Blogging Around

1. Ben Focus: Poverty is Inevitable. It is already upon us and will continue to grow.

Ben,

     I agree with you that poverty is a problem that is already upon us. It is something that does affect the lower classes. However, we often look past the "side affects" of poverty. One example that you talk about is health-care. Poverty's effect on health care is that health-care is often too expensive for people just barely above the poverty line to get. But when we think of poverty, our first thought is almost never health-care. It is this little detail that causes a problem.

     I would also like to mention the idea that this is all a cycle. What you are saying is that we are trying to fix the larger problem (poverty), instead of fixing the smaller problem (health-care). Here is where I disagree. I believe that we need to gradually fix all the smaller problems, and then as a result we will fix the much bigger problem of poverty. However, either way I do agree this is one big cycle. What we are currently doing obviously doesn't work and therefore we need to try something new. 

2. Nour Focus: The relationship between post-modernism and media. Which came first?

Nour,

     I agree with you that post-modernism is much more complex than it appears. With post-modernism there is never one simple explanation, but rather multiple complex ideas. Our explanations of these complex situations are what post-modern thinking is. This is where media plays a huge role. Whatever one individual person may think, they will always be affected by the media. The media thinks on its own, and it will always try to influence your thinking.

     Post-modernism and the media live and feed of each other. One way of thinking influences the other forming a circle. A circle doesn't have a beginning and and end and therefore theoretically neither does post-modernism and media. However, it must have originally started somehow, so I will take a stab at the question you proposed. I believe that out of post-modern thinking sprouted the strong influence that there is on and by the news. It is the people who originally created the news and people still work behind the news so I believe that the post-modern style thinkers originally influenced media which now influences everyone. I would like to ask you, if you were to try to answer this question ho would you? 

Connection: Vehicles and Power

     Vehicles have over time allowed for great advances in the history of man-kind. Who knew that from the wheel we would today have vehicles that can transport people, goods, and ideas faster than any merchants before. But vehicles have also given strong power to people not only for good, but sometimes for evil. We see vehicles being used strongly in The Kite Runner. During each part of the book, when Amir is living in Afghanistan, when he flees, and when he returns, we see a different vehicle being used. In each situation, that vehicle has a specific correlation to the political times in Afghanistan. When Amir is living in Afghanistan as a kid we are often told about Baba's Mustang. This car is all about freedom. The car can go as fast as it wants anywhere it wants to go. It shows just how beautiful and appreciative the times are. The mustang horse is also a beautiful creature full of freedom. It is a wild horse that roams wherever it wants to go. This exemplifies the political situation at the time in Afghanistan. At the time it was all about freedom. People had the right to do as they pleased and the Mustang describes that really well. However, as soon as Amir flees Afghanistan with Baba we are introduced to a new situation. Now they are in, "the tarpaulin-covered cab of an old Russian truck" (110). This gives us a military type of feeling. They are leaving the country that they have always knew due to the conflict in it. It shows us how that military feeling cannot escape them as they are crowded in that truck. They are in the middle of a war inside a military vehicle. When we later find out that the truck breaks down, it shows us how desperate and fragile these times are. Old things often do not last for a long time and this is true about the government of Afghanistan at the time. Finally, when Amir decides to return to Afghanistan we see a completely diverse use of a corrupted vehicle. When Amir returns to his old house he sees a Jeep that is leaking oil on the driveway. This corresponds to two things. First, the car itself is an American made Jeep. At the time and still today everything American in Afghanistan is looked at as corrupt. We get this feeling when Amir describes the situation. It is exactly like America invaded Afghanistan that this American product invaded his home. The second part is the description of the leaking oil. This signifies that the car is not working properly, or maybe broken. This describes the political situation in Afghanistan. After the Taliban took over there seemed to be complaint after complaint voiced silently by the people. Although we see this oil leak, it is a problem not always seen by everyday people. Afghans were not able to loudly voice their opposition, but silently and slowly they were protesting the broken government of the Taliban. It shows how the details of this car are detail of the political system of the time in Afghanistan.
     In modern times we see vehicles being used for practical purposes. However, the types of vehicles and their conditions can tell us more and more about the location that the cars are in. Today in America we see an immense variety of cars. So many, that it is impossible to accurately count how many. But this tells us something about America. It says that there is a great power of choice and decision making that is placed upon the people here. People can decide on their own what to do and that is seen through their choice in cars and America's political situation too. But what if we look at a poor nation? Lets say India. We see that there are not many cars there and mainly only the rich own them. But even for the people that have them these cars are all beat-up, rusty, and old. This says so much about India. It tells us that India is a poor nation needing the help of others. But can the specific detail of old cars teach us something else? In America we see mainly new cars and everything in America is good. But in The Kite Runner, and also in real life modern day but poor countries we see old cars. In the book we clearly see that there is a poor political leadership in place. Does this mean that power in the nations today is also in serious trouble? But lets finally look at the Jeep and imported vehicles. Today many cars are imported from overseas and sold all over the world. This is something often taken for granted and accepted. But what we do not always see is the political and economic implications of this. Countries allow the import and export of cars to economically benefit each country, but to also create strong political ties. We can see the deep implications of this only when looking beyond the cover.
     This insight is extremely useful because in can show us how significant little details in a book can be. The topic here was vehicles, but we see not only in the book, but also in real life, how this topic also correlates with politics ans power. This close look can show us much more than what we normally see as insignificant details. It is the details however that show to be the most important part. Here we see how cars are power.  

