Charlene opens her eyes. She is in class listening to the droning of her professor. Her first semester had gone generally well, but now, in her second semester, she has had more and more days like this, thinking about the fun times she and Rolph had before he shot himself. She wants to give up on her law school at this point. She has already cut her hair short and shut many people out. She thought of the few friends she had, only other people like her. Quiet. Lonely. Not standing out. She doesn’t see herself passing the classes, but something burning deep inside her helps her continue. She dozes off again, thinking of her brother. 

Rolph wakes up at 2:30 in the afternoon. He doesn’t move, instead just sits there and mopes. He looks outside, surprised to see Lou is not fucking some chick who is much younger than him. Ever since Jocelyn left, he hasn’t called Lou father, and he hasn’t spoken to a single one of these girls, seeing them as pathetic, stupid shells of people who don’t understand the real world. Lou always uses them. He shows them off like treasure, and once he beats away the shine, they are thrown out. Forgotten. Rolph, despite hating these women, remembers them all, waiting to see their obituary that outlines their wasted life after getting dumped by Lou. They always seem to die early. Rolph last saw Mindy’s obituary, which said she dropped out of school and inevitably overdosed on drugs  after Lou threw her out. She became just like the poor lion from the safari trip fourteen years ago. In her attempt to protect what she believed was hers, she was shot in the heart, and her world faded away. Now, she would be rotting away, nothing but bones left, just as the lion did. 

Just then, he saw Lou taking his new girl (Rolph didn’t even know her name, and wasn’t sure if Lou did either) to the pool. Rolph turns away, not wanting to see or hear. He wishes Charlie were there, but he figures she is at work. For every ounce of hatred he had towards Lou, he made up for with his love for Charlie. They were extremely close, but lately she has been disappointed in him for doing nothing but sit around and gain weight. Rolph doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about anything at this point. This new girl is louder than the others. He can hear her and Lou getting it on. He wishes Jocelyn were still there. He turns on the Flaming Dildos mixtape he has. It isn’t good, as the band never made it anywhere and broke up about 6 months after they tried selling these tapes, but it reminded Rolph of Jocelyn. He can still hear this stupid girl. He turns up the music but it won’t help. He looks out the window and slams on it hoping the dreadful noise would stop, and is taken aback when he sees Jocelyn at the pool side, riding Lou like there’s no tomorrow while staring directly at Rolph. Rolph can’t move. He turns and finds his gun under his bed, screams, and pulls the trigger. 

Charlene shakes back awake. Only a minute has passed in this dreadful class. She thought of Lou’s reaction as she told him Rolph had shot himself in the head when he returned home the next day. He seemed changed, older, almost sick. He realized just as Charlene did that it was because of Lou that Rolph had shot himself. She hadn’t talked to her father since she got to school, but she thinks of him daily as she remembers that he was the reason her brother was lost. She would make her brother proud by forcing herself to get through college, no matter how much she hated it. She dozed off again, this time thinking of her future, and hoping to have a son that reminds her of Rolph. 

This section would go at the end of chapter 5, The Safari, after the section titled Grass. I enjoyed this chapter and the characters in it, and wanted to see more of Rolph and Charlene in the novel, however they were not there. This passage goes into detail Rolph’s suicide as well as how Charlene is handling the loss. I used the chapter title in the section like most of the chapters do, and tried to keep the same general style as chapter 5, although this had much less dialogue. I used sections of chapter 6 and chapter 5 to allude to the things being talked about in chapter 6 and to continue the safari location of the chapter, although this doesn’t completely take place in the safari, it mentions it and shows the rest of the chapter as a memory. Also, I mention the band in chapter 3 to continue the interplay of the previous chapters within other chapters. This is mostly in Charlene’s POV, yet portions of the suicide would have to be imagined, as there was no note to say what was going through Rolph’s head. It can be assumed by their closeness discussed, however, that Rolph talked about everything that was going on to his sister, which is how she would know what was going on previously in the chapter and how she would know about Rolph’s hatred to the women his father takes home. Finally, The fact that Rolph kills himself after seeing Jocelyn and Lou doing it would have been in Rolph’s head, showing some hallucinations or psychosis in Rolph’s life. 

