The Kite Runner Final Blog Post

3.     Write down a passage that appeals to you and describe why?  Does it make more of an impact on your understanding of the book or does it make more of a personal impact? What significance does the passage have in the book?

"I have been dreaming a lot lately, Amir agha. Some of them are nightmares, like
hanged corpses rotting in soccer fields with bloodred grass. I wake up from
those short of breath and sweaty. Mostly, though, I dream of good things, and
praise Allah for that. I dream that Rahim Khan sahib will be well. I dream that my son will grow up to be a good person, a free person, and an important person.
I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab
music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies. And I
dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our
childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you.
May Allah be with you always." (Chapter 17, page 236)

This passage is from a letter Hassan wrote to Amir, and was the most memorable passage for me. It was inspiring because of Hassan's loyalty and faith. After all these years, Hassan has not forgotten Amir nor has he hated him for betraying him. Hassan's dreams depict the changes that occurred to Kabul after Amir left and the hardships Hassan had to face. Yet Hassan's still waiting there, where Amir left years ago, as "an old faithful friend waiting for you". This passage has huge significance in the book because it moves Amir's heart. Amir decides to risk his life to save Sohrab who is suffering in Afghanistan. This passage also had personal meanings for me as well for I had moved from country to country in the past and remember my foreign friends. The nostalgia and everlasting friendship melted into this letter was very touching.

4.     Is there a message or main theme you see emerging?  What is it and how is it shown? Are there any other books you have read or movies you have seen that also have this same theme? Explain.

The main theme of this novel is sin and redemption. This theme first emerges by Amir's determination to win the kite tournament. Amir, who always felt guilt due to his mother's death, believes he must redeem himself by making Baba proud. This theme completely unveils itself throughout Amir's efforts to save Sohrab. The book explicitly shows how Amir finds salvation while being beaten up by Assef.
"I don’t know at what point I started laughing, but I did. It hurt to laugh, hurt
my jaws, my ribs, my throat. But I was laughing and laughing. And the harder I
laughed, the harder he kicked me, punched me, scratched me. " (Chapter 22, page 314)

This scene is closely related to the scene where Hassan is raped by Assef. Amir ran away back then, leaving everlasting guilt in his heart. Amir is freed from it by confronting Assef to save Hassan's son. A book of similar theme yet different development that I have read recently is "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Here, the protagonist commits murder at the start of the novel. He suffers due to his guilt and eventually turns himself in. He finds salvation from the loyalty of his lover. The two books have similar themes, but there is one major difference. "The Kite Runner" focuses on Amir's quest for redemption whereas "Crime and Punishment" focuses on the protagonist's sufferings due to his initial sin.

The Kite Runner Halfway Blog Post

1.     What is the setting of the novel?  Is the setting important or could the novel happen anywhere?  Why?  Would it change the plot? In what way?

The setting of the novel "The Kite Runner" changes dramatically throughout the first half of the novel. Throughout the first quarter, the setting of the novel is in Kabul, Afghanistan. Here, Amir has a trustworthy Baba who has immense wealth. Amir also has Hassan, who always solves Amir's problems for him and takes care of him. This made Amir spoiled; this eventually made Amir turn his back on Hassan. In the second quarter of the novel, Amir and Baba flee to America. Here, things turn 180 degrees for Amir. Baba has to make a living in a gas station and Hassan is no longer there to help him. In these difficult conditions, Amir grows up to become an understanding and mature man. The setting plays a crucial role in this novel. Two completely opposite places, Afghanistan and America, contrast each other to show why Amir was narrow-minded and selfish  then grew up to become understanding and selfless. Had it not been for this setting, the plot would have changed so that Amir would undergo other events to mature and change his personality.



2.     Describe a problem faced by the main character.  Explain how the main character deals with the problem.  Make a personal connection to this (either your own experience or that of someone you know).

