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Essaying the Kite Runner

September 27, 2017 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

Now we’re going to try and write an essay. We’re going to take a look at question 1 again:

1. Choose a novel or short story in which there is a character who experiences rejection or isolation. With reference to appropriate techniques, explain the rejection or isolation, and discuss how this aspect adds to your appreciation of the text as a whole.

If this was your question and you’ve started off your essay by giving this intro:
In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini there is a character Amir, who experiences isolation when he isolates himself because he experiences guilt at letting Hassan get raped. In the story Amir must make up for letting his best friend Hassan get raped by rescuing his nephew Sohrab from the Taliban. We can look at how Amir‘s isolation is important to our appreciation of the text as a whole by helping us understand that it is important to redeem yourself even if it is a hard thing to do.

Then we need to focus on Amir isolating himself and how this plays into the bigger theme of redemption. To begin with we’re going to note the POINTs when Amir isolates himself – the rape scene. Our next comment should be on how Amir goes on to isolate himself from Hassan, and then unwittingly from his father Baba. We can then begin to talk about how he comes back from this self-isolation by returning to Afghanistan at Rahim Khan’s request and rescuing his nephew. Then there is the sense of redemption at the end as he has finally managed to resolve things with Hassan’s memory. Our five points then would be something like:

1. Amir witnesses the rape and becomes guilty at Hassan’s sacrifice
2. He cannot deal with the rape and pushes Hassan away, attempting to fight him and eventually framing him
3. Rahim Khan explains that there is a way to be good again and he doesn’t need to be guilty anymore.
4. He gets Sohrab back and experiences a catharsis at finally confronting Assef.
5. He becomes the good man Baba wanted him to be and there is hope for Sohrab’s future.

Now, obviously that alone isn’t enough to write your whole essay. We will need to flesh this out with EVIDENCE from the text. What would we note down for these different sections? For each piece of EVIDENCE we need to explain how it is doing what it is doing. For a Higher essay some of our POINTs may have more than one piece of EVIDENCE which we will put in the same paragraph, or series of paragraphs. When we round off a paragraph we need to refer back to the question to show how that POINT is relevant. This is your LINK BACK. We’re going to put this plan together now:

PARAGRAPH 1:
P: Amir witnesses the rape and becomes guilty at Hassan’s sacrifice
E: “It was the look of the lamb”
Metaphor and alliteration to draw attention to what he is saying. The lamb is a symbol for Hassan. The lamb is sacrificed just like Hassan sacrifices himself for Amir and the kite trophy.
L: This event and the trauma of letting it happen is what causes Amir to isolate himself from those around him, especially Hassan who he feels he cannot face.

PARAGRPH 2:
P: He cannot deal with the rape and pushes Hassan away, attempting to fight him and eventually framing him.
E: “Coward! Coward!”
E: Speech that is shouted hence the exclamations. Amir calls Hassan a coward but really he is talking about himself. As he does this he throws pomegranates at Hassan. Pomegranates = friendship. Friendship is dead.
E: “Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin, raspy voice: Yes”
E: Word choice thin raspy = Hassan’s low state. Yes = Hassan covering for Amir to get away from him.
L: Amir is incapable of processing or dealing with his guilt at what he has allowed to happen to Hassan and so he pushes him as far away as possible. This is what he will have to redeem in the future – the hurt he causes his best friend (and brother).

PARAGRAPH 3:
P: Rahim Khan explains that there is a way to be good again and he doesn’t need to be guilty anymore.
E: “There is a way to be good again”
E: instruction and challenge set by Rahim Khan. Idea that Amir was once a good person.
L: This phone call gives Amir the push he needs to leave his self-isolation and make things good.

PARAGRAPH 4:
P: He gets Sohrab back and experiences a catharsis at finally confronting Assef.
E: “My body was broken…but I felt healed. I laughed.”
E: Alliteration on ‘b’ and the plosiveness matches the sound of his bones breaking and so adds to the violence of the scene. The ellipses is to make us pause as he contrasts with his physical pain by telling us he was mentally relieved. He was ‘healed’ word choice tells us he was whole again. The ‘laughing’ shows us his relief.
L: Amir’s isolation was caused because he didn’t do the right thing the first time around. Now he does the right thing by preventing a rape and taking the beating he should have had in the first place.

PARAGRAPH 5:
P: He becomes the good man Baba wanted him to be and there is hope for Sohrab’s future showing complete redemption and becoming a good person.
E: You will not refer to him as ‘that Hazara boy’ in front of me again. He has a name and it is Sohrab
E: standing up to Soraya’s father. The words are words once used against Hassan. Amir is finally learning to be a good person.
E: For you a thousand times over
E: he can finally speak the words Hassan once said to him and mean them. That he is willing to do anything for someone else.
E: It was only a smile, nothing more… but I’ll take it.
E: The smile shows hope for Sohrab’s future, and their future as a family unit.
L: Amir has made things right and no longer has to feel isolated.

CONCLUSION:
The isolation was caused by Amir because he couldn’t handle his guilt. This lead to him having to redeem himself, something that Hosseini wanted us to think about. Amir eventually came out of his isolation at the request of Rahim Khan and he made things right by rescuing Sohrab.

