The symbol of the relationship between Amir and Hassan Essay Example for Free

The symbol of the relationship between Amir and Hassan Essay In the book Kite Runner, the main characters Amir and Hassan have special relationships. Amir is in the superior position, while Hassan is the submissive one to Amir. As Hassan was Amir’s servant, Hassan sacrificed himself in order to forgive Amir’s sins. Amir realized that his sins were not simple mistakes that could be forgiven. Amir’s abuse of his superiority brought him only sufferings to himself, not any benefits. This created the Fall in the relationship and eventually that fall brought the end, death, to their relationship. However, Amir’s dedication to wash his guilt brought a rebirth to their relationship in the end. Amir and Hassan’s relationship was very complicated, as their relationship undermined chronologically. At first, their relationship was very pleasant almost as close as if they were in a same bloodline; â€Å"Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break †¦ We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard† (Hosseini 11). This explains that they were like brothers since they were born. However, the perspectives of the people do not allow two people with different classes to get along well: â€Å"We were at Ghargha Lake, you[Amir] , me[Hassan] , Father, Agha sahib, Rahim Khan, and thousands of other people †¦ no one was swimming because they said a monster had come to the lake †¦ and before anyone can stop you[Amir], you dive into the water, start swimming away. I[Hassan] follow you in and we’re both swimming †¦ We turn to the shore and wave to the people †¦ They see now. There is no monster, just water† (Hosseini 59-60). This shows that even though there was social discrimination between Pasthun and Hazara, they could get along well. After the kite fighting, Hassan wanted to bring Amir the blue kite back for him. He left to search for the kite and said, â€Å"For you, a thousand times over† (Hosseini 67). This shows that Hassan is in good relationship with Amir, not just as a servant, but still as a friend. However, the sacrifice for the kite was willingly done by Hassan and the guilt Amir got from Hassan’s deed undermined their relationship. This change in relationship was shown during the pomegranate scene: â€Å"Hit me back! † I[Amir] spat. â€Å"Hit me back goddamn you! † I wished he[Hassan] would. I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night †¦ Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. â€Å"There,† †¦ â€Å"Are you satisfied? Do you feel better? † (Hosseini 92-93). Moreover, Amir explained about the change in their relationship like this: â€Å"There is no monster, he’d said, just water. Except he’d been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster† (Hosseini 86). The relationship worsened and eventually fell apart when Hassan and Ali left Amir’s house. Amir and Baba left Kabul and went to the United States for peaceful life. Although Amir grew older and a long time passed, he could not forget about his sin toward Hassan. The death of the relationship he created was too intense for Amir to overcome. In order to live without guilt, he searched a way to settle everything as it were before; Amir went back to Kabul in order to wash his sin with Farid’s help. His eager to get recognized by his father when he was little led him go to Kabul and risk his life to cleanse his past and to reinvigorate the relationship between Amir and Hassan. â€Å"I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this. I remembered the day on the hill I had pelted hassan with pomegranates and tried to provoke him he’d taken the pomegranate from my hand, crushed it against his forehead †¦ I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed† (Hosseini 289). As a result of this treatment, Amir recreated the lost friendship and restructured the old family, however, without the barrier between the superior and the inferior. In the end, Amir forgave himself by establishing the new relationship between him and Sorab. The resolution of the story is reached by the love Amir provided to Sorab with the â€Å"Kite†. Just like Hassan, the kite runner for Amir with the self-sacrifice, Amir became Sorab’s kite runner in order to give him love that he failed to give to Hassan. Amir also said this to his son, Sorab: â€Å"For you, a thousand times over† (Hosseini 371). This decorates the grand finale of the story with happy-ending. Social Conflicts: the Superior and the Inferior According to the book â€Å"Kite Runner†, it deals with the conflict between the superior and the inferior: Pashtun and Hazara. As it was shown in the book, the inferior suffers with the sacrifice and the superior abuses his power for his own satisfaction. These things actually has been happening in the real life in many cultures. A lot of incidents are the â€Å"Fall† of the human societies that need to be fixed, but cannot because of the influence of other people and the culture. More specifically, race, gender and ages are the main Falls of the human societies that can still be seen throughout the world. In terms of race, this problem has still not been completely solved; there are still a lot of racist movements and creating stereotypical jokes about races. These racist movements come from a thought that specific ethnic group feels that they are superior to the others, such as Nazis. For example, in Korea, we have a lot of stereotypical thoughts about specific ethnic groups. A lot of people are very racist against black people just because they were the victims of the