Amir confronts several problems through out the first half this novel. The two most major conflicts Amir encounters is when he forsakes Hassan and when he must escape Afghanistan and adapt to America. As for the first problem where Amir runs into Hassan getting raped by Assef, Amir deals with it by simply running away. Considering the fact that Hassan always helped Amir selflessly and got into a trouble while trying to assist Amir, Amir turning his back on Hassan was an unforgivable act. However, I have had a similar experience in my elementary school days where my friend was being verbally harassed by others at school. I could have stood up for him, but fearing that I would become the next target, I ignored the problem. Therefore when I was reading the novel, rather than feeling anger towards Amir's actions, I felt sympathy. In the second problem where Amir must evacuate from Afghanistan, he again does not contribute much. He relies on Baba for his safety. This is where Amir truly learns his powerlessness and realizes that he must stand up for himself, as Baba did.

Introduction to "The Kite Runner" Novel

Today, I want to introduce the novel "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. This novel was published by Riverhead Books in May 29th, 2003. Throughout its 371 pages, the novel delves into the heart touching story of Amir's life. Amir and his servant, Hassan, are best friends in Afghanistan and live a wealthy life thanks to the prosperous father, Baba. However, Amir betrays his friend Hassan and eventually Hassan leaves Amir. Afterwards, war breaks out in Afghanistan, forcing Baba and Amir to escape to America. Amir grows up to be an adult and shocking news awaits him. He must go to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab. Will Amir risk his life and return to Afghanistan to redeem his misdeeds towards Hassan? If you are interested in a more detailed synopsis and review regarding this novel, please take a look at the following link (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77203.The_Kite_Runner).

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini caught my attention because it is a story about Afghanistan, the country we hear about so frequently, yet know nothing about. All we know is that Afghanistan is at the center of war at the moment, and that Western soldiers are stationed there, but we do not know of their customs or culture. "The Kite Runner" seems very interesting to me because it explicitly and realistically reveals many aspects of Afghanistan, the good and the bad. Also, the theme of sin and redemption that may lead to a heart touching plot was always my type.

Analysis into the Most Popular Game of All Times: League of Legends

Today, I want to talk about the most popular game of all times.
The game that people played the most in the world, the game that everyone is playing around the globe: League of Legends.

I'm not going to talk about how to be good at the game or how to play the game. Rather, I am interested in what made it so popular. What was it about League of Legends that made it such a success, while its competitors died out? Well, let me begin by explaining the uniqueness of this particular game.

The game League of Legends is a MOBA game. MOBA stands for Massive Online Battle Arena, and it's a game where many people play certain heroes to fight each other on a battle arena. This genre started out as a custom game and although many people enjoyed the genre, no official game was published. Then some companies, noticing the potential of this genre, published several games but they're were not free. People had to pay monthly fees to play the game and as this genre was not famous at the time, people were not willing to pay to play an unknown game.

Then came League of Legends. The main point of this game's success was that it was completely free. The only aspect of League of Legends where you can pay money is to buy hero skins that make your hero look better, but does not affect the game play one bit. Since it was free, people tried this new game out of curiosity. This is how the public first got access to the MOBA genre game and it was a big hit.

League of Legends became pretty famous swiftly, but was not done yet. Riot Games, the publisher of League of Legends, held a world championship. Many famous professional game players entered this tournament and this tournament was a huge success.

League of Legends World Championship in 2012 (image source: http://www.in2lol.com/en/news/4459-the-aftermath-of-the-season-2-world-championship)

In conclusion, the game League of Legends succeeded due to three main reasons. Firstly, it had chosen a great genre, undeveloped at the time. Secondly, it was completely free allowing people to start playing easily. Finally, it held many competitions that caught the public's interest. If you're curious about how popular the game League of Legends is, please take a look at the following link (http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/27/riots-league-of-legends-reveals-astonishing-27-million-daily-players-67-million-monthly/) to find out more.

Positive Effects of Games

In my previous post, I elaborated on how online computer games could be bad for others. However, believe me, I personally really like games and think there are many positive aspects to it as well. So today, I will post on the pros of online computer games.

Firstly, online computer games is socializing. OK, I know that some may think this is ridiculous, but let me explain. In my last post, I said that too much games can harm your social life. However, meeting people from all over the globe is an experience unique to online gaming. Also, making clans and playing games together with your actual friends also acts as socializing. Sort of like playing soccer together with friends, playing games with your friends can also become memorable experience.