Thank you for being an awesome teacher Wasowski. I hope to see you in the future and wish you luck with all this crazy shit that they’re trying to do with the schools. Hope you have a good summer.

I realized at that moment, within the beautiful moonlight, that my friends in the North could wait to see me. I went in to see if the scrambling housemaid of the Grange had fixed the bed yet for my stay. Upon entry, I noticed she had still not completed her task. 

“What have you been doing all his time I’ve been calling at the Heights?” I enquired of the maid. 

“Sup’rs l’most ready, maister, ahm t’ribly sr–”

“I don’t care for your apologies you wretch, just get it done!” I interrupted. “And don’t look so pathetic. Now, I have a job for you when you’ve brought me my supper. You are to go into the town and tell my carriage driver that he is to go back to London immediately and retrieve my belongings. I’ll be extending my stay here.”

“At t’ Gran? Wah abaht t’ Arnshaw’s?” she responded.

You shan’t worry about them, I plan to stay at the Heights. This place really is lovely, and I care not to leave it.”

She enquired about the supposed ghosts in the house, yet I shrugged her off. It was not the beauty of the land that entrigued me, however it was the Mistress Cathy. Her smiting beauty had drawn me in, and by coming back, I realized that she was all that I wanted. That worthless servant boy was no match for her intellect, and I knew that I would be able to provide for her. 

The next day, I went to call at the Grange. I met Mrs. Dean at the garden gate, surprised at my return. 

“Ahh Mr. Lockwood, what a pleasure, I suspected you would be leaving today.” she called. 

“No not I, I came to ask about living in the Heights for a while after the New Year when Cathy and Mr. Hareton will be wed. Until then, I could stay in the Grange, and make sure that everything is in order.” 

“Oh, why that would be splendid, now wouldn’t it, I’ll tell the master of this news.” 

I accompanied her to the master, whom I despised more and more with every second. I asked him if he would be interested in gambling, which he did not understand, the imbecile that he was. So, I teached him, and of course, he was very intrigued, just as his father once was. 

I returned to the Grange later that night, and stopped before going in. I had noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and went to see what it was. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, except on further examination, one of the stones appeared to be moved. It was almost as if Heathcliff’s stone had shifted closer to Catherine’s. Until Hareton was buried, this would continue to happen, but at the time, I took no notice, and went inside. There, I finished my plan of getting Catherine to be my bride, as I fell more in love with the beautiful stranger who was just out of reach. 

The ending of Wuthering Heights did not fit what I had expected, and very much disappointed me. I have made what would be on the next page after the novel ended, leading up to more chapters of the downfall of the family. I tried to mirror the language of the servants, along with the doubling and revenge that was throughout the book with similarities to Heathcliff. Also, I mirrored some of Charlotte Bronte’s foreshadowing style with the death of Hareton, as she would often tell the reader what happened before explaining it in very short, shocking lines in the middle of other things. I also incorporated the ghosts/psychotic manner that came at the end of the novel with the incorporation of the moving tombstones. Finally, with the last line, I mirrored the love of a stranger as shown in Cathy and Linton’s relationship, alluding to the future failure of the relationship between Lockwood and Cathy. The ending of the actual book to me was too cliche, as I expected the gothic novel to end with some twist or just to continue with what had been going on. 

Savage. Cruel. Brutal. These words have all been used by critics to characterize Heathcliff. Heathcliff’s actions throughout the novel have made it famous for its dark villain, who’s maniacal obsession on getting revenge on those who have wronged him and incredibly in depth plans make him the model villain. Though he does seem to be an incredible villain, others can see that Heathcliff is weak minded, and his plans could be easily thwarted if certain things were to happen (through chapter 25). 