slaves before the equality movements. Some people even refer the black people as â€Å"black slaves† or other slangs that we have, similar to the English racist word, the â€Å"n-word†. I personally consider this a serious problem. We also think that Japanese people are bad because of our dependency on the past perspectives. In the past our views toward the Japanese were terrible because of the Japanese occupation in Korea. Moreover, we often generalize about the Japanese people because the government is wrong and a person states a wrong view. For example, there is a Korean island, Dokdo. It has been our territory for over a thousand year, and recently, the Japanese government decided to teach the children that Dokdo is theirs, calling it in their own way, Dakesima. This was one of the reason we started to hate the Japanese people, when we actually have to hate the Japanese government. These racist thoughts are not disappearing but turning into some kind of jokes that people make fun of other races. More of a general topic is gender. The human genders are equal according to the laws, however, there are still discrimination between men and women. Throughout the history, men have been superior to women because men are stronger. Even though it’s been improved, women have disadvantages in a lot of matters. For example, my cousin is 29, and she works as a teacher at a school. There are two English teachers and she is one of them. I was mad that our society is still biased that men are better than women when she said that even though they teach same amount of time, she gets less money than the other teacher, just because she is a woman and the other teacher is a man. We can see this kind of Fall in more global terms; there has been no woman president yet in America and in many other countries. This shows that people are biased against women, but do not show that they are prejudiced. This clearly shows the Fall of our societies in terms of gender issues. Last one is very specific issue that as far as I know, only two countries have troubles with: Japan and Korea. It was originally a Japanese culture that derived from Confucianism about how elders must be respected by the younger ones. This seems like a general rule that a lot of people go by, but this was a little bit extreme in Japan to the extent where only one year difference makes the older one the superior and the younger one the inferior. This culture came into Korea when Korea was under Japanese rule. It is still in practice even among the McCallie Korean community. First of all the most ridiculous aspect about this custom is that we use polite language to the older ones. For example, if it was for English, we would put Mr.or Mrs. in front of their name and we would not say anything that will offend the older ones, not even jokes. It really reflects the relationship between Amir and Hassan. I can compare the older people to Amir and the younger people to Hassan. The older and younger people have friendship but also the younger one has to respect the older ones, just like Hassan obeys Amir. This is a â€Å"Fall† in korean societies. I think it is too conservative culture that we keep for no reason. We have Confucianism rooted in our societies even the parts that should not be applied in nowadays. Overall, globally, there are still a lot of â€Å"Falls† that we can connect to the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Race superiority, gender difference, and status difference by age are just categories that we should get rid of because they are out of date. According to the laws, all the race and gender are the same. The custom about the age in Korea and Japan is very inefficient custom that will hold us back from economic growth and political growth. These are the â€Å"Falls† that might bring â€Å"Death† to our societies, which we might not be able to find a way to recuperate. Therefore, we should just stop the â€Å"Fall†s and rise up. Writer’s Memo By doing this project, I could really focus on Analysis with quotations and connecting the main themes of the analysis with my personal essay. When I first talked about the project with Mr. Chakwin, I was still not sure about the essay writing about the Korean society because it was weird to criticize my own culture. On the other hand, I thought this could be a great experience writing a paper about problems that I encounter in the near society. Moreover, by reading the Kite Runner, I truly understood how we can see the Falls in our societies that need to be fixed. It was a bit of a shock to realize that we still have so many problems in our world, which should have been resolved in the earlier era. I think it was very worthwhile moment I had writing and really think about the problems that my generation will have to deal with in the future. Process Journal For the process of this project, I shared this document through e-mail so you can see the revision history. I basically thought of the things to write when you were talking about the pomegranate scene during the class and how that could relate to specific examples. I started writing in the writing center, but since I don’t have Microsoft Word on my computer, I just sent myself an e-mail of the work process. So you can’t see the earlier works that I did before the exam week, but you can still see how my essay changed Bibliography Chakwin, Tim. Talk about the Pomegranate Scene. Personal interview. May 2013. Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print. Larson, Marisa. Hazara People. National Geographic. National Geographic, 17th June 2008. Web. 29 May 2013..

