Fitzgerald uses a narrator to tell his story; nick caraway. Nick doesn’t know all the facts, which means that as the novel proceeds Gatsby is introduced slowly as a shadowy figure through Nick’s memories of him. Nick could seem as a trustworthy narrator as he claims himself that he is tolerant, a good listener and an open minded person (due to the quote at the beginning of the book from his father). He is also on edge of both of the social circles due to the fact that he is connected to rich people but isn’t rich enough or that he is friends with Gatsby but doesn’t take part in their ‘wild lifestyle’, thus giving him an ideal perspective. However nick isn’t present in all the scenes , he is only aware of those that he is involved in which means parts of the story is missing and it limits himself as narrator as he is unable to encourage the reader to make their own judgements.
Gatsby isn’t his true self in the novel, he pretends to be someone who he is not; it could be seen as an illusion. He creates himself a life as he was oridinally James Gatz, a 17 year old farm boy from North Dakota. He designs his whole life to attract daisy, such as the fact that Gatsby bought a house over the lake to her’s. It is an ironic situation that Gatsby has many parties with many guests throughout the evenings but it a very isolated person. This is because he is so concerned with maintaining his created persona; he keeps a distance with most of the characters. Gatsby could also been seen as representing the American dream as he achieves the American dream from coming from a poor and working class background to a high standard of living and success. But he feels the need to reinvent himself and change his name; this could show that the American dream is corrupt as you have to be someone else in order to reach the dream. Nick Carraway comes from a well-to-do Minnesota family. He travels to New York to learn the bond business but while he is there he becomes involved with both Gatsby and the Buchanans. Though he is honest, dependable, and fair-minded, Nick does share some of the flaws of the East Egg environment. However, of all the novel's characters, he is the only one to recognize Gatsby's "greatness," revealing himself as a young man of unusual sympathy. Daisy is Nick's cousin, Tom's wife, and the woman that Gatsby loves. She had promised to wait for Gatsby until the end of the war, but after meeting Tom Buchanan and comparing his extreme wealth to Gatsby's poverty, she broke her promise. Daisy uses her weakness as an excuse for her tremendous immaturity. A brutal, hulking man, Tom Buchanan is a former Yale football player who, like Daisy, comes from a vastly wealthy Midwestern family. His racism and sexism are suggestive of his deep insecurity about his superior social position. Tom is a cruel bully, physically threatening both his wife and his mistress. He is a hypocrite as well; he condemns his wife for her unfaithfulness, but he has no intentions about stopping the affair he himself is having. Daisy's lifelong friend- Jordan Baker is a professional golfer who cheated in order to win her first tournament. Jordan is extremely pessimistic, with a manly, icy character that Nick originally finds compelling. The two become temporarily involved, but Jordan rejects him as she believes he is as corrupt as she is. A down-to-earth, vital, and voluptuous woman, Myrtle is desperate to improve her standard of life. She is in loveless marriage with George Wilson; a man who runs a scruffy garage. However she has been having a long-term affair with Tom Buchanan and is very jealous of his wife. After a fight with her husband, she runs out into the street and is hit and killed by Gatsby's car.
“The Kite Runner” By Khaled Hosseni
- At the beginning of the novel the main character; Amir, gets right to the heart of the matter in the opening scene in "The Kite Runner" this is interesting as there is no introduction to the story which is unusual. He describes his memory of "crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek". He is remembering the scene where the crucial moment of his life took place. In that alley his trustworthy childhood friend Hassan was cruelly raped while trying to get back a kite for Amir's benefit. Amir witnessed this horrific event but he kept himself hidden, and allowed his friend to be victimized without coming to his aid. That moment "changed everything" in Amir's life - a man who sees himself as being without courage or integrity, a man without honour who would heartlessly betrayed a friend.
- In the winter of 1975 Hassam and Amir won the kite tournament in Kabul. This was the closest they would ever be and just a few minutes later they would begin to be torn apart by the violence of Assef against Hassam. When Amir wins the tournament, Hassam tells him that he will run the kite for him. Amir tells him to bring the kite back to him. Hassam, "cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “For you, a thousand times over." Now years later and thousands of miles away in California Amir cuts a kite and turns to Sohrab, Hassan's son, and asks,’ “Do you want me to run that kite for you?" I thought I saw him nod. "For you a thousand times over, " I heard myself say. Then I turned and ran.’ This scene is interesting because Amir's life has now come full circle. He is now running the kite, not just for Sohrab, but for Hassam, and for himself and the history that they shared.