Now attempt to write an essay using this plan.

national 5

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde setting essay

May 3, 2016 Ms Davidson 22 Comments

Choose a novel in which setting is an important feature.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a novel in which setting plays an important feature. In the book Dr Jekyll represents good and Mr Hyde represents evil, yet they are technically the same person and come to symbolise the good and evil in all of us. The novel is set in London but draws heavily on Stevenson’s knowledge of his hometown Edinburgh to create a chilling setting which emphasises the themes of good and evil.

Setting is most important as a symbol for the characters of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Jekyll owns a fancy town house with a tumble down lab on the back. The town house is described as having an ‘open fire’ in the front hall. This represents Jekyll as it is warm and inviting and hugely welcoming – all things that match Jekyll’s character. The fact that he can build a fire in his front hall and not just his main rooms suggests he is wealthy and likes to display his wealth. Again it is a symbol for the man himself. We are also told that the street on which his house sits is filled with similar houses – his though is the only one kept clean and tidy and whole, the rest have become slightly messy. This is in keeping with Jekyll’s character as we know he is concerned with his reputation and making himself look good to other people which his house certainly does. Hyde on the other hand is a secretive creature who doesn’t so much lurk in the shadows as lives only in the night. He doesn’t hide from other people but he doesn’t really interact with them either, or encourage interactions. The lab door sums up his character perfectly. Unlike the main house it juts out on an alley street, its windows are covered and the door bears no knocker and hasn’t been cleaned for entry. The windows emulate Hyde’s private nature, he doesn’t want people prying into his business. The lack of a knocker shows he doesn’t want or expect guests. The untidiness of the doorway similarly keeps people from visiting. The text also describes the lab as a ‘sinister block of buildings’ – there is something off about them, just like we are told there is something off or ‘deformed’ about Hyde’s appearance. Setting here, in the form of the house, serves to reinforce the characters of Hyde and Jekyll and further highlights the theme of good versus evil.

The Victorian London setting is important because it is what pushes Jekyll into making Hyde. Stevenson had apparently considered setting his tale in Edinburgh, with its sordid, poverty-stricken old town and glossy, illustrious new town making clear allusions to Jekyll and Hyde’s personalities again. However, in high London society a man’s reputation was everything and he had to behave. It is far easier to explain Jekyll’s actions against the backdrop of London society than Edinburgh’s. Jekyll is repressed by his lifestyle as a rich doctor, it is only as Hyde that he can do what he actually wants and so he creates Hyde. The setting is important here because it is what forces Jekyll’s hand into making an alternative persona for himself.

Setting is important in the initial chapters where Utterson’s dream makes the minotaur and his maze a metaphor for Hyde and his London. We have already had descriptions of Hyde as a ‘juggernaut’ something huge and threatening. This image is built up further with his comparison to the minotaur, a monstrous beast that was used to control and terrorise the Greek town of Minos. Hyde similarly terrorises the occupants of London as he will trample and destroy any who get in his way – the little girl and Sir Carew. London’s twisting medieval streets and fogged new streets become the maze in which the minotaur was kept. You never know when the minotaur or Hyde might appear to hurt you. Setting then becomes a metaphor for the playground of evil.

Setting is also important as Stevenson often uses dramatic epithet to show a change in the mood of a scene to show that something is about to happen. We are often told about the ‘rolling fog’ in the streets of London. It hides Hyde literally and cloaks the shady characters of the night. In the final chapters of the novel the fog becomes a horrible storm, rain lashes and the streets are empty. This adds a sense of foreboding as we know something is going to happen the streets are too physically quiet of people as if something bad is about to happen. Utterson is then escorted by Poole to Jekyll’s house and we finally discover that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. Setting here was used to suggest and hint that the plot was about to take a turn for the worst.