Best of Week: Form is Content

     Writers of fiction often try to be as descriptive as possible in writing a book. In fact, that is what a book mostly is: a bunch of description. However, sometimes words alone cannot do the job themselves. Often times the form of the writing conveys a feeling or idea. In these times writers stray from the conventional form that is widely accepted by grammar freaks. Instead, they opt for the grammatically incorrect or the rhythmic sentence to fuel a feeling that they want to get across to the reader. These sentences, although considered unacceptable to some, make the writing richer and therefore are a useful tool to have in writing.

     When discussing, "form is content", it makes me think about the writing style that Khaled Hosseini uses in his novel, The Kite Runner. Often times he himself writes with a distinctive style to get something across to the reader. Let us start with the decision to write the book in first-person. This decision about form makes a huge impact on the content of the book. It allows for full attention to be placed on Amir and for Amir to express himself in any way he wishes. This is also allowed because of the decision to make this novel a memoir of Amir's past. All these decisions on form have a direct impact on the content of the book and the message that the reader receives. There are also many other small manipulations on form that are used within the writing affecting the feeling and description in that part of the book. Rhyming within a sentence can show a moment in the book that the reader should hold on to. Rhyming often shows significance. There is also the decision to make short brief sentences, or long continuous sentences. The length of sentences can show the author trying to quickly get his point across, or describe a moment in great detail. Both of these forms can manipulate and describe the situation in complete opposite ways.

     The use of form to affect the content of a story connects to my beliefs of what makes a good story. A good story has to be descriptive, but it cannot take the cliché path. Writers must turn to alternative methods to get their writing noticed because of its amazing description. One of the ways is to change the form of the writing. When changing the form, the writer also changes the meaning that is brought across. It is in this way that writers need to improve their writing. A great example of a writer who used form to show significance is William Shakespeare. In his writing, whenever he would rhyme this would show significance in the passage. The way he manipulated his writing to show significance is the work of a great author. It is in this way that I look forward to using my form of writing to get a message across. I will be looking directly at my writing to see where I can show something that words alone cannot. This is where my form will come in. If I can do so, my writing will become richer and more successful than before.

     Great writers of the past have successfully used their styles of writing to make their books strong examples of success today. When these writers start off writing any particular book they have to think about how they are going to get their story across to the audience. It is only the great writers who succeed in this by going far past words alone; they look at the form of their writing. Every writer has looked at their work and edited it beyond imagination. However, what separates some writers from others is the ability to edit the presentation of their writing. Two writers can write a book on the same content, but whichever one has better for will write a better book. Form is content.   