It is easy to see that Heathcliff is the definition of a villain at a first glance. He has very in depth, intergenerational plans that not only cause the ruin of his enemies, but also ruins their bloodline for years to come, as shown by his treatment to Hareton and his plans to ruin Mr. Linton’s family line with Linton and Cathy’s marriage. His savage treatment of his wife and to Hindley are also wrapped in his deep plan, as he makes their lives miserable and inevitably causes both of their deaths. To top it all off, he has a gross, evil henchman in Joseph who seems to be characterized so that everyone hates him. Heathcliff’s villainy is clear, yet, by looking deeper, one can see that he is really quite pathetic and everything just happens to go his way. 

Although it is not shown at first, Heathcliff is really just a crybaby who isn’t getting his way. His motives for his revenge are all based around his “true love” Catherine, whose love is questionable at best. Although they did have quite an emotional moment as she was dying, she was in a delirious state of mind, so she was reverted to her childish ways with him. Even if she really loves him, it should not mean anything to him, as her idea of love is obviously messed up, as she marries a man specifically for societal gain. On top of Heathcliff’s terrible motives for his revenge, he also has holes in his plan caused by his distress, and if the other characters in the novel weren’t so cowardly or self-centered, these holes would have been jumped upon. For starters, Heathcliff should have been killed by Hindley’s hands the night before Isabella leaves, but he is so weak he gets pummeled despite having two weapons. After this, in his pitiful state of sadness, he lets his wife run away, which could have completely ruined his chance to get back at Mr. Linton, however later it happens to work out for him when his wife dies at an incredibly young age, and he gets custody of his son. In his new plan involving Linton and Cathy’s reunion, he could have been stopped by Nelly if she were less trusting and self-centered, but she stupidly trusts Cathy and gives her equipment to directly disobey her father, and on top of this, when she goes to Wuthering Heights to retrieve her, she decides not to tell Mr. Linton as to not harm her own reputation. Not only this, but Nelly continued to not tell Mr. Linton as Cathy continued to go against the rule of no contact with Linton. The relationship between them, which is incredibly annoying, could have been avoided entirely had it not been for Nelly’s idiocracy and selfishness. Without the relationship, Heathcliff would have no way of continuing to ruin the family of Mr. Linton, proving that he is not a villainous mastermind, only a weak man who just so happens to be getting his way continuously. 

The novel thus far has been very dark and interesting. One thing that has stuck out the most is the narration techniques. The split narration technique in the novel provides large contrast between present and past, yet both present very similar unreliability throughout the novel (through chapter 14). 

Starting with the present narrator, Mr. Lockwood, it is clear that one cannot trust what he says when going back to the first paragraph, where Lockwood calls Heathcliff “A capital fellow,” calling the despicable man delightful. Soon after, he changes his mind, seeing him as what he really is. But what made Lockwood see a delightful man in Heathcliff in the first place? He was treated like an outsider upon his arrival, yet he still thought he saw a connection with the man. This could lead to more changes in the future, where Lockwood goes back to seeing Heathcliff as a good person. 

In the story of Wuthering Height’s past, Nelly mirrors this same uncertainty about Heathcliff. She leaves him in the hallway on the first night he is on the property, then seems to take a liking for the child and pities him, then later hates him again. These ideas will likely continue to change throughout the novel. Also, Nelly is too indulged in the action of the family to be trusted, as personal biases will be favoring whichever side she is on, as one can see that she was talking about Heathcliff like he was the victim of terrible treatment up until the point that she didn’t agree with him anymore, at which point she begins to portray him as terrible. 

Looking on Heathcliff’s side of things, one could understand his case. He wants to see the ruination of the man who beat him his entire life and the man who stole his one true friend and love away from him. As a man who has very little, he will go a long way to protect what he loves, even if that means revenge as dark and twisted as slowly making Hindley go mad and using Nelly to get around Mr. Linton’s rules that keep Heathcliff at bay. 

Foreshadowing the rest of the novel, I believe that Catherine will get better upon seeing Heathcliff, as she was talking about being with him while sick, and her love still lies with him despite her marriage with Mr. Linton, who will attempt to stop Heathcliff, causing Heathcliff to kill Mr. Linton, which will in turn make Catherine despise Heathcliff and get sick again and die after giving birth to her daughter. Heathcliff will then take this daughter as his own and name her Cathy to punish himself, and he will be haunted by Catherine’s ghost (This is only from textual clues, if I just guessed the rest of the book then it’s too predictable and I will no longer find it interesting).

