Final Book club Post

Maeve Hogan   811

Reading Response

The book, The Kite Runner, was one of the few books in a very long time that has inspired me. While reading, I found the clear connections between the main character’s life and what I knew of the author’s life. I found the issues of the problems in Afghanistan very powerful, and I find myself appreciating the privileged life I live. However, the book has been challenged and it has been suggested that the book be banned.

Many adults worry about books putting ideas into children’s heads that are not the right messages to be sending to impressionable young people. In “The Kite Runner”, Amir is a selfish, weak, self important main character, and would almost seem to be the villain of his own story, if not for a stronger and more stereotypically evil character, Assef. These are not traits that any parent would want their child, or any teacher want their student to have. Also, there are instances where young children get attacked, abused, raped, assaulted, killed, insulted, and hurt. Adults think teenagers are not ready or accepting of these themes, because of the safety and security that all was right with the world instilled in us when we were younger. “Children are fragile, Amir jan. Kabul is full of broken children and I don’t want Sohrab to become another.” In Afghanistan, bad things happened to Amir, and to Hassan, to Soraya, to Sohrab. Adults do not want kids, even in middle school, to imagine that similar events could happen to them, making them feel unsafe.

However, the exact reasons why the book has been challenges are the reasons why  it should stay in school libraries. When people are ready for the graphic scenes, strong language, imagery and issues in this book, they should be exposed to the nightmare that is Afghanistan. Even though the story is a lot to handle, the importance of not being sheltered from world problems outweighs the intake of hard material. After all, shouldn’t the student be able to decide what they can and cannot absorb?

 

The fact that the author wrote such an informative, compelling, and intriguing story about a life similar to the one he lived made me think about the next writing I do. I feel like many of the writing I see from myself and people around me and in my age group are fueled by a lot of research about issues we know little about. I think that, now, if I write about an issue that is close to home, it will be more powerful as a whole than something weaved with superficial knowledge that does not come from my experiences.