Higher

The Kite Runner sample essays

March 3, 2015 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

These have been lifted from the prelim papers. All of them demonstrate the use of PEEL structure. Work your way through them and see if you can identify where they have made their point, presented evidence, analysed evidence and taken it back to the main question.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel in which an incident represents a turning point in the text. This essay will briefly explain what happens during the incident and will go on to discuss its importance to my understanding of the text as a whole. During the Kite Runner, Hassan is raped by Assed and Amir, his friend, stands back an doesn’t interfere. This creates dark undertones within the book creating a turning point.
After the win of the kite tournament for Amir and Hassan. Amir screams “we won! We won!” this shows that Amir thinks of Hassan as an equal with him. The two boys are ecstatic jumping about when Hassan decides to run the kite for Amir to keep as a reminder of the win. As he runs away he states “for you a thousand times over”, this shows us that Hassan would do anything for Amir, showing his love for him. Hassan is gone a long time when Amir goes to find him, however Amir finds him cornered by Assef and his bullies and overhears Assef demanding the kite from Hassan. Hassan puts a front up and refuses to hand over the kite. Assef states, “it’s only going to cost you that blue kite”. However, Hassan still refuses. This left Assef angry and he began to rape Hassan. Amir was scared and did not interfere; he just stood back and allowed Hassan to sacrifice himself for him. Amir described Hassan’s eyes as having “the look of the lamb” which represents the Eid sacrifice, an Islamic tradition in which a goat is sacrificially killed to prove a Muslim’s love for God. Hassan’s rape acts as a turning point as it proves Hassan’s love for Amir. However, Amir doesn’t interfere in the rape showing he is a coward. This helps my understanding of the text as I know that Hassan’s rape was allowed by Amir and that the rest of the novel will be about Amir’s redemption.
Shortly after the rape, Amir and Hassan go for a walk to the pomegranate tree. In the first instance of seeing the tree it is seen as a happy place for the two boys to go, where Amir reads to Hassan. At one point Amir had carved into the tree “Amir and Hassan, Sultans of Kabul”. This represents Amir’s love for Hassan. At this new stage in the novel, Amir takes pomegranates from the tree and throws them at Hassan as his guilt begins to consume him. Hassan does not react to Amir so he begins to throw pomegranates at Hassan from the tree yelling “Coward! Coward!” This demonstrates that Amir is feeling guilty about not interfering and wants Hassan to punish him for it. This helps my understanding of the text as a whole as the friendship between the two boys is now ruined due to the rape.
Amir’s guilt began to consume him and every time he saw Hassan he felt bad. Amir had enough of seeing him and wanted rid of him, believing this would rid him of the guilty feeling. He framed Hassan by putting some of his money and his birthday watch in Hassan’s room. Baba is told and asks Hassan if he stole the watch to which we are told “Hassan’s reply was delivered in a thin, raspy voice, ‘Yes’”. Amir was shocked as he knew that he had framed Hassan to get rid of him but he never thought Hassan would agree to take the watch when he hadn’t. Amir realised “that this was Hassan’s last sacrifice for him”. This helps my understanding of the text as a whole as Amir has now got his own way to get rid of Hassan to get rid of his own guilt.
Years later after the rape of Hassan and Amir framing him to get rid of him, Rahim Khan phones Amir to come back to Kabul. This is where Rahim Khan explains what’s been happening with the Taliban in Kabul. Hassan has died and Amir must return to look after Hassan’s son, Sohrab. Rahim Khan tells “there is a way to be good again”. This tells us that Rahim Khan knew about Hassan being raped and Amir’s guilt over it. He wishes to give Amir the opportunity to fix it. Hassan may be dead but there is still a way for Amir to mend the break by taking Sohrab in. This helps my understanding of the text as Amir has now lost his friend without being able to apologise for what he did but he has been given the opportunity to fix things he just needs to decide to stop being a coward.
Amir has a chance to redeem himself when he finds out about Sohrab and sets out to rescue him. He eventually tracks him down to a Taliban stronghold where Assef is keeping Sohrab as his toy. Assef is seriously beating up Amir and he has already broken several of his bones but Amir’s reaction is odd – “My body was broken…but I felt healed. I laughed.” Amir is obviously seriously injured at this point. The alliterative ‘body was broken’ emphasises this.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel in which there is an uneasy relationship between two characters. These two characters are Amir and Bab, who are father and son. Amir longs to be the son Baba wants as Baba is severely disappointed with the way he is until much later in life.
When Baba first talks to Rahim Khan about Amir, he describes how he believes Amir should be his ideal son. Rahim Khan tells him that “children are not colouring books, you don’t get to fill them in with your favourite colours.” This suggest that Baba does indeed want to change Amir into what his mind-set of what he should be like but as Rahim Khan says, his son will take his own path not the one Baba is trying to force him on. This creates a conflict between Amir and Baba as Baba does not give Amir the attention he wants. This helps the understanding of the novel because if Amir was a little bit more like his father, the rape of Hassan may have been prevented as Baba is presented as a man who will stand up for himself and everyone around him.
Baba tries to influence Amir later on in the novel to try and make Amir more like him,. He tells Amir two things: “A man who does not stand up for himself, cannot stand up for anything at all” and “there is only one sin, and that is theft…when you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.” The first quote summarises the novel, Amir did not stand up out of fear to help Hassan but later on does stand up to rescue Sohrab and right his wrong, so in fact Baba does influence Amir. But when Baba is alive he did not, it is only after Baba’s death that Amir changes. Maybe it was Baba’s death that gives Amir the push to take up Baba’s principles. However, the second quote more so affects Baba than Amir as Baba lied his whole life to Amir about Hassan being his son. Amir not finding this out until after his death created a conflict as Baba went against his own principles. These two quotes help further my understanding of the novel as it shows the differences between Amir and Baba, and what caused the conflict over the years.
When Amir and Baba leave Kabul there is a problem when the Russian soldier pulls them up and says he will allow the refugees to pass if he is allowed to rape one of the women on the truck. Baba exemplifies his principles by standing up and saying “tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place” while the soldier had the gun pointed at Baba he was serious. He would die trying to save this woman. This causes a conflict Baba has no idea about as the event causes Amir to resent himself as he could not have done what his father did, a fact we know because he didn’t even stand up for Hassan. It creates a barrier between the two as Amir now knows he is not the same as his father, that he not what he wanted to be. This helps me further understand the novel as we are given a time of strength for Baba but a moment of weakness for Amir demonstrating to us his experience, thoughts and emotions.
As seen the relationship between Amir and Baba is uneasy and strained in the first half of the novel. However, a change comes about and the relationship is mended somewhat in the second half of the novel. Amir becomes a writer after receiving a degree, which his father is proud of. Amir marries Soraya, again making his father proud. There is a moment when a conflict is created again as Amir finds out Baba lied to him about Hassan but it is quickly resolved.
When Amir faces Assef (Hassan’s rapist) to save Sohrab he is beaten badly. He tells us “my body was broken…but I felt healed. Healed at last. While this mainly talks about Amir finally righting his wrong it, to me, has a double meaning as now he is like his father, he stands up for others. This helped further my understanding of the text as it now shifts the relationship from an uneasy one to a normal one.
To conclude, Amir and Baba did have an uneasy relationship. Amir was not who his Baba wanted him to be causing a conflict between the two. However, the conflict was resolved in the second half of the novel, restoring their relationship to a normal one.

