Friday, October 17, 2008

Afghanistan Through Hosseini's Lens


Much of what we hear and learn about Afghanistan and the Afghan people is communicated through television media. Has The Kite Runner shaped and/or changed your view of Afghanistan? Cite several lines which embody this influence. Is it wise, in your mind, to allow a novel (fiction) to affect your real world view?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I think it has changed my views towards Afghans. It shows that Afghans live normal everyday lives like everyone else. They're not different at all. Everyone is always being racists to them because of the war and everything. They live normal lives, they just do different things than what we do in the United States which is normal because if every country did the same thing there would be no point for like different races and countries and what not.
-Jay

Anonymous said...

I think that everyone has a different perspective of what they see and learn. They can either take what they learn as a positive thing or as a negative thing. It can be for the better or the worst. I think that you can take it in. You can allow it affect you if you want to but you don't have to. I think that it can be wise for a fiction novel to affect your real world view because it can teach some things that can happen. But at the same time it is a fiction novel so not all the details may be real but most of the details are real.

Anonymous said...

Matt R says:

The Kite Runner has only reinforced my view on the Afghanistan people. I already knew that the people where being oppressed through the Taliban in some of the ways described in the novel. Amir described the killings at the soccer stadium and how they patrolled and assaulted people who did anything they deemed "rowdy". I’ve read several news articles that have described similar events. If people are basing their ideas of people and cultures through a work of fiction then it should have one thing, the facts. It doesn’t matter if the story is real but if it’s based on actual events and situations then it leaves an impression about some of the things that are happening in the world.

Anonymous said...

As a whole the book conveys the fact that Afghani's are regular people that live regular lives, just in a different country. The actions of the children of Afghanistan are the same as kids from America, just in a different situation. The scene where they go to see American movies and they have their favorite one, is very much like kids here in America. Another Example is the kite fighting. Even though we do not have a game similar to it, the same competitive nature is present as in the kids in America. So as a whole I think Afghanistan is pretty much the same as America just in a different area.

Seamus Slattery

Anonymous said...

The Kite Runner has very much so changed my perception of Afghanistan and its people. I never considered that not all of Afghanistan had been poverty stricken and poor, but reading this book I learned about how the other half of Afghanistan lives. I think that this isn’t so bad because it’s not being negative and even though it is fiction, it is similar to Kalhed Hossini’s real life.

Elizabeth Estremera

Anonymous said...

The Kite Runner has shaped my view of Afghanistan. Prior to reading the book I didn't know anything about Afghanistan or afghan people, except for the stereotypes I've heard about Afghan people. But now that I read the book, I have an idea. Housseini writes so realistically that I believe what I’m reading when I read about facts about Afghanistan such as when he writes about going to the soccer game when he was an adult; “Young, whip-toting Talibs roamed the aisles, striking anyone who cheered too loudly.”

-Rockwell

Anonymous said...

The kite runner has changed my ways a little bit because of the way the book brings you to the situations of what happens over there in Afganistan. But also I believe more of the book then I do about the media because the media just looks for the bad things that happen over there they dont focus on how like the bad things happen and whats behind them how they occur or how they could of been prevented. Also the book seems to me at some points that its real and it doesnt stop at all througout the book the detail thats behind every situations, the ways of Afgani people are very different and still the same in ways today. But most of all just like the media I think this book affects you the way you want it too, meaning if you want it too affect you, you will take in the information and let it make an impact on your life in some way.