Entangle, Evade, Escape. These words show Saeed and Nadia’s untold mindset in Mohsin Hamid’s novel, Exit West. Entangle themselves in the place that they appear from the doors by meeting people and becoming part of what is going on around, evading the problems that go on in the place, like war and being killed, and then escaping through a door to become entangled again in the new place. While the novel is directly about people escaping from bad places of war to become a refugee in a safe place, Hamid indirectly shows that escape is more than this. Hamid uses Saeed’s father, Nadia, and Saeed to illustrate that by escaping their past or their future, one can find their true selves and expand on their values. 

Sometimes letting go and escaping from another person’s life is better than hanging on to them. In Exit West, Saeed’s father decides he must escape Saeed’s life in order for him to be safe. Although both Saeed and his father really don’t want this to happen, Saeed’s father insists, saying he wants to stay with his dead wife, although in reality he knows Saeed and Nadia will be more likely to live without him. This shows that Saeed’s father is willing to sacrifice anything for Saeed, as he is willing to let him go for Saeed to have a better life. Had he not cared as much, he would selfishly go with him, slowing them down and causing more problems in the future. By escaping from Saeed’s life, sneaking away before Saeed and Nadia leave, he keeps the two from slowing down and feeling immense sadness when he does eventually die. Also, by escaping, he helps the others find their true selves, for if they still had him around to take care of, their relationship would likely be much different, and they still might be together at the end of the novel. This isn’t the only way escaping is shown in the novel, as one can also escape from the future. 

Sometimes escaping from someone’s life is better than living in the future that is bound to happen, and by escaping, one can find their true self. In the novel, Nadia and Saeed find themselves in a slowly failing relationship, and although early on they were talking about marriage, they now find themselves out of love with each other and confused. Mirroring Hamid’s seemingly throw away writing style of using litotes and other techniques to describe things with an air of uncertainty, the couple are unsure of their feelings toward one another. They awkwardly dodge around the topic of falling out of love, although both feel it happening. They think that maybe it will get better some times while other times they don’t even try, showing a lack of communication that hurts the relationship. In the end, by escaping an inevitably unhappy future together, they part ways, finding their true selves in doing so. Nadia accepts her lesbian side and gets with a cook after living in an apartment like her old one in her original city. Saeed begins to pray more, and finds love in the pastor’s daughter while being able to mourn his parents more freely with someone who understands him more. By breaking their ties with each other, the two open doors to their true selves, and walk through in order to live happier lives separate from each other. 

Hamid’s novel Exit West shows that while escaping from danger is an important thing to do, escaping to someone’s true self is often more relatable to people today. Sometimes change can seem bad at first, but by accepting change and escaping the present, one can open a door to the future that they want. In a world full of sickness and disease not unlike the war and death in the novel, by finding a door, one can walk into a new, different, yet safer life, finding themselves and helping those around them. 

It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.

You may choose a novel or play from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.

A healthy relationship should be argument free and supportive. Arguments only ruin relationships and push people apart, and without support, a relationship is pointless. While some may think that this is true, a relationship without arguments is simply unrealistic and will lead to more problems with holding things in. In Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, George and Martha begin to show that argument and lack of support destroys the relationship, yet as the play progresses one realizes that the two care about each other more than most other couples, and would do nearly anything for each other. The sacrifices made in a relationship outweigh the failures and problems faced. 

By taking time to listen and understand what is going on in the relationship rather than shutting down, a couple is able to grow together through hardships. In the play, George and Martha are unable to conceive a child, and rather than letting this bring them down and ruin their marriage, they continue to grow together by building a false reality around their problems. In doing this, they create a game in which George is the game master, willing to spend his time to make his wife happy by losing the game and constantly be willing to go along with what his wife wants or says, changing the rules on the fly. In most relationships, the arguing and fighting within would be a red flag, yet to George and Martha, it becomes a distraction from their main problem and shows how much effort George and Martha are willing to put in to make each other happy. George does not only sacrifice his time and effort in being the game master, as he is willing to sacrifice more. 