The novel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel in which a major incident happens which creates a turning point in the novel. The novel is about two boys, Amir and Hassan, who are best friends. During a kite tournament Hassan ran a kite for Amir and because he wouldn’t give it up, he got raped. Amir saw this rape happen and he did nothing about it. When the Russians invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father leave for America. Later on in the novel Amir has to go back to America to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab.
Near the beginning of the novel, Amir and Hassan take part in a kite tournament. Later on after they had won the tournament, Hassan runs a kite for Amir and since he wouldn’t give it up, he for raped. The text says “it was the look of the lamb”. Here, Hassan has sacrificed himself for Amir because Amir really wanted the kite and Hassan saw it as a symbol of his love and friendship for Amir. During the Eid sacrifice a sheep would have its throat slit so that people could show their love to God. When Amir says that he saw the “look of the lamb”, he is describing the look of acceptance in Hassan’s eyes. Hassan was accepting the rape for Amir. This is important in the understanding of the text as a whole because this is what starts off the events of Amir’s life in trying to redeem himself for not helping Hassan.
After this incident Amir plants his very expensive watch in Hassan’s room because he feels horrible about what happened. When asked whether he stole the watch or not the text says “Hassan’s reply was delivered in a thin, raspy voice: yes”. Here, when Hassan is confronted, Amir is shocked that Hassan agreed that he took the watch when in actual fact he didn’t. Amir was expecting Hassan to say no so that Amir could feel a bit better. However, this shows that Hassan will always stand up for Amir. This is important to the understanding o f the text as a whole as Amir later realises that this was Hassan’s last sacrifice for him.
Later in the novel, Amir has moved to America and he now has a wife. He then gets a call from Rahim Khan asking him to return to Afghanistan as there is something he needs to do. The text says “there is a way to be good again”. This refers to the rape of Hasan. This was said because Rahim Khan, Amir’s friend, knows about the rape and he knows that Amir still feels bad about it. The text also says “Ali was sterile”. Ali was Hassan’s father but Baba, who is Amir’s dad, is actually Hassan’s biological father. When Amir realises this he is annoyed because his whole life has been a lie. At first he didn’t want to go and rescue Sohrab, who is Hassan’s son, but then he realises that he has to. This is important to the understanding of the text as a whole because Amir realises why he has to save Sohrab, and this is the start of him making up for his mistake.
When Amir goes to get Sohrab, he is confronted by Assef. Assef is the one who raped Hassan and now he is sexually abusing his son. The text says “my body was broken…but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed. “ to get Sohrab back, Assef made Amir fight him. During this fight Amir feels good for once, even though he could die, because he is getting the beating that he would have gotten if he stood up to Assef at the time that Hassan was raped. He feels ‘healed’ because he no longer has the burden of not helping Hassan on his shoulders because here, he is sacrificing himself for Hassan. This is important to the understanding of the text as a whole as Amir has finally done the right thing. He stood up to Assef and sacrificed himself for Hassan to save Sohrab.
At the end of the novel, we see Amir and Sohrab getting back to America safely. Whilst having dinner one night General Sahib, who is Amir’s father-in-law, made a comment about Sohrab being a Hazara. Amir responds by saying “you will never refer to him as a Hazara boy in my presence again. He has a name and it is Sohrab.” Here, Amir has finally found the courage to stand up to the General and to stand up for others. This shows that Amir has changed for the better. This is important to the understanding of the text as a whole because Amir is finally able to stand up for those that he loves, which is something he would never have done before.
In conclusion, The Kite Runner is a novel in which the rape of Hassan is important in the understanding of the text as a whole. The rape develops the text through Amir who saw it happen as he then has to make up for his mistake of not helping Hassan. Later on he does this by going to Afghanistan and saving Sohrab, Hassan’s son, from the Taliban. In doing this, he gets a beating and after everything that’s happened, he is finally able to stand up for those that he loves.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel where there is a troubled relationship between two characters. Amir and Hassan are best friends. Hassan is raped in the novel when he sacrifices himself for Amir. Amir watches the horrific incident take place and could have stopped it from happening but he didn’t. Amir’s guilt causes him to dislike Hassan and he cannot bear to be with him.
The first instance in the novel which causes the boys friendship to collapse is when Hassan is raped. Amir says he saw “the look of the lamb” as he gets a glimpse of Hassan’s face. Hassan was trying to collect Amir’s kite which they won in the kite tournament. On finding the kite Hassan is ambushed by three of the local bullies. He refuses to give up the kite to them because he knows how precious it is to Amir and the boys assault him. Amir watches. The “look of the lamb” symbolises the Eid sacrifice which is a Muslim tradition. It represents Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God. Hassan is sacrificing himself for Amir’s friendship. At this point in the novel this is when the boys friendship starts to decline.
Another instance where the boys’ friendship decreases is when Amir throws the pomegranate at Hassan. Amir shouts “Coward! Coward!”. Amir’s guilt is causing him to be angry with Hassan he is taking his anger out on him instead of the bullies. Hassan does nothing when Amir throws the pomegranates he doesn’t care. Through Amir’s anger and frustration for not stopping the rape he is jeopardising his friendship with Hassan. This relates back to the boys friendship because Amir should be helping Hassan, not shouting and throwing pomegranates at him.
Another example of where the boys’ relationship is uneasy is when Amir plants a watch under Hassan’s pillow. Amir got the watch for his birthday. Through his guilt, he cannot bare to look at Hassan anymore. He plants the watch so Baba will send Hassan away. When asked by Baba if he stole the watch “Hassan said with a thin, raspy voice: yes” Hassan understands Amir’s guilt and is sacrificing his home and his future for Amir. This shows how good a friend Hassan is. This relates back to the boys friendship because Hassan is giving up everything for Amir’s guilt.
The last instance where the boy’s friendship is starting to change is when Amir returns to Kabul in search of Sohrab who is Hassan’s orphaned son. Amir returns to Kabul after hearing of Hassan’s tragic death. On returning he finds Sohrab but meets Assef who was the one who raped Hassan and is now sexually abusing Sohrab. Amir gets a beating from Assef, “my body was broken…But I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed”. This is Amir’s guilt at Hassan’s rape disappearing, if he had just stepped in and taken a beating the first time he would have never have had the guilt shadowing his whole life. This refers back to the boys uneasy friendship because this is the end of it. Amir is cleansed from the guilt and he finally got the beating he deserved.
In conclusion, the boys’ friendship had been uneasy and broken because of the rape of Hassan. Then with Amir’s guilt he could not bare Hassan but if he had just taken the beating back then the friendship would never have been broken and Amir and Hassan might still have been friends.

