I believe The Kite Runner is an AP worthy book. This story has many advanced qualities to it that would be well used for testing. Not only do I believe that this is AP worthy, it is also, in fact, already an option for some of the topics to write about during the essay portion of an AP English test. Some of the reasons why it qualifies as being AP worthy is because it contains complex issues, such as guilt and the inescapability of ones' past. Having a book with complex issues causes the student to think outside the box and to truly understand what they are reading. It also contains thematic ideas and literary devices. These will show if the student understands AP English concepts and how to find these concepts in the story.
This story contains the complex idea of the inescapabilty of ones' past and guilt. This is shown in the book because Amir cannot escape the guilt of how he never stood up for Hassan and only let him suffer. Even after Hassan would always protect Amir. Throughout Amir's entire life he has had this guilt on his shoulders and could never be truly happy. He would constantly think back to that time of his life, and would have a wave a guilt flood over him. Eventually, Amir goes on this journey to find Hassan's son after he dies and bring him back to America. His guilt of his past causes him to truly want to find Hassan's son and keep him safe, because he knows that he owes this to Amir. On this journey, Amir ends up running into Assef and getting into a brutally physical fight. Not only did protecting Hassan's son relieved some of his guilt, but having Assef physically hurt him cleaned his conscious and Amir finally begins to feel like he has gotten his punishment and is ready to move on. This convoluted topic gives the AP student a chance to read between the lines and to understand how these concepts are dealt with in different situations. It also creates many opportunities for students to express their thoughts on these complex subjects.
Another reason why this book is AP worthy is because it contains thematic ideas and different literary devices. Some thematic ideas of this book would be guilt, the tensions between social classes, and love and kindness towards one another. Guilt is shown when Amir does not stand up for Hassan when he is being raped, tension between social classes is shown by the semi-open and semi-hidden friendship between Amir and Hassan, and love and kindness towards one another is shown between the majority of characters who meet Amir and help him throughout his journey in life. The Kite Runner also contains literary devices. One literary device that is used prominently is symbolism. A few examples of symbolism is the book are the pomegranate tree, and how it symbolizes Amir and Hassan's friendship, and kite flying, which represents happiness, freedom, and betrayal. By including the use of literary devices and having multiple themes, the author creates this book to be AP worthy. Students will need to understand how to retrieve these elements from the book and need to be able to understand them and why they are there.
I also thought that The Kite Runner is worthy of being AP. I liked how you identified broad themes that could be applicable to many different essay prompts. I think a point to strengthen your argument would be to mention the father-son relationship because it is such a great example for tense family connections that used in AP essays.
ReplyDeleteYour post is very insightful, and I agree that it is AP worthy. I was wondering if there were any specific motifs that you could mention that would contribute to its AP worthiness. I was also wondering if you thought the book's theme would be good for answering questions on the AP test. Good job :)
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about similar concepts when deciding if my book was AP. Another big indicator for me was that the book influenced my take on many themes, and caused me to think about it outside of the classroom. Would you say Kite Runner had the same affect on you?
ReplyDeleteYes, while and after reading the kite runner I began to relate the story and the different themes to real life. An example of what I related was the harsh father-son relationship portrayed in this story; the father distant from his son and never truly able to relate to him. This relationship is prevalent in the world and most people have seen or experienced it as well.
DeleteI really enjoy your discussion on why this is an AP worthy novel, which I would have to agree with you that it is. The discussion of how Amir and Hassan's childhood relationship shaped who Amir is because it clearly shows that this relationship affected how he acted with Hassan's son, Sohrab. Do you think that this novel would be worthy for the entire class to read? Does it provide enough thematic ideas for the entire class to read?
ReplyDeleteOverall you had a great discussion and proof of why this is an AP worthy novel! :)
I do believe that this story is worthy for the entire class to read. I say that because there are plenty of themes to discuss and analyze. Another reason for the whole class to read this story is the addition of real world problems that occurred prevalent in the story. I believe that by having it be a fiction story, but including real life events creates students to relate these themes to world events. It also creates students to become more educated with this tragic event that occurred.
DeleteGood discussion of various components of the text that make it worthy of AP. I think the ideas about guilt and the inability to escape the past are important themes, as well as fairly universal ones. Are there any of the essay prompts that we've done so far that you could see yourself using this book to answer?
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