Mexican Drug Issues Essay -- Legal Issues, Drugs, Politics

Many problems currently plague the Central American nation of Mexico. Among the most sever of these problems is drug trafficking and production. These problems have been around for hundreds of years but not at such a severe level that is seen now. Many different things work to together to make these problems extremely sever. The misconception throughout the world is that these are to root of the causes. Despite popular sentiment these problems are not caused by individuals in Mexico rather, they are instead caused by external sources acting on and many times taking advantage of Mexico. The main cause for the current drug problems in Mexico is the way the government is and was structured and the external influences on Mexico. Throughout history many counties have â€Å"put their hand† in the politics and government of Mexico. The United States and many other European nations have repeatedly set up â€Å"puppet governments† to make it seem like they were giving the people a say when in fact they controlled the government. These so called democracies often existed just so that a foreign government could protect its own interests and business. When it came time for great amounts of political change these puppet governments easily fell and dictatorships and unstable government resulted. Throughout the history of Mexico the United States has intervened into both political and economic actions. When Mexico had finally established a stable government they defaulted on many international loans and owed money to France. France therefore had established an inva sion force and was waiting in the Gulf of Mexico, when word of this reached Washington the US sent thousands of troops again into Mexico. This action destabilized an already faltering governm... ...Many solutions can be offered to solve these problems the most important is an international response. The United States and the world must agree to recognize the current problems as potentially dangerous to global stability and to US stability. Mexico cannot provide the economic or military power needed to disperse these problems. A plan must be drawn up among world leaders to provide aid to the Mexican Government. Another solution can be a global crackdown on drug use; we must first destroy the demand around the world for these illegal substances and then address the weakness of the Mexican government to handle these problems in the future. These among other solution will help to stabilize Mexico. I think that the global community should realize that we all played a role however small in creating these problems and now we should all play a role in solving them.

Poverty in Africa

Poverty in Africa More than 800 million people fall asleep starving every day, and 300 million of those 800 are only children. Poverty is a global crisis, something that affects many in a horrible way. â€Å"Poverty is going empty, with no hope for the future. Poverty is like watching your mother father, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn’t get something to eat. † Poverty has been around for ages, and will always be around. It is always there and will always be a problem. It could have been avoided, and can be treated if we follow the Gospels.The Gospels have many parables and teachings about the poor, and we can link that to poverty today. Poverty affects many children in Africa. In Africa 40 to 70% of the population lives in slums, and the child mortality rate in those slums is 65% higher. The children in these slums live a terrible life. Here in Canada, we have houses and apartments, condos and duplexes; all of these living condit ions are fine. Some people complain their house is too small, or they have to share a room. Imagine having no room to share or no house at all.When people complain about having a small house, they should imagine living in an overcrowded shack with no floors, no water, and no electricity. People in Africa have to live in those shacks. The church teaches us many helpful things. Jesus stands on side of the poor, and so must we. If we all put the needs of the poor in front of our own needs, we would not have children starving to death in Africa. The Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:16-30) is about a man that asks Jesus for eternal life, and what he will have to do to get it. Jesus asks tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, the man sighs.Jesus also tells the man to follow the 10 commandments. The religious truth is to follow the 10 commandments and to be kind, and donate to the poor. The Judgement of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) is about the Lord separating th e good people from bad. He tells the good thank-you for caring about him, and he tells the bad they did not help him. Both groups question and say they did nothing to him. God then says the good people did something for the poor, and the bad people did nothing for the poor. The religious truth in this is to treat the poor as if they are God.Poverty is a huge problem and it can be treated, and could have been avoided. If we followed the Gospels, and we followed what God told us to do, we wouldn’t have this problem. People are very ignorant, and think for themselves. If we all gave 5% of our pay checks to starving children it would make a huge difference. Even if everyone follows the 10 commandments, poverty would improve. The world is full of billions and billions of people live in the world today, and if even a third of those billions tried to help poverty we would see a difference.People need to start thinking about the poor more. We should all treat the poor, as if they are