Higher

The Kite Runner – student example essay

January 16, 2015 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

Here is a student example of an essay at Higher level. You will have to excuse the spelling and punctuation errors, there hasn’t been time yet to correct them!

Choose a novel in which has one of the following as its theme; sacrifice, unrequired love; isolation. Discuss the techniques by which the novelist establishes one of these themes and go on to show how, in the end, he or she achieves a satisfactory resolution.

The Kiterunner by Hosseini Khald is a novel in which has a theme of sacrifice; Hassan sacralises himself for Amir. This essay will discuss techniques by which the novelist establishes the theme of sacrifice and will go on to show how in the end Amir achieves a satisfactory resolution by rescuing Hassan’s son from an orphanage in Kabul.
A scene within the book shows the theme of sacrifice is just after the win of the Kite Tournament for Hassan and Amir, Hassan goes to find the kite which was run off and Amir goes off to find him once he has been away for a long time. Amir finds him cornered by Assef whom is demanding the kite however, Hassan refuses. “It’s only going to cost you that blue kite” Assef states, however, Hassan still refuses to give up the kite. Amir stays hidden as he is scared to interfere. This results in the rape of Hassan by Assef due to Hassan refusing to give up the kite, showing his love for Amir as Amir values the kite due to the winning of the Kite Tournament with it. This scene shows a theme of sacrifice as Hassan has sacrificed himself for the Kite to keep Amir happy.
After the rape, Amir frames Hassan for the stealing of his birthday money and his brand new watch that Baba bought for Amir. The reason Amir does this is because he can barely stand to be around Hassan due to his guilt overcoming him for not stepping in and interfering with the rape. “Baba ‘did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch Hassan?” and “Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered with a thin raspy voice ‘Yes’. Amir was token back with Hassan’s reply as Amir knew he was the one who planted the watch in Hassan’s possession. Amir realized that this was Hassan’s last sacrifice for him, as if Hassan had said no, Baba would have believed him and put the blame on Hassan. This shows that Hassan has sacrificed himself for Amir again and Amir has only thrown it back in face.
When Amir goes to Afghanistan to save Sorhab from the orphanage, Amir find’s out that Assef is actually the one who is keeping Sorhab hostage. When Amir attempts to take Sorhab away from Assef, it results in a fight between them both. Here an incidence of sacrifice is shown as Assef has Amir on the ground beating into him, when Sorhab sacrifices himself by aiming Hassan’s sling shot at Assef’s face causing Assef to stop beating Amir, giving a flashback of when Assef and his bullies confronted Amir and Hassan as children. “The slingshot made a twiiiiiit sound when Sorhab realised the cup, then Assef was screaming”. This shows us that Sorhab has put his life in danger by piping up when Assef was beating Amir to save Amir’s life by using the sling shot. This conveys the theme of sacrifice as Sorhab has sacrificed himself to save Amir from Assef.
The next incidence is when Amir is confronted by Assef at the Taliban headquarters, at this point we see Amir redeem himself by finally standing up to Assef and putting him in his place by taking Sorhab home, in a way this is Amir finally standing up for Hassan as he is now saving his son for when Amir refused to save Hassan during the rape. Amir sacrafises himself by putting himself in a position where he could get killed to save Sorhab. However, this quote states that he has finally redeemed himself “My body was broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later – but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed”, this shows us that after Assef beat Amir, he has sacrificed himself and by doing so he saved Sorhab and finally stood up for Hassan.
In conclusion Hassan sacrificed himself for Amir many times; he refused to give up the kite to Assef as he knew Amir would have been devastated which in turn lead to the rape of Hassan, which is sacrificing himself for Amir. Hassan sacrifices himself again when Amir frames him for stealing his new watch, in which Hassan agrees to have stolen. Amir also sacrificed himself to save Sorhab from the Taliban and to take him back to America. This shows that throughout this tale, Amir and Hassan have both sacrificed themselves at one point to benefit each other in return.