Sacrificing one’s life and reputation outside of the relationship makes the bond between the couple nearly unbreakable. I’m the game being played, George sacrifices his entire life and reputation for Martha. George’s dream is to become the head of the department and to move up in the college, yet in order to move up, most people have to get published. George could have been published, yet he chooses not to. In doing this, he is able to spend more time being the game master and helping his wife cope with the problem of not being able to conceive. By letting his own hopes and dreams die away with the burning of the book he wrote, he shows his wife that he will sacrifice everything for her, creating a relationship that is arguably unbreakable. When Martha cheats on George and takes him upstairs, they come back downstairs and she is talking about George rather than Nick. She tells Nick that George has been the only one she ever loved, and had always been there for her, and Nick is understandably in disbelief, as they seem to hate each other and she just cheated on him. This, however, was almost for George, in an attempt to see how far she can get away with to see what George will do about it. Most people will think that by cheating, they should break up, but in some odd way to George and Martha, it shows how much they both care, as they would do anything for each other. George and Martha show how sacrifice makes an incredible, unbreakable relationship, while Nick and Honey show the contrast to the two. 

When a couple does not communicate or sacrifice for each other, they create a relationship that is toxic. Nick and Honey appear to be in a much healthier relationship in the beginning of the play, yet eventually one can see that their relationship is much worse than George and Martha’s. The couple do not give anything up for each other, and seem to be forced together, with a lack of love for one another. Nick is a controlling man who expects Honey to do his bidding, while Honey is a manipulating woman who made Nick marry her with a fake pregnancy, which seemed real. The two cannot conceive either, yet they seem to get upset when talking about this rather than talking about it and growing as a couple. 

A relationship is not defined as healthy or unhealthy based on the amount of arguing or the closeness of the couple. As shown in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, a relationship can be defined by the sacrifices made for the other and how much one is willing to do for the other. In a time where young people don’t understand relationships, this play is able to be connected to people in today’s society. A relationship is not about not fighting, in reality fights happen, what matters is how much someone is willing to sacrifice for the other to make the relationship work. 

In his 2004 novel Magic Seeds, V. S. Naipaul writes: “It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That’s where the mischief starts. That’s where everything starts unravelling.” 

Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which a character holds an “ideal view of the world.” Then write an essay in which you analyze the character’s idealism and its positive or negative consequences. Explain how the author’s portrayal of this idealism illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.  (2019 Lit 3 prompt from College Board)

Order. Precision. Perfection. By implementing these three words into her everyday life, Mrs. Richardson is able to create the perfect world for herself and her family. In Celeste Ng’s novel, Little Fires Everywhere, Mrs. Richardson, a woman who grew up without worry of money or hunger, is one who avoids change, leading a picture perfect life, doing the same things day in and day out. This lifestyle, molded by the perfection of the society of Shaker Heights, is challenged by others when things out of her control begin to happen. Celeste Ng uses Mrs. Richardson to portray how desire for perfection leads to greed, blame, and destruction of others. 

Perfection creates greed and snootiness. Throughout the novel, Mrs. Richardson shows her greedy nature as she interacts with others. When she first goes to see Mia in her home, Mrs. Richardson is very snooty and hints towards things that she wants and expects to have, while making it apparent that Mia is below her and imperfect. Upon asking Mia to take pictures for her family, she seemingly undermines Mia’s art as something unimportant and almost disgusting, while if looking at it through another perspective, she would see how beautiful it really is. Mrs. Richardson’s need for perfection then overtakes her as she talks about how perfect it would be if Mia would be the Richardson’s maid, as it would be the perfect situation for Mrs. Richardson alone. This snooty, greedy behavior continues when she goes to meet with her old “friend” Elizabeth at the clinic. Mrs. Richardson was able to make the perfect couple out of Elizabeth and her husband, and without her, Elizabeth would be a nobody, for Mrs. Richardson guided Elizabeth from being an awkward kid to being a cool person. Therefore, Elizabeth owes her. This may seem like solid reasoning, however looking at it from the other perspective, Mrs. Richardson was only helping Elizabeth for all this time to get something in return to satisfy her need for perfection and order. This greed shows that Mrs. Richardson does not care about others, and she only helps others to have control later on. This need for order and perfection not only leads to greed, but also blame and hatred. 

