White Oleander

I finished the book, and was very pleased with it. After Claire commits suicide, Astrid goes to a brutal children's facility until she is taken in by Rena, a money-obsessed Russian. At Rena's house Astrid gains a harder shell, learning to always ask, "What's in it for me?" She corresponds with Paul Trout, who she met at the children's facility, until he moves to New York. The book then skips ahead, Astrid and Paul Trout are living in Berlin scrounging a living off of his comics and her art. They recieve news that Astrid's mother was released from jail, and Astrid realizes that she really does love her mother, and will always miss her home.
Three themes I noticed were beauty as power, that your past doesn't always predict your future, and that love is a sickeningly powerful force. Beauty as power is demonstrated first by Ingrid, who uses her beauty not only to influence people, but to look down on them. Ingrid views most of humanity as inferior to her, because she is beautiful and can create beauty with her poetry. At one point Astrid describes her mother as only responding to the laws of beauty, because those were the laws that ruled her world. As the story goes on and Astrid grows she starts to use her beauty as power, but in different ways. She uses it to win people over, or to get what she wants from them, but she never uses it like her mother. Astrid almost always has a little humility, whereas her mother never showed any.
Astrid struggles with her past all through the book. She wonders about her father, her childhood and all the things that make her who she is. As she discovers the truth about her past, she finds that it doesn't define her as she thought it would, it's just irrelevant details of her life. She eventually tracks down and meets her father, but decides quickly to move on, and leave him in her past where he belongs.
Love has many roles in this book, it's a motive for murder, it redeems, it hurts and itdevelops people, each role that it plays is equally powerful. First Ingrid's love for Barry drives her mad, eventually causing murder, then Astrid's love for her mother causes her to not tell the police anything, even though she knows what her mother did was wrong. One of the most damaging loves is Astrid's love for Ray, which eventually almost gets Astrid murdered. Astrid's love and emulation of Olivia cuases her to degrade herself behind a park bathroom. Claire's love for Astrid develops her character in huge ways, she becomes more comfortable and gains an identity seperate from her mother's, but Claire's death makes Astrid give up on happiness. Eventually, Astrid's love for Paul Trout makes her take a leap of faith to go find him. Love is the most prominent theme throughout the book, inspiring change, pain, happiness and hate.

Essay Question: How do you think each stage of Astrid's journey develops her into the woman living in Berlin? What influence did each family have on her and which character traits did they instill?

The Namesake

I’m on page 130; the themes running through the book are religion, family and finding themselves, so far. The biggest theme in the story is when they moved from their hometown to a strange place, a different world and so they were strangers meeting strangers. And they need to get to used to the world they are in right now even though it’s difficult for them. An example in the beginning is when she was having Gogol, she didn’t like that she was the only Indian in the hospital, and she didn’t like the food. She was so used to doing everything in the way she always did in India. Family was a big part of the theme too, because the marriage between Ashima and Ashoke was an arranged marriage. They never loved each other. But over the past few years they learned about each other and started to learn how to love each other, and now they did more than that, they just had a second baby. Finding themselves was my favorite theme. First they were so lost at their second country (America) and now they have to live with the name they gave to their son which is a pet name in India, but they are learning how to let that go. And knowing the way they are, without thinking about what other people think.
The question I want to ask my classmates is, what do you think it would be like if you had to go to a different country?

Kite Runner

I have finished the novel, The Kite Runner. The three themes I think run through the book are racism, family, and kites. In the beginning of the book, Amir and Hassan are friends, but Hassan and his father are also their servants because they are Hazaras. When Hassan and Amir are cornered by Assef’s gang they criticize Amir for hanging around with Hassan, because he is a Hazara. In the end of the book, when Amir returns to Afghanistan, the Taliban are killing Hazara left and right. The second theme is family. Amir idolizes his father, who he believes is his only family. His father loves him, but also cares for Hassan, which confuses Amir. In the end of the book it is unveiled that Hassan is actually Amir’s half brother, his mother was someone else. But even though neither of them know Hassan’s true father, they both are like brothers to each other. When Hassan is killed Amir goes to search for his son, and eventually lets Hassan’s son become apart of his family by adoption. The last theme is kites. Amir and Hassan share the passion of running kites. They win the kite running contest in the beginning of the book, on page 66. But the kite running competition also breaks them apart, because of what happens when Hassan goes after the kite that was second to winning. Hassan’s love for kite running is passed down to his son who, in the very end, flies a kite with his dad’s best friend, Amir.
Essay Question:
How does Amir change throughout the novel, how is he affected by the change of the country he knew as a child and the one that is being destroyed and pulverized by its own people?

White Oleander. Themes and Question.