God. We should act as if each of those starving children we’re a piece of God. If someone saw God starving and in pain, they would help him. With poverty, it should be the same way. We should see people who are hungry, or even know of people who are hungry, and we should help them in some way. The Gospels teach us this, and many people read the Gospels, so why don’t people do it. People should do what the Gospel’s say and we would have a lot less people who are dying, and starving. Poverty in Africa Poverty in Africa More than 800 million people fall asleep starving every day, and 300 million of those 800 are only children. Poverty is a global crisis, something that affects many in a horrible way. â€Å"Poverty is going empty, with no hope for the future. Poverty is like watching your mother father, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn’t get something to eat. † Poverty has been around for ages, and will always be around. It is always there and will always be a problem. It could have been avoided, and can be treated if we follow the Gospels.The Gospels have many parables and teachings about the poor, and we can link that to poverty today. Poverty affects many children in Africa. In Africa 40 to 70% of the population lives in slums, and the child mortality rate in those slums is 65% higher. The children in these slums live a terrible life. Here in Canada, we have houses and apartments, condos and duplexes; all of these living condit ions are fine. Some people complain their house is too small, or they have to share a room. Imagine having no room to share or no house at all.When people complain about having a small house, they should imagine living in an overcrowded shack with no floors, no water, and no electricity. People in Africa have to live in those shacks. The church teaches us many helpful things. Jesus stands on side of the poor, and so must we. If we all put the needs of the poor in front of our own needs, we would not have children starving to death in Africa. The Rich Young Man (Matthew 19:16-30) is about a man that asks Jesus for eternal life, and what he will have to do to get it. Jesus asks tells him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, the man sighs.Jesus also tells the man to follow the 10 commandments. The religious truth is to follow the 10 commandments and to be kind, and donate to the poor. The Judgement of the Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) is about the Lord separating th e good people from bad. He tells the good thank-you for caring about him, and he tells the bad they did not help him. Both groups question and say they did nothing to him. God then says the good people did something for the poor, and the bad people did nothing for the poor. The religious truth in this is to treat the poor as if they are God.Poverty is a huge problem and it can be treated, and could have been avoided. If we followed the Gospels, and we followed what God told us to do, we wouldn’t have this problem. People are very ignorant, and think for themselves. If we all gave 5% of our pay checks to starving children it would make a huge difference. Even if everyone follows the 10 commandments, poverty would improve. The world is full of billions and billions of people live in the world today, and if even a third of those billions tried to help poverty we would see a difference.People need to start thinking about the poor more. We should all treat the poor, as if they are God. We should act as if each of those starving children we’re a piece of God. If someone saw God starving and in pain, they would help him. With poverty, it should be the same way. We should see people who are hungry, or even know of people who are hungry, and we should help them in some way. The Gospels teach us this, and many people read the Gospels, so why don’t people do it. People should do what the Gospel’s say and we would have a lot less people who are dying, and starving.

The Problem Of Teenage Pregnancy - 1894 Words

Introduction Billions of dollars are spent annually to address consequences facing teens that are sexually active (Carlson Tanner 2006). Yet forty percent of all women will become pregnant before the age of twenty and only half of them will actually deliver the baby (Kirby 2007). Out of that 20%, 82% of those pregnancies were unintended (Kirby 2007). Teenaged parents are more likely to drop out of high school, will not go to college, and the mother more than likely becomes a single parent (Kirby 2007). Children who are born to teenage parents are more likely to have a less supportive and less stimulating home environment, lower cognitive development, behavioral problems, and will most likely have a child when they are a teenager (Kirby 2007). Though there are some exceptions, this becomes a never ending cycle for these teenagers from generation to generation. Most people begin to have sex in their teenaged years (Carlson Tanner 2006). Out of all industrialized nations, the United States has the highest teenage pregnancy and birth rate (Gibson 2010). Educating youth about sex is very essential to not only preventing STDs, STIs, and HIV but also in preventing unwanted teenage pregnancies (Gibson 2010). Many teenagers are engaging in sexual activity beginning as early as 6th grade (Somers Surmann 2005). Many teenagers do not carefully or consistently use a contraceptive which increases their chances of becoming pregnant (Kirby 2007). Have we failed our youth by notShow MoreRelatedThe Problem Of Teenage Pregnancy1720 Words   |  7 Pages Like Amy and Loeber (2009), when it comes to the ecological paradigm of teenage pregnancy, Corcoran, Franklin, and Bennett (2000) also believe one’s socioeconomic status is a huge factor that contributes to this problem. A person’s socioeconomic status a lot of times determines â€Å"education, expanded family size, single-parent household structure, and lessened resources in terms of employment and income.