A desire for perfection can lead to blame and hatred towards those who are undeserving. Mrs. Richardson blames people unnecessarily and hates others for things that are out of her control. When Bebe tries to mess up the perfect world that her friends, the McColloughs have created by adopting May Ling, Mrs. Richardson gets a burning hatred for the woman, who she blames is a terrible mother who abandoned her baby, while others would say that she was in an unfit place to raise a child, and that now she is in a better place. This blame towards Bebe leads to an intense hatred for Mia as well, who is helping to ruin Mrs. Richardson’s perfect view of the McColloughs, but also tainting her very own children. In this hatred and blame, she seeks out very private information about Mia, and forces her to leave simply because she could not control everything going on and because she blamed Mia for being a hypocrite and defending Bebe after what she did and for being a bad parent for raising her daughter to get pregnant and have an abortion, when in reality, her daughter was the one who did this. By getting Mia and Pearl to leave, she not only shows her hatred and blame, but also the impact perfection and order has on others. 

Order and perfection destroys relationships and leads to more mistakes. (40 minutes ended here) When Mrs. Richardson tells Mia to leave, she hurts all her children in some way. Mia’s departure takes with her the caring person that helped the Richardson children a lot, like Lexie’s abortion. Also, she destroys both Trip and Moody’s relationship with Pearl, as both liked her dearly and had some sort of connection with them. In conclusion, Mrs. Richardson’s desire for perfection harms her children when Mia is forced out. It would seem that all the important characters are directly affected by the negative effects of perfection, however one character is missing, the one who Mrs. Richardson always forgets, possibly because she sees her own imperfection in the child and seeing the child makes her realize that her ideal world is not the one that she lives in. Izzy, the forgotten child seeming like an outcast in her own home, is affected the most by Mrs. Richardson’s choices and desire for a perfect world. Izzy, who is the opposite of perfection and has had a disconnect from her mother because of it since birth, runs away in search of what Mia was able to provide for her, a true mother who cared about her rather than one who saw her as an outcast for not fitting in to her perfect mold. By sending Mia away, Mrs. Richardson destroys her relationship with her daughter, and realizes that she made a mistake too late, saying she’ll look for Izzy no matter what until she finds her. She could really mean this, and realized that society does not matter, or she could be putting on a show to make people think that she is a great mother. Whichever it is, Mrs. Richardson’s view of the perfect world destroys her relationship with her daughter, and by sending Mia away, she pulls the last straw. 

While some may see order and perfection as good things that keep people in line and protect people, most would see that these cause extremely negative things, like greed, blame, and destruction of relationships. In this modern book, Celeste Ng uses relatable characters and settings that are like those today in order to show people that trying to be perfect and going along with societal norms have very negative consequences.

“The fathers may soar / And the children may know their names.” In these seemingly throw away lines of Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, the multi-faceted thematic idea of escaping problems soars into the reader’s minds. This decision between fighting problems and flying away from them comes from instincts, where animals will get out of trouble by fighting or fleeing where they are. Normally weaker animals that are unable to triumph and face their problems head on will be the ones to flee. This same idea is shown in the human fight or flight problem shown in the novel. As illustrated by Milkman and Solomon, weak people run from their problems, making it harder for the others who stay and fight. 

    Flying away from problems seems like an unattainable dream. By getting away from problems, people can start a new life, or turn a new page on life. When Milkman travels south both to get out and find his family’s gold, he realizes how everyone treats him differently in the new places. Rather than being known for his past or for his father’s money and power, he is known for the person that he is, and that by leaving he can escape the weird life he lives and start over new. This will to escape comes from deep in his ancestry, for his great grandfather used the same idea to get out of his problems. Rather than staying on the plantation with his family, he gets up and flies away, escaping his problems of slavery by apparently flying back to Africa like a bird. By escaping the life that they live, both characters are shown to be able to make a better life for themselves, however, it is not simply about them. By escaping, they leave behind people who are going through the same problems, hurting those people by making it harder on them. 

