The two stories ‘The Kite Runner’by Khalid Hosseini and ‘A Place on the Piano,’ by Eva Ibbotson, both have a set of friends each. In the Kite Runner we have two boys who are oblivious to the fact that they are half brother but they both have been raised as friends in the same home in Afghanistan. On the other hand, A Place on the Piano, has two people who become friends. Marianne is an orphaned girl living in Germany, and only speaks German. Whereas Michael, is also poor but he only speaks English. One of the difference is how Hassan and Amir became friends and how they met compared to Marianne and Michael .Hassan and {Amir were} fed from the same breasts. {They} took {their} first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, {they} spoke …show more content…
{their} first words.” (Hosseini,12). This shows that they were raised together as though brothers. Michael and Marianne have a different story. “It was mother and {Michael} who went to fetch Marianne Gerstenberger” “Glossops should go themselves to fetch their new daughter” (Ibbotson, 250). On this trip Michael and Marianne meet for the first time and became friends. Near the beginning in the story we find out that the two don’t speak the same language, but Michael still understood her. “She spoke in German but {Michael} knew exactly what she was saying.” (Ibbotson,252) “When Sombody takes you by the hand and say ‘komm’ it’s not difficult to guess what they are saying.” She kept saying “komm” and each time “{Michael} came” (Ibbotson, 253) and saw what kind of personality she had, and that’s how their friendship began as you can already see Michael and Marianne grew up in separate Countries and became friends when they were a bit older.
In these two stories the friendship between Amir and Hassan is different from the friendship of Marianne and Michael.” Hassan and Amir’s friendship is complicated as Hassan and Amir were friends, but Amir never called Hassan his friend. ”but he’s not my friend! I almost blurted. He’s my servant! Had I really just thought that? Of course I hadn’t. I hadn’t. I treated Hassan like a friend, better even, more like a brother. But if so, then why when Baba’s friends came to visit with their kids, didn’t I ever include Hassan in our games? Why did I only play with Hassan only when no one else was around?” (Hosseini.44) on the other hand Hassan thinks differently, “Amir agha and I are friends,”(hossaini, 77) but at the same time The quotes “Hassan and I climbed its branches [Everyday] and snatched blood red pomegranates. After we’d eaten the fruit and wiped our hands on the grass, I would read to Hassan.“ “We sat for hours under that tree, sat there until the sun faded in the west.” (Hossseini , 30), “we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either. I spent most of the first twelve years of my life playing with
Hassan. Sometimes, my entire childhood seems like one long lazy summer day with Hassan, chasing each other between tangles of trees in my father's yard, playing hide-and-seek, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, insect torture – with our crowning achievement undeniably the time we plucked the stinger off a bee and tied a string around the poor thing to yank it back every time it took flight.” (Hosseini,27,28) show clearly that the two boys were best friends and spent most of their time together. but putting all of these quotes together, we can see that even thought they were friends, Amir was always thinking about how he feels about Hassan rather than just excepting it. On the other end Marianne and Michael had a different relationship; Michael didn’t get to know her by talking to her, like normal people, but rather by observing her and finding out her interests by hanging out with her. “she lead me to a part of the stream where the water ran clear over a bed of pebbles” “ both of us took our shoes of, but she kept her jersey on, and we walkied along the river bed, dredging up bright and glittering stones. (Ibbotson, 253). “All that day Marianne stretched out her hand and said ‘komm.’ She showed me a hedgehog asleep in a potting shed and a place where raspberries grew wild, and I made her a whistle out of a hazel twig.” (Ibbotson.254). “ {she} showed me her special tree.””{she} had not built a tree house because the tree was her house. She explained this as{they} were climbed up- and that it was in this house that she kept her treasures.” (Ibbotson.255). Even though Hassan and Amir knew each other for a longer period of time, Michael and Marianne were able to figure each other out in three days. These quote “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran. ” (Hosseini, 82) “ I watched Hassan get raped” (Hosseini, 91), “ Hassan loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever had or ever would again” (239)shows how loyal Hassan was to save Amir plenty of time but when Amir had to return the favor he decided to run.