- There are many settings in "The Kite Runner." The book opens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, in roughly the present. However, the book flashes back to Kabul, Afghanistan, where the narrator (Amir) grew up. The first chapters are mostly set there, in and around the luxurious house of his childhood. Later, when the family must flee the country, the story is set along the way, and then in Pakistan. They then move to the United States, specifically California, and much of the story is set there, as they try to make their home in a new land. Late in the book, there is a return to Afghanistan.
Imagery is explored in numerous ways in “The Kite Runner”. One example is the house that Baba built. It included marble tiles, vaulted ceilings, and gold tapestries, but not only were the features of the house beautiful but it showed the statue of Baba. Since he had built the house, he built it to model his grandness. Some thought it was the prettiest house in all of Kabul”. This showed how popular and highly regarded Baba was within his country. A lesser part of the house was the servant shack where Hassan and Ali lived. It was one room mud hut that contained all they needed to live. The difference between the houses and ways of life demonstrated the culture. Even though Ali was adopted into Baba's family, he was Hazara; therefore he was a servant rather than a brother. Hassan was also Hazara so Amir could never be a real friend to him because that was not culturally acceptable.
Hosseini uses structure to emphasize the themes of sin and redemption. Because Amir tells the story in retrospect, every memory, even the blissful ones of his childhood before the rape, are tainted with it. If the timeline of the novel was strictly chronological, we would not have the power of hindsight. Hosseini uses the first chapter almost like a thesis for the novel. As Amir retells the story of his life, he weighs each event against his sin, his betrayal of Hassan. As we learn towards the novel's end, Amir is not the only character who needs redemption, Assef notwithstanding. Until Rahim Khan reveals Baba's secret, Amir thinks he is the only sinner among his family and friends. Even before Amir betrays him, Hassan makes him feel guilty simply by being such a righteous person. Amir is constantly trying to measure up to Baba, because he does not realize that Baba is so hard on him because of his guilt over his own sin.
The narrator speaks in the first person, primarily describing events that occurred months and years ago. The narrator describes these events subjectively, explaining only how he experienced them. At one point, another character briefly narrates a chapter from his own point of view. “The Kite Runner” is narrated by Amir four days after the final events of his decades-long story.
Amir is the sensitive and intelligent son of a well-to-do businessman in Kabul, and he grows up with a sense of entitlement. His best friend is Hassan, and he goes back and forth between acting as a loyal friend and attacking Hassan out of jealousy whenever Hassan receives Amir’s father’s affection. Amir is a gifted storyteller and grows from aspiring writer to published novelist. His great desire to please his father is the primary motivation for his behaviour early in the novel, and it is the main reason he allows Hassan to be raped. From that point forward, he is driven by his feelings of guilt as he searches to find a way to redeem himself. Ultimately he does so through courage and self-sacrifice, and he tells his story as a form of penance. Hassan proves himself a loyal friend to Amir repeatedly, defending Amir when he is attacked and always being ready to listen. His defining traits are bravery, selflessness, and intelligence, though his smarts are more instinctual than bookish, largely because he is uneducated. As a poor ethnic Hazara, he is considered an inferior in Afghan society, and he is the victim of racism throughout the novel as a result. He is Baba’s illegitimate child, though he is not aware of this fact, and he grows up with Ali acting as his father. His rape is an early catalyst in the story, and even though he is not present in a significant portion of the novel, he plays a major role throughout. Father of Amir and Hassan and a wealthy, well-respected businessman. Baba believes first and foremost in doing what is right and thinking for oneself, and he tries to impart these qualities to Amir. He also never lets anyone’s lack of belief in him stop him from accomplishing his goals. Although he distrusts religious fundamentalism, he follows his own moral code and acts with self-assurance and bravery. When necessary, he is even willing to risk his life for what he believes in. Yet his shame at having a child with a Hazara woman leads him to hide the fact that Hassan is his son. Because he cannot love Hassan openly, he is somewhat distant toward Amir and is often hard on him, though he undoubtedly loves him.
by
jonesshaylee (student)