    People who escape are seen as weak as they leave behind people who still need help. By getting up and leaving, the characters mentioned before may be able to live a better life for themselves, but end up ruining it for those around them. When Milkman leaves, he completely messes up Hagar’s life, as she breaks down completely and dies because Milkman didn’t love her enough. When Milkman returns from his trip after some time, he realizes what Hagar had done, and understands how his great grandfather’s flight affected those around him. By escaping the slavery, Solomon leaves behind his wife and 21 children, causing his wife great distress and leaving these many children to fend for themselves. By doing this, he showed he was the weaker man, for instead of fighting through the troubling time he runs away. 

People who run from their problems inevitably harm those around them by leaving them by themselves to fight through the problems. This idea doesn’t only apply to the novel, but also is seen in the world today. People would rather run away from their problems than fight through them, so that they have an easier time, however the people they leave behind inevitably get hurt. 

“I’ll wait for you. Come back.” As Robby is shoved into the cop car, Cecilia passionately says these words after her newfound lover is wrongly accused of raping her cousin. These words inevitably help Robby get through the coming years as he faces hardships in the war. Words like these have immense power over people. If someone is passionate about what they are talking about, others will follow. This power of words has been used by many leaders throughout history, like when Adolf Hitler united Germany, which was in shambles from the first world war. This power of words is also used in Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, as character’s lives seem to change drastically by mere words, yet by taking a deeper look, one can see that the power of these words is not strong enough to completely control the character’s lives. 

    The power of words is first shown in Robby’s letter to Cecilia, where he accidentally gives her a letter with some very flirtatious things in it. By giving these profane words to Cecilia via letter, he is able to completely change his relationship with Cecilia. The relationship, which was very awkward and uncomfortable, turns to one that is very sexual very quickly. The words written to Cecilia seem to have sparked a love that would have never been possible due to the social status of the two people, yet by looking deeper, one can see that the words are not quite powerful enough to do this. Their relationship still has the disconnect that the characters have with each other throughout the book, for when they meet for the second time, it continues to be awkward as they do not carry the conversation. Instead, they find all their love in the physical actions, showing that this so called “love” that they find is simply youthful lust. 

    The deliverer of the letter that held in the lust of the two people also was able to drastically affect the lives of those around her with the power of her words. After being taken over by the false idea that Robby was a maniac who went around raping people, she wrongly accuses him of raping Lola, causing him to be arrested and to eventually go into the army. By telling a story, which in this case was total fiction, she was not only able to completely rewrite Robby’s fate, but also Cecilia’s, for she decided she could not live with her family if they did this to her and her so called love. Although these words had the power to control Robby’s life at the time of the rape, these words once again were not strong enough to last forever. When Cecilia and Briony meet later, Cecilia says Briony will change her evidence, completely taking the power away from the words, undermining the words to simply false things stated about Robby, and in turn amplifying the will for Briony to atone for her wrongdoings. When she realizes that she was wrong about the rapist, Briony attempts to atone for completely changing Robby’s life, showing that words have little power over others. 

The aftermath of Briony’s mistakes leads to a situation that shows the power of words keeping someone alive. When Robby is sent to war, he continues to read the letters sent from Cecilia. Robby is able to hear Cecilia speaking the letters in his head, and he uses this as inspiration to survive the war. The words of Cecilia have the power to keep Robby alive in one of the toughest situations, yet once again are not strong enough to continue forever. After getting to the beach and fighting his way through the bombings and destroyed land, he is unable to hear the voice anymore as he realizes that he and Cecilia were really nothing, and he dies. If the words really had power, he would have survived the war, but the separation between the characters overpowers the words, turning the words that kept Robby alive into merely ink on paper. 