Friends can come and go in life, but the ones who are true will stay for a lifetime and become a new family member. Amir and Hassan had this relationship; they were always
Although Hassan is his best friend, there are many instances where Amir reveals his jealousy, most notable when Baba sees Hassan as the stronger boy, "self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighbourhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I 've seen it with my own eyes…” (Hosseini 24). Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories. The only way for Amir to redeem himself of his repercussions is through a challenging process of sacrifice and self-discovery. Although one is unsure at this point whether Amir succeeds at his endeavors, it is clear that this story
At times Amir had trouble realizing that they were best friends because Hassan was a Hazara, he was of Asian descent and of the Shiite tribe, he resembles his ancestors, the Mongols. Amir is a Pashtun, of the Sunni tribe, a majority group in Afghanistan. Hassan was loyal and showed endless amounts of respect and praise to Amir. Though Hassan knew what Amir had witnessed and done to him, he covered up for him. He did not ever let Amir get into trouble with Baba, his father. Hassan was also the half brother of Amir, neither knew until Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba’s informed Amir. He and Hassan had a connection, both as friends but also as brothers.
Hassan and Amir were close, but were not “friends”. There was once a kite fighting tournament that Amir won and Hassan was the kite runner. Hassan went after the last kite and while returning to Amir from capturing the kite, Hassan ran into a known bully, Assef. Amir was looking for Hassan. When Amir finds Hassan, he sees Assef with him.
The relationship between Amir and Hassan is complicated because of the social pressures. The boys are as close as brothers, but Amir struggles to even call Hassan his friend.... ... middle of paper ... ... The acceptance of family and the ties between families greatly draw the novel together, which we see longer after the family moves from Afghanistan.
Amir is Pashtun, this is the more accepted and prosperous ethnicity. Hassan is a Hazara boy, this being an ethnic group that is looked down upon by Pashtun citizens of Kabul. “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that.” (Hosseini 25). Throughout his childhood, Amir is put down regularly by neighborhood kids for befriending Hassan because of his ethnic background. Amir realizes that no matter what he may do, or no matter how Hassan may try to alter the situation, Hassan would always be too different for people to accept. This embarrasses and frustrates Amir. This frustration is one cause for Amir to slowly but surely push Hassan out of his life. Although it is not the most obvious reason, it is an underlying one. This is a mistake on Amir’s part because Hassan does so much for Amir, being the loyal friend that he is, and for Amir to push someone of such good moral and character out of his life, is a tremendous mistake on his behalf. It is quite obvious that Hassan would give his life for Amir, but, because of where Hassan comes from, Amir struggles throughout his childhood, to find a way to accept the friendship Hassan gives
*Although they spent their childhood together, Amir was ashamed to say that Hassan was his friend because of history and religion.
The piano—originally known as the fortepiano or pianoforte—is one of the most globally recognized instruments in history. Its unique timbre distinguishes it from preceding keyboard instruments and even from modern keyboard instruments that attempt to imitate it. The pianoforte has made many changes and contributions to music, which can be seen through how it came to be, what composers first thought of the instrument, and how it affected orchestral music.
In the play “The Piano Lesson”, August Wilson utilizes two main characters Boy Willie and Berniece to present the theme of gender roles and sexual politics. The reaction of the siblings toward the piano illustrates the role of a man and woman during the conflict. Throughout the entire play they argue over the piano and struggle with an underlying problem of choosing to honor their ancestors or leaving the family’s history in the past. Boy Willie wants to show respect to his ancestors by selling the piano to continue the Charles’s family legacy. He wants to buy Sutter’s land because Sutter was a white slave master who forced his ancestors to work on the land. However, Berniece wants to keep the piano and doesn’t want to use it because of fear. The disagreement between the siblings shows the play’s representation of gender differences.