As of now, I am on page 300. Strength, authority, and beauty are the three themes that stuck out to me the most within White Oleander. The strength comes mostly from Astrid and her mother, Ingrid. Both two very strong individuals. I don't believe that Astrid would be able to "survive", as she says, in her situation if it weren't for the inner strength that she has. She, like her mother, doesn't let people get to her. She knows who she is and she sticks to that. I found that that was pretty much the same case for her mother Ingrid. Although she's in prison, she still manages to do what she loves, poetry and write to her daughter. In her letters, it is still very clear on who she is and what she believes; prison hasn't changed her one bit. Authority. At least once every chapter, there is a section where Ingrid's letters to Astrid seem like they were written by an authority figure. "Astrid, don't forget who you are." Almost every letter there is something written like that or, "Don't do that, I will not have it," "Read this book, maybe it will clear your head," something along those lines. Not only those letters, but within every foster home she goes to, there is a different type of authority. I've seen it go through religious, to demanding, to ultra strict, and loving and caring. The last theme I saw, beauty, I found to be very interesting. Astrid seems to be almost obsessed with her appearance in some way or another, and how she is seen by other people. Comparing herself to the figure of her foster mother Starr, or how her neighbor Olivia uses her beauty to get what she wants. How does she fit into these categories, Astrid often wonders. How do the scars on her face effect how people see her? Could she use them to her advantage? I just found that one interesting because that's how a lot of teenage girls think, and I don't believe that they should. Beauty has nothing to do with who a person is, but somehow it always makes its way into everyone's thoughts. My essay question would be, do you often see these themes in your life, or life around you? How do strength, authority, and beauty fit in around you? Are any of them important to you in any way?

The ROad Themes 222

Three themes Love, Survival, Fear

Love: The man and his son have a very close bond it is one that comes from both the love of a parent and child as well as the intensity of their surroundings. Each day is a struggle for them and the need to protect is a constant part of this. For the man his son is all he has in this world the love he feels for him is so intense he would do anything to keep him safe. "You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by god. I will kill anyone who touches you. Page 77" This quote is taken from after the man has killed one of the so called "bad guys" after he attempted to take the boy. His intensity in this statement is scary to the young boy however it is meant to show how powerful the bond of love between them is.
Survival: The book itself is a story of survival however so much can be said for this that it is hard to truly see. As the two walk across the desolate land they have nothing left and surrounding them is nothing however they keep going. Trying to live for just another day is the ultimate goal here and for both the man and the boy pushing through feelings of doubt, illness and depression are a daily task. " You think were going to die dont you? I dont know. Were not going to die. Okay. But you dont believe me. I dont know." As the man tries to convince his young son that they will survive he also tries to convince himself he too fears death and the need to live is something he often forgets. At this point in the book it could be said that they are surviving by clinging to dirt with fingernails despratly crawling to get up.
Fear: Fear is a theme seen mostly in the boy he seems to reflect the fear of both himself and the man taking on the role of logic as well. Each day is filled with terror and uncertanty although for them it is so much more. A daily cloud follows them haunting with a constant reminder of the fear that lurks behind. The boy who often speaks of his fears has trouble pulling past them in order to get somewhere however tying into survival the two are a natural instict.

Essay Question:
Within the road the idea of an empty planet is shown in this world morals have been forgotten. Tell how this effects the world and how the need to surrvive would overcome any other thought.

The Kite Runner

I'm on page 310 now.
In my opinion, the most three themes that run through the novel are racial problem, lies and the way to be good. The most important thing that goes through the novel is the lies. Amir lived in a whole world of lies. He didn't know Hassan was his half-brother because his dad and Rahim had told a lie to him and they didn't even tell Ali about that. And the most hilarious thing is Amir always heard this sentence from his dad, "The only sin that mattered was theft. When you tell a lie, you steal a man’s right to the truth." If Amir had known that Hassan was his brother, even just half-brother, he wouldn’t have done those mean things to Hassan, like put his gift watch under Hassan’s pillow and made Hassan and Ali away. The whole story would’ve been changed if Amir had known that, but it’s the part that attracted me a lot. And the story indicated that sometimes there is something more important than the truth. It’s also so dramatic that I cannot guess what is going on next. Racial problem is also a huge issue that caused a lot of pities. It might because Ali was a Harazan that made Sahib and Rahim kept that as a secret. And those concepts were irrigated to people’s mind when they were young. The Taliban head, Assef, was also influenced by that. He was hurt by Russian soldier and made him to a Taliban guy with a cruel soul. The last point of this book is the way to be good. Indeed, there’s always a way to be good. Agha Sahib did a lot of things to make up a recover for his sin. And Amir was trapped by his sin too. He was going to compensate for his sin too, taking back Sohrab and raised him up. Those three themes are going through all over the book and combined together tightly.
Question: Why do you think Amir changed his mind and compensated for his sin?

Page #?

Now that you are almost finished with your book, choose three themes that run through your novel's plot. Explain them using examples from the novel. Also create on essay question that you would pose to a class reading this book.