Throughout the novel, characters words seem to have power over other characters, whether they are false testimonies or written love letters. When taking a deeper look, however, one can see that other things have more power over words. When the words are not strong enough to continue, the characters realize that they were wrong, leading to atonement or other actions, shown by Briony’s atonement and Robby’s reliving of the war to talk to the people who died. The novel shows that the power of words is nothing compared to the power of actions. 

“Blood is a powerful thing, bachem, never forget that.” In this quotation, General Tahiri tells Amir that family ties are powerful, and that adopting leads to judgement from society. Familial blood is a powerful thing, however, its power differs for many characters in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Some characters feel this power, and it drives them, while others ignore this power, while still others know this power yet don’t do enough to protect their family. Differing perspectives on familial ties and the power of blood, illustrated by Hassan’s loyalty, Baba’s lies,  and Amir’s personality change, show that the power of society outweighs the power of family. 

Hassan shows the true power of family throughout the novel. His loyalty and love to Amir never wavers, despite Amir not reciprocating the friendship. Hassan sees Amir like a brother, and would do anything for him, even lie to Baba and take the fall for Amir’s actions, which he knows will cause him to leave. Since Hassan is a Hazara, society does not care about him, so he cherishes his loved ones more than anything else. This is not only shown by his loyalty to Amir as a child, but also when he is found as an adult. Despite Amir completely destroying their friendship by framing him, Hassan’s loyalty stays strong, as he has seemingly told his wife and son nothing but good things about Amir and his old life. When Hassan realizes someone from his old family has died, he goes back to his old home immediately out of respect for Baba. Despite not knowing he is related to both Baba and Amir, he treats them like his family, and he puts his family first due to the fact that he is so low in society. Society has the opposite effect on other characters, leading to lies and atonement. 

Baba’s lies show the devastating effect that society has, for he puts his reputation over his family. After having an affair with his best friend’s wife and having a child, he spends the rest of his life trying to make up for his mistakes. He knows if he comes out and says that Hassan is his child, he’ll be shunned and society will put him down, so he does everything he can to make up for it, causing him to distance himself from Amir. By lying to his kids and society, he protects his image. Despite his desire for his image, the power of family takes over at times, like when he realizes that he will lose his illegitimate son when he and Ali leave and cries for the first time in front of Amir. Society holds him back from his family, and in his atonement, he helps nearly everyone he meets. Society may be completely controlling over some characters, but others get hit with the power of family, causing them to completely change their mindset. 

Amir was an incredibly weak character in the beginning of the novel. He never fought for those who cared about him, like when he witnessed the actions in the alley and did nothing about them, and instead was drawn to his father, begging for attention yet never receiving it. As he grows older, he continues to be weak, yet begins to help his father, as he finally gains the bond he wanted with him. He doesn’t do anything courageous until he goes to Pakistan and realizes that Hassan is his brother, in which he decides to charge into Afghanistan with hardly a plan in an attempt to rescue his nephew. If Rahim Khan hadn’t told Amir about Hassan being his brother, he would have likely never gone to Afghanistan, and Sohrab would continue to be abused. After he gets Sohrab, he continues to fight for the boy, trying to get him to America, even after he was nearly beaten to death, and once he gets to America, he treats Sohrab like his son, despite only meeting the kid. Amir is one of the only characters who continues to believe in Sohrab after he goes quiet, as even his wife Soraya gives up on the boy, just like her father said. Society sees Amir having a Hazara childas strange and foreign, yet Amir does not care, as the boy is family.  This flip in Amir’s character illustrates the power of family taking over, as well as reputation, for he did not want to let down Rahim Khan, and he wanted to make up for what he lacked in his youth. The Kite Runner shows very different perspectives on family and reputation. Some may say that it is a book about reputation, for Baba lies to his children to protect his reputation, and Amir is only looking after Sohrab to feel better about what happened in the alley. On the other hand, Amir’s flip in perspectives from a weak man to a courageous man and Hassan’s unfaltering love show that the power of love and family overpowers reputation and society. This same split is seen in the world today, as some people would rather be rich and powerful than care about others, while others see that these factors are not as important as love and family. Whether someone sees the novel as reputation or family, it rings true to the world today.