was civilized and not be different. In Les Miserables a demonstration of this is shown when Jean Valjean had to pretend to be something he’s not in order to fit in with the society. Jean Valjean was labeled as a convict just because he stole some bread to help save his family from starvation. He then had to change his name and become a whole new person just because society viewed him as a bad person because he is a convict. “What had been the life of this soul”. Looking back on his life he wonders what had become of it and why society felt that he is barbaric. Even though he was a good person society treated him like he was an awful person just because he had been a convict. They did not know the full story of how he was trying to save his family, they just automatically judged him.
Fortunately, in the end Jean Valjean turned his life around and became a better person. The Bishop helped him turn his life around by giving him a chance to be a better person.” Jean Valjean my brother you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I have bought your soul. I have ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God”. The Bishop knew that Jean Valjean wasn’t evil and deserved a chance to
In both The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, literacy and education play a key role. The education of a man gives him power, and can determine his stature or influence in the community. Literacy gives a man an insight to knowledge that can be important. By developing characters with different levels of education, Khaled Hosseini and Harper Lee develop and strengthen the idea that literacy and education are dangerous tools, and can make the difference between life and death. Khaled Hosseini and Harper Lee depict literacy as both helpful and harmful. They also show how being uneducated leads to being taken advantage of. Using these ideas they strengthen the idea of educating and literacy being
Translating a book into a movie can be a very elusive task for many reasons. This is due to the fact that a book has many key points in it and compressing them all into a certain time frame can be very arduous. Mark Forster’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is a rather weak portrayal of what the author had originally wrote because of its bad casting choices, very significant and harmful cuts to the novel and scenes added throughout the film. Although the director’s intention to recreate a very touching story into a movie was a great idea, the author could have given more attention to some crucial and important aspects of the novel.
Humans have a natural tendency to conform to each other; they strive to fit in with their community and to blend in with the crowd, undoubtedly because modern society seems to have put everyone on a leash. Its harsh judgment and constant pressure forces everyone to follow each other around like sheep — compliant — staying in line in fear of the repercussions. Likewise, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., conformity is an ongoing theme that causes the entire community to isolate Hester in The Scarlet Letter, believe in witchcraft in The Crucible, and discriminate against African Americans in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Hawthorne, Miller, and King all show the effects of the pressure and corruptions in the community, as well as the punishments the individuals receive as a result of conformity. In all three pieces of writing, the authors describe the community as a powerful oppression that forces people to be obedient, simultaneously asserting that conformity ultimately leads to consequences in both the community and the individual.
Ray Bradbury shows us that people with a difference are ostracised and hated with the example of how the children treat Margot differently for being different to them. He explains by using contrasting sensory imagery just how much just the way that a person acts can make them look different to everyone else and how much they stand out in a crowd. He is also implying to us that just because someone is different it doesn’t mean we have to exclude them just because that’s what normally happens because you might just cost them the joy for the next seven years to
Families play a large role in our world. Sometimes families keep you together but at other times they can tear you apart. The subject of family is a major theme in Khaled Hosseini's extraordinary novel, The Kite Runner and Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy, King Lear. In both of these writings, family is a constant theme that occurs throughout both works of literature. Family relationship is often expressed through the actions of the characters and by what they say. Although Shakespeare’s well-known tragedy, King Lear, has father figures, they do not act very fatherly. Khaled Hosseini’s fiction novel, The Kite Runner has better father figures. This can be proven by examining the different
Within these two novels, there are many psychological and moral journeys which parallel numerous physical journeys in the lives of the protagonists. In ‘Jane Eyre’ the main purpose is to search for identity, and Jane begins this by leaving Gateshead to escape the Reed family to further her prospects. In contrast, ‘The Kite Runner’s protagonist’s main purpose is to search for redemption due to his guilt and melancholy over mistreating his servant Hassan as well as feeling blamed for his mother’s death by his father, Baba- Baba himself undergoes a journey to self-knowledge whereas Mrs Reed in ‘Jane Eyre’ experiences no guilt. The moral journeys of both figures are associated with Religion which can either allow or restrict you from being able
Society is all around us. Whether some people think it’s a bad thing or if others enjoy the fact, we can’t deny it. So when something tragic happens, it’s normal that at least one person blames society and disagrees. As a point that most young adult novels and their movie companions state proudly, society always catches the ‘bad’ guys. That theme is also present is other works of film and writing literature. The Twilight Zone’s “The Number 12 Looks Just Like You” and Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” being two works with the common theme. The authors both use satire and irony to criticize the idea that citizens always conform to society’s ideals, or as close as they can
In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, the authors prove that one decision can have a lasting impact and have a snowball effect. Even in the title The Road Not Taken, Frost refers to the option other than the one he actually chose. By doing this, the reader’s attention is brought to what the outcome might have been if he had chosen the other road. Likewise, many times throughout The Kite Runner, Amir finds himself wondering how his life would have been different if he would have made a different choice at the age of twelve. From this point on, all of the events in his life are somehow connected to this one decision. Hosseini includes the line “I became what I am today at the age of twelve” to show how big of an impact this one choice had on his life as a whole (Hosseini 1).