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is taking place in Pittsburg because many Blacks travelled North to escape poverty and racial judgment in the South. This rapid mass movement in history is known as The Great migration. The migration meant African Americans are leaving behind what had always been their economic and social base in America, and having to find a new one. The main characters in this play are Berniece and Boy Willie who are siblings fighting over a piano that they value in different ways. Berniece wants to have it for sentimental reasons, while Boy Willie wants it so he can sell it and buy land. The piano teaches many lessons about the effects of separation, migration, and the reunion of
August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, tells a story of a family haunted by the pain of their past and their struggle to find peace to move forward. The story begins with character Boy Willie coming up from the south visiting his sister Bernice. Boy Willie introduces the idea of selling the family’s heirloom, a piano, to raise enough money to buy the land on which his ancestors were enslaved. However, both Boy Willie and his sister Berniece own half a half of the piano and she refuses to let Boy Willie sell it. Through the use of symbolism, Wilson uses his characters, the piano and the family’s situation to provide his intended audience with the lesson of exorcising our past in order to move forward in our lives. Our past will always be a part of our lives, but it does not limit or determine where we can go, what we can do, or who we can become.
Even when Amir was nasty and cruel to him, he had always been a faithful, kind soul. He never doubted that Amir was his friend and that he held a special place in his heart. When Hassan got raped, Amir did not help Hassan. There were ultimately two options: step up to the bullies and rescue Hassan, or run away. Even after hearing Assef say how Amir would never do the same for him, about how he would never stand up for him, he still chose to run away and pretend like he did not just witnessed what had happend. There is also scene where Amir is feeling guilty and both the boys are around a pomegranate tree. Amir just starts pelting Hassan with pomegranates and threatens to him to throw one back. He exclaims, “You’re a coward,” (...). And what does Hassan do? He picks up a pomegranate, but instead of hurling it in Amir’s direction, he smashes it on himself and says, “are you satisfied?” (....). There is this constant pressure on Hassan and Amir’s relationship. The Afghan society would not approve of such “friendship.” Both of the boys were good, but Amir was so young when he made the mistakes that it made the reader question whether there was a way for Amir to be morally good again.
Throughout his childhood, Amir conforms to society and treats his Hazara servants poorly, but he questions the morality of such treatment. When Amir’s childhood bully, Assef, confronts him, Amir thinks to himself that Hassan works only as a servant for him, and that they have no friendship. Afterward, he thinks, “Why did I only play with Hassan when no one else was around?” (41). Hosseini uses a series of rhetorical questions to accentuate how Amir questions his beliefs about his relationship with Hassan....
In the play, The Piano Lesson, music played an important role. The piano in the play represented the African American history and culture. The ghost of Sutter represented the pain and trauma that had been endured throughout the generations in the Charles family. Berniece did not play the piano because she associated it with pain and the bad things that happened to her family members. She did not want to accept the things that had happened in her family’s past. She thought that she could deny everything and act like it never happened. She believed if she continued to run from everything and everybody that the pain would go away. Berniece was burdened and haunted by the ghost of Sutter until she gave in and played the piano after all of those years. After playing the piano, Berniece was no longer burdened or haunted by the past. She was free from all of the denial. She escaped the pain through the music and reflecting on the carvings on the piano, which represented her heritage. Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, told her “Berniece, if you and Maretha don’t keep playing on that piano… ain’t no telling… me and Sutter both liable to be back” (Wilson 108). By saying that, he meant that if she did not allow her daughter to continue playing the piano and learning about her culture that she would end up going through the same things that Berniece had gone through. Music has a huge impact on the African American culture in several ways and many things about the past can be learned through it.
With the combination of Amir learning of Hassan and Farzana’s death, leaving Sohrab and orphan, and seeing Hassan’s forgiveness and loyalty in this letter, he has no choice to try and fix up his broken past he had with Hassan through Sohrab. Because of Hassan’s loyalty, it was able to make Amir see that it was finally time to show some loyalty to Hassan and bring his own family together by collecting Sohrab, who is his own nephew. Together all of these quotes show some of the different acts of loyalty that different characters had shown throughout the book. If Hassan had not shown compassion, forgiveness and loyalty in his letter to Hassan, it most likely would not have mended their friendship and brought together their family. All relationships in the world whether it is family or friends, need to have a strong base of loyalty shown from both sides, in this novel, it tells about the different relationships and different acts of loyalty different characters had shown, which in the end helps bring family and friends back together. This can be a real life lesson to always be loyal to close friends and family because in the future