     

What if? The Kite Runner

     Having a prominent male figure in a child's life is an extremely important concept. Many children that live today lack a father completely. This puts a huge hole in a child's life. However, there are some kids that live in the world today and have a father. The only problem with some of these kids is that their fathers lack the characteristic and qualities that a "good" father has. This is the case with Amir, in The Kite Runner. It leads me to question, what if Amir had a "quality" father in his life? Would any of the events or decisions that Amir has made so far be changed by the influence of his father?
     First, I believe that it is important to list and discuss what qualities a "good" father has. In my opinion, a good father has to be loving and caring. However, the father must also not be afraid to lay down the law, yet still allow some freedom. There is a fine balance here, but it needs to be level for the father to succeed in his role as a parent. To look at the extremes here, a completely loving and caring father would always look after his child and never take his eye of the child. The father would always know where the child is, and whenever something were to go wrong, the father would be one step behind ready to console his child. This father's problem would be that he never allows his child to fix anything on their own. The father in this case would always fix things for the kids. Sometimes kids need to be able to figure things out on their own so that when they grow up they can be more independent. Another father could be one that allows too much freedom to his kids. These kids grow up doing whatever they want whenever. These kids have no discipline and therefore grow up making poor decisions. The problem with this father is his lack of authority and the ability to tell a child what to do and not to do. The third father would be one that is a total dictator and runs the child's lives through telling them what to do every step of the way. There is no questioning this father and he is always right. This father runs the show whichever way he sees fit. The problem with this father is lack of freedom. Looking at these three qualities is a mere example of the qualities of fathers. However, these three are all things that are prevalent in the relationship between Amir and his father, Baba.
     When looking at Amir and Baba's father-son relationship we see problems all throughout the first half of the book. We start out the book learning that Amir's mother had died during child birth. With this comes information that Baba partially blames Amir for the death of his wife. Amir has lived all his life incapable of trusting Baba. Trust is another important part of a father son relationship. Trust is either present or not depending on the type of qualities a father has as discussed above. Because Baba blames Amir, Baba lacks the caring aspect that a father should have. This leads to no trust and a withered relationship of the two. Baba has also been seen to give too much freedom to Amir. Baba is generally never home and he doesn't care what Amir does. This has seen Amir get into trouble with him and the boys in his neighborhood. And because Amir does not trust Baba, he cannot go to Baba to talk to him. This is how one characteristic of the father can affect another. Up until the rape of Hassan, this is how Baba acted. He never stood up for Amir or could even sincerely talk to him, this all later changes. When Amir brings the kite home Baba is so proud and starts to appreciate and be accept his son. But when the war breaks out one more thing happens to Baba. He finally takes control of the family and moves himself and Amir to America. It is not until later that we see Baba become a true father, but it can be considered too late. It leads us to wonder, what if Amir had a better father in Baba while growing up?
     So what if this was true? Would Amir have grown up differently? We can only question and speculate about this; however we definitely have opinions on this. It is my opinion that if Baba had been more caring of Amir earlier in his life, Amir would have not been afraid to talk to Baba. This is because a sense of trust is now in place. This would have been key for Amir in multiple situations of his life. One would be the encounters that he has had with his friends bullying him. If Amir were not afraid to talk to Baba, Baba would have been informed of the situation and fixed it. Earlier I said that when a parent fixes everything for a child it is bad. However, we already are able to see that in the future Amir is incapable of changing this situation of bullying by himself. In this situation the father should help out. This all leads to the biggest part of the book, the rape. What if Baba had already stopped this bullying? It is possible then that the rape would not have occurred. When looking at how Baba's father-son relationship could have possibly affected the rape, it can be considered that this is all one big stretch. One can say that it is impossible that Baba's status as a father could have affected the rape. However, we must also consider that anything is possible. We see in the world today what a profound impact a father can have on his child's life. In this case, that relationship could have emotionally saved all the people involved in this rape.