Metacognition: Evidence Plan

I decided on my essay topic, the importance to Amir that THE KITE RUNNER is written as his own memoir, because I had a TON of opinions, thoughts, and speculations as to why this was. I essentially thought it was because Amir needed to come clean about all the things he had been hiding and all his regrets: not being good enough for Baba, not being there when Hassan needed him, not being honest with Soraya, or not being good enough for Sohrab. When i started flipping through the pages of my book, i thought, "How am i ever gonna find TE to support this? I picked a way too 'big-idea-ish' thesis, and now there's nothing in the book that can solidly support that." That went on for a good 15 minutes. Then I realized that there WAS SOOO MUCH to support my idea. Amir told us everything. He told us, the readers, everything: the things he confessed to the people in his life, but more importantly, the things he didn't. I got it. Amir redeems Baba's pride in him, is there for Hassan by saving his son, confesses his dark past to Soraya, and never gives up on Sohrab. But there are still things he hasn't told a person in his life. And even though he fixed so many of his wrongs, he needed the memoir to fully heal his flawed being. All the little things he tells us but not even his closest loved one. There's my TE.

Best of Week

One of my favorite observations made in discussion was Eli's suggestion that Amir was not a hero but really just a selfish coward. I agree with him to some extent, that Amir does not fit the stereotypical cookie-cutter standard of a literary hero. He is not perfect at all, and he knows it. He repeatedly writes that he is a coward, sometimes contemplates if it is a bad thing, but knows that cowardice is not a good thing. Amir knows he's far from perfect, which makes him such a believable character, but I as a reader actually like Amir, not because he IS a coward and DOES run away and do what's best for himself at the expense of others, but because he has been through hell in his life, and he still tries to blame himself for all the things that go wrong. He is a person for whom i keep reading about so in hopes that something good happens to him. Hosseini breaks all the rules for writing a "hero" for his story, but he made a really powerful character as a result.

Change of Mind: Kite Runner

Before discussing the reason Khaled Hosseini wrote the fictional piece "Kite Runner" in memoir format, i thought it was just to make it seem more realistic. That's why i thought "Life of Pi" was written as a memoir, because for about 2/3 of the time it took me to read "Life of Pi" i thought it was a true story, or at least based off of a true story. Then i looked at the back cover one day and it said "FICTION" in bright white letters in the lower right-hand corner.

I also always had this though deep in my head that said "People who write memoirs want the whole world to know that what happened to them 'that fateful day...' because everyone should think that it was important, too" *note sarcasm* In otherwords, I never really thought that a memoir had much importance to the authors life other than to get attention and hopefully some money, as well.

After more discussion and thought about the reason "Kite Runner" was written as a memoir, i learned that the memoir form had a thematic relationship to the actual story: Amir is telling us what he could not just go ahead and say to anyone else. It lifts a huge weight off his shoulders, because for his whole life he had been too scared to confess the dishonorable things he had done in the past. He also says outright, even to himself, that he is a flawed person, and he finally accepts himself by sharing his past. This analysis can apply to even non-fiction memoirs. The writer feels secure, not pompous, enough to share deep, dark secrets with a reader who could be anybody.

Memoirs are not stories about heroes written in the first person. They are confessions of ordinary people who are strong enough to accept their imperfections.

First Post!

yep, that pretty much says it all...
i still don't really get what im supposed to be doing with this blog, but I'll get it eventually i'm sure... i hope...