Higher

The Kite Runner – sample essay

January 16, 2015 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

Higher

The Kite Runner – Symbols practice essay

November 28, 2014 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

1. Choose a novel in which the novelist makes use of symbols. Describe briefly what they represent and discuss how the use of these symbols helps develop the central concern(s) of the text.

‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini makes use of several symbols throughout the text such as the Eid sacrifice, kites, pomegranate trees, slingshots, the harelip and the story of Rostram and Sohrab. We can look at what these symbols represent and how they help develop the central concerns of guilt and redemption and the loyalty of friendship.
The most important symbol in the text is the Eid sacrifice which represents the character Hassan. In Islam a goat or sheep is sacrificed to show the loyalty between man and God, in the text Hassan is being raped by Assef because he refused to give up the kite for Amir. The text tells us that Amir shuts his eyes and that all he could see was “the look of the lamb”. This becomes a metaphor that connects Hassan with the sacrifice. The lamb accepts its fate, to be sacrificed for the love of God in much the same way that Hassan accepts the abuses of Assef for the love of Amir. This primarily highlights the central concern of friendship and loyalty as Hassan allows Assef to rape him so he can keep the kite for Amir. He has admitted previously that he would “eat dirt” for Amir, and here he is doing something similarly grim. It also highlights the theme of guilt and redemption though, as Amir should really have intervened at this point and stopped Assef. Instead, he shuts his eyes and ignores the event, a decision which will lead to him feeling guilty for the next twenty years.
The second symbol that is significant in this text in relation to the two themes is the kites. Traditionally kites were used as tools in war and now in Afghanistan there are annual kite tournaments where teams of boys fight to win. In the book the kite is used to show the strength of the bond between Amir and Hassan. At the kite tournament they must work as a seamless, synchronised team to defeat the other players. It is this symbiotic nature between the boys that allows them to win. When they do win, Amir is seen shouting “We won! We won!” Amir’s word choice of ‘we’ shows him publicly admitting that he and Hassan are together and united. He admits out loud that they are friends. The kite is later seen to separate the boys though and comes to represent Amir’s guilt. The kite is the reason Hassan gets raped. He sees the kite as his and Amir’s prize for winning the tournament and tells Assef this. When he returns with the kite Amir doesn’t see it as a symbol of their victory but rather a reminder of what Hassan has gone through and his own guilt at not intervening. At the end of the novel we see the kite once more. This time it is again used to reinforce the theme of loyalty and friendship. Amir and Sohrab are flying kites together in the park. Amir tells Sohrab he will run him a kite, and that he would do this “a thousand times over”. This is a phrase Hassan once used with Amir, to show Amir the level of his devotion. Amir has now learnt how strong the bond is between himself and his old friend. He repeats this phrase to his nephew but it is also a promise to Hassan that he will raise his son properly. The kite is the tool that will bond Amir and Sohrab and will keep alive the tie between Amir and Hassan.

A third symbol we see in the book is the pomegranate tree which is used to represent the friendship between Amir and Hassan at three points in the plot. Pomegranates are traditionally seen as symbols of friendship in Islamic tradition and we first see the pomegranate tree when the boys visit the cemetery and carve into the tree’s bark “Amir and Hassan, Sultans of Kabul”. Here we see the two boys as equals, they are both rulers of all they purvey. More importantly they are sharing that land too which shows them in a strong partnership together. The second visit to the pomegranate tree occurs after Hassan has been raped and this time Amir shouts the word ‘coward’ at Hassan and throws the fruit at him causing it to fall apart. Here Amir is really angry at himself for not intervening in the rape, he believes that if he makes Hassan hurt him it will make up for not stopping Assef. Amir can only deal with his guilt at this point by causing himself hurt. He is the real coward here, as he didn’t stop his best friend from getting hurt. The pomegranate’s physical disintegration becomes a metaphor for the break-up of the two boys as their friendship dissolves in that one moment. Finally we see the pomegranate tree when Amir returns to Kabul and is aware that Hassan is dead and he must rescue Sohrab. He returns to the tree to find it still labelled with the words he and Hassan carved into it twenty-six years before. This tells us that although the tree and Hassan are dead, the survival of the engraving shows their relationship is still alive as Amir has found a way to redeem himself. The pomegranate tree then represents these two themes. It first plots the journey of Amir and Hassan’s relationship from its strongest point to its weakest and then its remembrance. It acts as a witness to Amir’s guilt (when the boys fall out) and to the start of his redemption (when he returns to rescue Sohrab).