One of the common techniques that I found in " The kite runner" and "Things fall apart" is that both of the novels used dialects. Khaled Hosseini uses African and Chinua Achebe Afghanistan dialects which helps us get a better understanding in the importance of the different dialects that is used throughout the book.
Truly talented writers critique societies foolish actions whilst warning them of their impending future. However, few manage to genuinely depict the origin of these foolish acts. George Orwell’s 1984 and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner critique both political and social oppression to demonstrate that blind loyalty and the surrendering of free will is the demise of modern society.
Many authors often use two contrasting places, such as two different countries, to emphasize the differences in ideas and reinforce opposed forces that are central to the work. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, two countries that are seen as two polar opposites, Afghanistan and America, are brought together to reinforce two completely different lifestyles for a boy named Amir. Growing up in a country known as a land of terrorists and war changed him as he moved to America, known as the land of opportunity and freedom.
“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even in a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…” –Khaled Hosseini. The comparison between the novel, A Thousand Splendid Sons, and movie, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is inevitable. In both cases, each character goes through changes, leaving what was once a part of their daily routines just a memory. The Kite Runner is a movie about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. A Thousand Splendid Suns is an outstanding, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love. It focuses on two women; mothers and daughters, and their
Today a lot of society feels that there is a set example of what is socially acceptable. Recently many people have started embracing others and themselves for their individuality. However only a short time ago, people were treated much more harshly for who they were. Throughout history, society has gone through several significant instances of discrimination. Anyone who was flawed and did not fit into the ideal categories set up by the world were considered inferior. Anne Frank was personally affected by a large amount of discrimination and exile, which brought her and the ones she loved a lot of anguish.
Jean Valjean sacrificed much as he sought redemption. One of the first sacrifices that Jean Valjean makes is that of his identity, during the Champmathieu affair. As Monsieur Madeleine, Jean Valjean was a trusted official in a high position. He struggled with himself when he heard that the ‘real’ Jean Valjean had been caught: should he stay in M—sur m—where he was comfortable and popular, or do the right thing, remove a man from an undeserved galley life, and become a convict once more. When Madeleine revealed himself as Jean Valjean, he forever gave up that comfortable position of authority. He became a convict again – a wanted convict. He would now live out the rest of his life hiding, of not running, from the police. Jean sacrificed his safety. Saving Marius’ life by carrying him through the sewers also proved to be a sacrifice. Jean’s entire existence revolved around Cosette. She was what kept him on the track the bishop set him on. He adored her. He was devastated to learn that she was in love with Marius, yet he saved
"True redemption is when guilt leads to good" (Khaled Hosseini). Not one person on earth is completely free from wrongs. Humans have lapses in judgement that can hurt them and others. Some people believe you can be redeemed and can put your wrongs behind you, these people are kind and generous. Others believe you have one chance to get it right, these people are often angry and judgmental. There are also those who believe that someone can't be redeemed, but begin to realize that people can change. By looking at the Bishop, Javert, and Jean Valjean and their actions it becomes clear that Les Miserables is a book about redemption coming to those who did wrongs in their past and the behaviors of those who believe and don't believe.