Secondly, online computer games is a great method of relieving stress. After a long and tiresome day, a fun game on your computer can be extremely satisfying. Having a bit of fun and releasing all your stress is by no means a wrong thing to do, right? It's no different to fathers watching TV after a day at work. As long as you learn to know the limits that is.

Finally, not all games are about killing and destroying things. Some games are purely logical, such as puzzle games. These games actively help develop problem solving skills.

An example of a puzzle game (image source:http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/26/new-puzzle-games-hit-wiiware)

By playing these games, people can develop they're mental capabilities while having fun!

So overall, games in general act as a method of socializing and allow people to have lots of fun. Also, by choosing the right games, you can even become smarter by playing games. Games aren't a social abomination that does nothing but harm; it has all these positive aspects to it as well. If you're interested in other positive aspects of computer games, here's a link that discusses this matter more in depth (http://venturebeat.com/community/2012/10/04/video-games-are-good-for-you-the-positive-effects-of-video-games/).

Negative Effects of Games

We all know that the older generation hate it when their children play games.

Well, although I'm a gamer myself, I have to admit that they have their proofs. It cannot be denied that games have negative effects, although they do have their positive sides as well (which I will discuss in a later post).

The first most obvious negative side of online computer games is addiction. If people enjoyed games to a stage where they only played it as a light hobby, it would not affect that person much. However, problems arise because people play the game to an absurd extent. Game addiction directly people's influence people's personal lives: their jobs, health, and even social relationships. I am sure many students have had experiences where they have a test soon, yet just couldn't take those controllers off their hands. What's even worse is that it's very difficult to escape addiction. It takes immense self control and abstinence to free oneself from the grasp of addiction.

(image source: http://mosaicevents.in/the-negative-effects-of-video-games-on-children)

The second negative effect of gaming is that it can teach one wrong moral values. Many games focus on stimulating experiences. This leads to violent and brutal bloodshed. Also many games give experience to crimes such as thievery, murder, and illegal gambling. Some games even recommend drug use. If someone without a strong enough self consciousness plays these games, the person may be influenced by the wrong moral standards.

These negative effects are shown through crimes related to games. You can view some examples of brutal crimes related to video games in the following link: http://www.criminaljusticedegreesguide.com/features/10-deaths-caused-by-video-games.html.

All these negative effects of games aren't absolute however; as long as you know how to control yourself and play games to an acceptable extent, games will not be harmful.

Games: The Various Genres

Today I want to talk about game genres today in general.

We say games, but there are so many types and genres of games that it is in fact an extremely broad term. To list just a few of the genres, there are action games, survival games, adventure games, role-playing games, simulation games, strategy games, and MMO games that stand for massively multiplayer online games.

League of Legends and DOTA2 are examples of MOBA games (image source: http://www.maximumpc.com/moba_dota_lol_2013)

The game genre that I am personally most interested in is none of the above however; I am interested in the genre of MOBA, massive online battle arena. This is a new genre of game that broke apart from strategy games, particularly real time strategy games.
If you are interested in MOBA genre games, take a look at the following link (http://www.maximumpc.com/moba_dota_lol_2013) as it sums up the genre nicely.

To briefly give you an idea of each genre, action games are games such as shooting games that focus on reaction time and hand-eye coordination. Survival games are based on placing the player in extreme situation that is difficult to survive in. The players usually are limited in resources to use and have to prudently ration them to win. Adventure games are games where the player takes the role of a protagonist of a story and actively participate in the exploration and puzzles throughout the game. In role-playing games, the player takes up a particular role in the plot of a game. Simulation games are games that imitate real life games such as sports. Finally, massively multiplayer online games are games that have vast servers where hundreds to millions of people gather to participate in the game.

Games do not fit into each genre like pieces of jigsaw puzzles. Rather, they are usually alloys of various other genres. Also, all these genres are played online nowadays thanks to the wide use of the Internet.

In the next post, I will talk about the some negative effects of gaming in our society.