Mystery Skype

The Mystery Skype was an interesting activity. Something new that I learned from the Skype was that the education provided for the Native students in their opinion is excellent. I wasn't sure about the quality of their education because the stereotypes about Natives suggest that they do not have great education and most of them are drop outs. Also, when they were asked about how they felt about the 8th Fire documentary, they said that it made them feel sad. I learned that the stereotypes of Natives are not all true from the students on the reserves.

The thing which I really enjoyed was trying to figure out where the other class was from. I liked this because it was fun narrowing down a specific part of the world and try to guess what school they went to and what reserve they lived on. Another thing that I liked form the Mystery Skype was the fact that we won because we guessed their school before they were able to find out the name of ours.

I felt like everything went fairly well during the class. It is a good experience to talk to people who are actually experiencing the stereotypes that we learned about in class. It's one thing to see stereotypes happening in movies and it's another thing to see it in real life. This is a great exercise and I think it should be continued.

Amir's Quest for a Guilt Free Mind

Even though Amir didn't tell anybody that he witnessed the rape, Rahim Khan still knew. This is shown when he calls Amir in California and asks him to "come. There is a way to be good again" (202). Following this phone call, Amir goes to Rahim's house and while he's there, Rahim tells him everything about Hassan and his family. He informs Amir that Hassan and his wife have died and thier only son Sohrab, is living in an orphanage. Rahim wants Amir to get Sohrab and deliver him to an orphanage in Islamabad. In addition to finding out where Hassan was, Amir finds out the biggest secret of his life; Hassan and himself are half brothers. Baba had kept this secret his entire life which was ironic because Baba himself, had told Amir that theft is the unforgivable sin. After giving it thought, Amir decides to find Sohrab and bring him to the safer orphanage because he believes that it will help him cope with his guilty mind. After he finds Sohrab, he takes him back to America, and introduces him to kite running. He wants to become guilt free, so he gives a lot of his time to Sohrab. I think Amir is on the right track to be forgiven. It will take more time to get to know Sohrab, but I am sure that Amir will have a guilt free mind very soon.

The Two Sides of Afghanistan

Amir and Hassan's relationship is a very interesting one. On one hand we have Amir, a smart Pashtun boy who come from a very rich and reputable family. On the other hand is Hassan, a poor Hazara who cooks and cleans up for Amir. Despite having these differences, they play with each other everyday after school. Hassan will do anything for Amir's safety and acceptance. This is evidenced multiple times in this novel so far. The scene where Hassan runs Amir's kite for him and is trapped by the bullies shows this. Hassan has the blue kite with him, but the bullies want it for themselves. To Hassan, his friendship with Amir is so powerful that he will give up anything to the bullies except for Amir's kite. He knows how important it is for Amir to be accepted by his father and the only way to do that is to show the kite to him. Hassan gives up his self respect and dignity to the bullies for Amir's happiness. Even though Hassan would literally give everything he has to keep a friendship with Amir, he doesn't have this this mutual respect for Hassan. Amir saw everything that happened in the alley with Hassan and the bullies, but refuses to do anything about it. He stands there and watches this 12 year old boy give up his dignity for a mere kite. Amir doesn't value their relationship enough to step in and even try to stop what the bullies were about to do. Instead, he runs home, pretending as if nothing had happened and waits for Hassan to give him his kite. Hosseini really exercises the Pashtun and Hazara relationship in Afghanistan. He uses Hassan to represent the Hazaras and Amir to represent the Pashtuns and the discrimination that occurred in the 1970's.