† These three authors claim that educational performance and goals â€Å"dictate the potential costsRead MoreThe Problem Of Teenage Pregnancy Essay2119 Words   |  9 PagesStatement of the Problem Most people say that your teenage years are supposed to be the best years of your life; Finding your place in this world, mostly carefree (with the exceptions of homework and parents), and most of all, having the least amount of responsibilities you will have before you reach adulthood. Sadly, some teens do not get to live this luxury. Many girls in this generation become mothers while they are still considered children. There are approximately 1.3 million homeless teensRead MoreThe Social Problem With Teenage Pregnancy1358 Words   |  6 PagesThe social problem with teenage pregnancy is one to be aware of. Throughout the years we have seen the numbers all across the spectrum. This being, the number of pregnant teenage girls has decreased in recent years, but on the other hand, has also been pretty high ten to twenty years ago. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), â€Å"In 2013, a total of 273,105 babies were born to women ages 15-19 years, for a live birth rate of 26.5 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is a record low forRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy : A Serious Problem1690 Words   |  7 PagesTeenage pregnancy is widely viewed in our society as a serious problem. According to Pregnant Teen Help, over 750,000 teenagers will get pregnant each year. This is a statistic that has lowered in numbers since the 1990’s mainly due to more teen pregnancy prevention programs in schools and contraceptive availability(). The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate than any other industrialized country in the world. About a third of these teens abort their pregnancies, 14 percent suffer aRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy Is Becoming A Problem921 Words   |  4 PagesEarly pregnancy is becoming more of a problem every year. More and more teenagers are becoming pregnant and becoming young mothers. There are many reasons on why this is such a problem. For instance, young mothers drop out of high school, their bodies are not mature enough, not as financially stable as they should be, and many other reasons. In the periodal How to Stop Teen Pregnancies, it states â€Å"When teenage girls have babies, they are in danger. They more likely will suffer serious health problemsRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy Is A Growing Problem1782 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction Teenage pregnancy is a growing problem today even though statistically over the history it has improved the U.S. still has the highest teen pregnancy rate. These issues have a spiraling effect with the teenage parents or the mother. Financial, academic, and childcare for a teenage parent can be stressful and demanding more so with a teenager. Not only will the child of the teenager be affected but the parent and the community will have adverse effect. Thesis Even though with properRead MoreThe Social Problem Of Teenage Pregnancy929 Words   |  4 Pagespositive. Occasionally, â€Å"average age† parents are not sufficiently prepared to deal with parenthood, thus a teenager is greatly less prepared. Therefore, teenage pregnancy has become a major social problem which fundaments should be understood in order to provide a solution to it. In order to understand a social problem such as teenage pregnancy, it is important to look firstly at its causes. In the first place, parents are of immense importance regarding a child’s development because they are theRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy And Parenthood As A Social Problem1466 Words   |  6 PagesTeenage pregnancy and parenthood as a social problem Question – To what extent should we regard the efforts of recent governments to reduce teenage pregnancy and early parenthood as successful? * Source 1 Williams-Wheeler, D. (2004). The unplanned pregnancy book for teens and college students, Virginia Beach, VA: Sparkledoll Productions. The information gathered from this source is definitely devoted to the topic of teenage pregnancy because it is a helpful guide to those handling unplanned pregnanciesRead MorePublic Health Problem Of Teenage Pregnancy2260 Words   |  10 PagesPublic Health Problem Teenage pregnancy has been a common public health problem in society, particularly in America. When an individual hears that 15 year old girl is pregnant, people perceive it as a negative connotation. The average age to have a child today is 28 years old (Jewkes, Morrell, Christofides, 2009).   Adolescent pregnancies are preventable, but are still bound to happen today and in the future (Langille, 2007). This is a problem is society due to teenagers not being able to supportRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy : Society s Biggest Problem1503 Words   |  7 Pages Teenage Pregnancy Teenage Pregnancy is society s biggest problem, there are so many ways to prevent it, also many advices from people and many decisions a teen parent must make in life. It is today s biggest issue because it affects teen parent s future in many results. The three most important things that it affects is education, financial problems, and being a teenage parent. Those three important things are key to each other in order to succeed in life. Teenage Parents are most