Higher

Another sample answer for the 10 marker

October 7, 2014 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

sample-stamp-29407314 — taken from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-sample-stamp-image29407314

Some of you are still struggling to get to grips with the ten marker in the Scotish Set Text section so I have copied up another example below for you to take a look at:

Waking with Russell is a poem by Don Paterson which clearly deals with the nature of life. In this poem Paterson looks at his four day old son and the happiness this has brought him. Here the nature of life is that having a child has brought meaning into Paterson’s meandering life. In The Thread we are again faced with a poem about Paterson’s children, however this time it deals with the difficulties surrounding Jamie’s birth and then his vitality at the age of two. Here the nature of life is both its fragility (as the child almost dies) but also its robustness (he survives).

This idea of meaning being brought to Paterson’s life is brought in during the second half of the poem. He says that the “true path was as lost to him as ever” reflecting that his life had little meaning and that he felt like he was merely filling space and time for the sake of it. The fact that Russell gives his life meaning is given in the next line “when you cut in front and lit it as you ran”. Russell appears with speed and Paterson seems surprised at his arrival suggesting that perhaps he was not prepared for fatherhood. Russell now lights the path ‘of life’ for his father, meaning he has given him a reason to live. The father must follow his son in order to protect him.

In The Thread we get a hint that Jamie’s birth didn’t go so well as early as line 2. We are told he arrived so fast that he almost “ploughed straight back into the earth”. Here there is a sense of life and death with the use of the word ‘ploughed’ as this suggests harvest cycles. There is also a nod towards Christian funeral rights with the idea of Jamie being put in the earth for burial.

The idea that Jamie has come incredibly close to death and that life is fragile but also robust is also suggested in the following lines where we are told Jamie was sustained by the “thread of his one breath”. The singleness of “one” in this line shows that this was a game-changing breath for Jamie, this one breath and the life it supplied him with would mean he survived. The tenuousness of that breath is suggested in the thinness of thread. But there is a sense it is also strong here as thread can hold things together if it is of a tough enough tensile.

Later the thread is used to suggest the strength of life. The thread has expanded to “hold all of us” together: the entire family. Here it is described as the thing that glues the father, his wife and the two sons together and makes sure they are happy. The sense and scale of life is suggested in the ‘all’.

Higher

Practice 10 markers

October 7, 2014 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

Here are some ten markers for you to practice. You will need to think about what poem they best suit first of all, before chosing your comparison poem or poems.

1. This poem examines the theme of death. Discuss the way in which Don Paterson uses language to explore this theme, with reference to one or more other poems you have studied.

2. With reference to this, and one or more other poems, discuss the importance of contrasts and/or dualities in Don Paterson’s poetry.

3. This poem explores ideas about death and diminution. Show how the ideas/and or language of the poem are similar or different to another poem or poems by Paterson that you have read.

4. This poem deals with the passing of time and the effects that passing time can have. With reference to one or more poems by the same poet, and with close reference to each, show how Paterson uses language to explore the idea of time.

5. This poem explores themes of time and place. Examine, with reference to one or more other poems, the importance of either time or place in Don Paterson’s poetry.

6. This poem is structured around a journey. Discuss the importance of ‘journeys’, real or imaginary, in Don Paterson’s poetry. In your answer you should refer to this poem and one or more other poems that you have studied.

7. This poem deals with a family relationship. With close textual reference, show how Don Paterson explores similar relationships in another poem (or poems) that you have read.

8. The speaker in this poem reflects on the nature of life. With close textual reference, show how Paterson examines the nature of life or existence in another poem (or poems) that you have read.

9. With close textual reference, show how the ideas and/or language of this poem are similar or different to another poem or poems by Paterson that you have read.

10. This poem explores childhood. How is this idea developed in another poem or poems by Paterson that you have read?

11. In this poem, Jamie’s birth is contrasted with his life at two. Show how contrast is used to illuminate and explore a central theme or idea in another poem or poems by Paterson.

12. This poem explores the idea of closeness and separation. Discuss how one or both of these themes are explored with detailed reference to one or more other poems by Paterson.

13. The final lines of this poem are ambiguous. With detailed reference to one or more other poems, examine the role ambiguity plays in Paterson’s poetry.

Higher

10 marker sample answer

September 17, 2014 Ms Davidson Leave a comment

Some of you may still be struggling with the ten marker questions at Higher. Below is a reminder of how to complete it with a sample answer.

First 2 marks – identify the commonality, the thing that links both the poems you are using. Make it very clear how it is shown in both poems.

Next 2 marks – show how this commonality is demonstrated in the poem in front of you. Do this by quoting a relevant section or phrase and then analyse it in detail.

The remaining 6 marks are best split into 3 lots of 2 marks OR 2 lots of 3 marks. Referring to the other poem you are using, show how it demonstrates the commonality by quoting a relevant section or phrase and then analyse it in detail. The amount of detail in your analysis will determine whether you get 3 or 2 marks in this section.

In this poem, Paterson uses an apparently ordinary experience to explore a deeper truth about humanity. By referring to this and another poem or poems by Don Paterson you have studied discuss how he uses poetry to explore the deeper truths behind ordinary experience.

The Ferryman’s Arms and Nil Nil are two poems by Don Paterson. Each of them take an apparently everyday event and turn it into a deeper look at our lives. The Ferryman’s Arms would appear to be about a man waiting in an island pub for the Ferry that will fetch him home, however a deeper reading of the text reveals that it could actually be about dying. A similar truth is revealed in Nil Nil when Paterson suggests that everything will fade to nothing through the tale of a declining football team and a devastating spitfire crash during WW2. Both poems then could be read as teaching us about death or nothingness.
In The Ferryman’s Arms there is a clear reference to death when Paterson writes about being drawn to the pool room “like a moth”. This simile is effective on two levels. First of all he is comparing himself to a moth and the pool room to a light. This suggests that he can’t help himself in finding something to fill ten minutes. On a deeper reading though, the poem has multiple references to Greek mythology and we see that here as a moth represents the soul and we could read it as his soul being taken somewhere. There is another idea of death here as well as the moth is being ‘pulled towards the light’ just like the western euphemism for death.
In Nil Nil there is an idea of nothingness or death introduced straight away in the phrase “plague of grey bonnets”. Here Paterson has used a metaphor and word choice to shape his idea. The “plague” of grey bonnets is the spectators’ hats but the word “plague” suggests they are a disease which will eradicate the football. There are connotations of a “plague of locusts” which leave nothing behind when finished. The colour “grey” is also nondescript again hinting at the nothingness to come.
At the end of Nil Nil there is a definite image of nothingness or death as the speaker addresses us directly in the phrases “failing light,” the trail that “steadily fades” and eventually “nirvana” and “the plot thinning down to a point so thin not even angels can dance on it”. Paterson carefully selects specific words here to hint at the nothingness. “failing” tells us that the light is no longer there, that it is dying out. “steadily” again repeats this idea that it is definitely declining into nothing. Nirvana is the state of non-being, it is a passive nothingness. The final image shows us that there is nothing left of the story as not even the delicate angels are able to do anything on it as it no longer exists.

national 5

Lord of the Flies – sample essay.

January 9, 2014 Ms Davidson 27 Comments

Choose a novel in which an important theme is explored. Explain how the author develops this theme throughout the novel.

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the theme of savagery versus civilisation is explored. Some British boys are stranded on an isolated island at the time of an imaginary nuclear war. On the island we see conflict between two main characters, Jack and Ralph, who respectively represent civilisation and savagery. This has an effect on the rest of the boys throughout the novel as they delve further and further into savagery.

The theme of savagery versus civilisation is first introduced to us through the symbol of the conch shell which we associate with Ralph as he is the person who first uses it and becomes the elected leader of the boys. This symbolises authority amongst the boys. At the first assembly Ralph says “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak…he won’t be interrupted”. This suggests civilisation as Ralph is allowing each boy to have an equal say and opinion. If they have the conch, no matter who they are or what age they are they will be given the chance to speak and will be listened to by the rest of the boys. The boys have created the island to be a democratic place which shows a civilised side to them as they try to mimic the homes they have just left.

Contrasting with the symbol of the conch is the symbol of the beast which comes to be associated with Jack as by the end of the novel he is almost devil worshipping it. The beast begins as a “snake thing” but by the end of the novel it has become “the Lord of the Flies”. The first quote shows us that the beast is clearly evil. Western society considers snakes to be bad omens because it was a snake that led Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. However at this stage of the novel the beast is quite insubstantial as it is only a “thing”. As the boys fear of the beast grows so to does the beast itself until it has manifested into the devil – the ultimate and most powerful evil. He has a strong status as a Lord although it is over something pretty disgusting – the flies. The boys belief in the beast leads them to behave more like savages as they act out from their fear and they begin to loose hold of the rules, led by Jack, thus demonstrating the theme of savagery.

One of ways Golding shows conflict between savagery and civilisation is when Jack and some of the other boys are killing the first pig. Jack chants “kill the pig, cut her throat, spill the blood”. This suggests savagery as the boys are being violent and aggressive when killing the pig and they don’t care about it. This is particularly clear through Golding’s word choice. Jack talks about cutting the pig’s throat which makes it sound like a savage action and spilling her blood which reinforces the lack of care and feeling shown towards the pug’s carcass. This shows that the boys are no longer feeling guilty about what they have done thus showing them becoming savages.

We can see the conflict between savagery and civilisation developing further when Piggy’s glasses are broken. We are told “Piggy cried out in terror ‘my specs!” This shows us that the boys savage natures are beginning to overule their more civilised sides. At the start of the book Jack would never have dared touch Piggy, but here he actually snaps and goes for Piggy who he despises. We can tell that Piggy is really scared as Golding chooses the words “cried” and “terror” to describe the scene. Piggy sounds like he is hurting and is genuinely terrified about what Jack might do to him and the loss of his sight. Piggy’s glasses have also come to represent intelligence on the island, with them breaking we see that the pathway to savagery is now completely open for the boys. This is the first true piece of violence between the two factions on the island and it will result in nearly all the boys becoming savages.

A final way in which we see the theme of savagery versus civilisation being demonstrated is when Ralph sticks up for Piggy after he is attacked by Jack. Ralph says “that was a dirty trick”. This shows that Ralph is really angry at Jack for what he said and did to Piggy. He is still attempting to impose himself as leader here as he says this in an aggressive and assertive tone. This suggests there is still some glimmers of civilisation on the island at this point as there is still someone with a sense of moral goodness ready to fight for justice.

In conclusion The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel in which the theme of savagery versus civilisation is shown. Ralph represents civilisation as he wants to enforce rules and let everyone have an equal say. Whereas Jack who represents savagery as he rules over the boys and he is not interested in what they have to say. Through the boys actions Golding shows us that we need rules and to consciously impose them to make sure society functions properly.