DIALECTICAL JOURNAL

KITE RUNNER

WHAT DOES DIALECTICAL MEAN?

• DIALECTICAL: THE ART OR PRACTICE OF ARRIVING AT THE TRUTH BY THE EXCHANGE OF LOGICAL ARGUMENTS.

• CREATING MEANING THROUGH HAVING A DIALOGUE WITH THE TEXT.

• YOU ARE GOING TO BE AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THIS EXPLORATION. YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THIS ROOM.

HELPING US TO UNDERSTAND DIALECTIC

• HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=T1LO3P-DP4Y

DIALECTICS?

• IF NOTHING ELSE DIALECTICAL THINKING IS AN INVESTIGATION.

• IT IS VITAL TO MENTAL TRAINING, CONVERSATIONS AND PHILOSOPHICAL SCIENCES.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

UNIQUE AND INDIVIDUAL

KEY PASSAGES:

• WHEN YOU ARE CHOOSING A KEY PASSAGE YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR:

• A REVELATION OF THE CHARACTER FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, OR THEIR’S

• A TURNING POINT IN THE STORY

• AN INSIGHT

• A PASSAGE WHICH REVEALS THE STYLE OF THE WRITER AND PULLS YOU IN

• A PASSAGE WHICH LEAVES YOU WITH QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS.

YOU ARE GOING TO START TODAY…

• CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING 5 PASSAGES TO RESPOND TO. THIS IS THE ONLY TIME THAT I WILL GIVE YOU A KEY PASSAGE.

TARGETING AMIR AND HASSAN:• CHAPTER 4 PAGE 36-37

“WELL,” HE SAID, “IF I MAY ASK, WHY DID THE MAN KILL HIS WIFE? IN FACT, WHY DID HE EVER HAVE TO FEEL SAD TO SHED TEARS? COULDN’T HE HAVE JUST SMELLED AN ONION?”

I WAS STUNNED. THAT PARTICULAR POINT, SO OBVIOUS IT WAS UTTERLY STUPID, HADN’T EVEN OCCURRED TO ME. I MOVED MY LIPS SOUNDLESSLY. IT APPEARED THAT ON THE SAME NIGHT I HAD LEARNED ABOUT ONE OF WRITING’S OBJECTIVES, IRONY, I WOULD ALSO BE INTRODUCED TO ONE OF ITS PITFALLS: THE PLOT HOLE. TAUGHT BY HASSAN, OF ALL PEOPLE. HASSAN WHO COULDN’T READ AND HAD NEVER WRITTEN A SINGLE WORD IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE. A VOICE, COLD AND DARK, SUDDENLY WHISPERED IN MY EAR, WHAT DOES HE KNOW, THAT ILLITERATE HAZARA? HE’LL NEVER BE ANYTHING BUT A COOK . HOW DARE HE CRITICIZE YOU?

“WELL,” I BEGAN. BUT I NEVER GOT TO FINISH THAT SENTENCE BECAUSE SUDDENLY AFGHANISTAN CHANGED FOREVER.

CHAPTER 5 PAGE 45

• “I TURNED AND CAME FACE TO FACE WITH HASSAN’S SLINGSHOT. HASSAN HAD PULLED THE WIDE ELASTIC BAND ALL THE WAY BACK. IN THE CUP WAS A ROCK THE SIZE OF A WALNUT. HASSAN HELD THE SLINGSHOT POINTED DIRECTLY AT ASSEF’S FACE. HIS HAND TREMBLED WITH THE STRAIN OF THE PULLED ELASTIC BAND AND BEADS OF SWEAT HAS ERUPTED ON HIS BROW.

“PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE. AGHA” HASSAN SAID IN A FLAT TONE. HE’D REFERRED TO ASSEF AS ‘AGHA’ AND I WONDERED BRIEFLY WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO LIVE WITH SUCH AN INGRAINED SENSE OF ONE’S PRESENCE IN A HIERARCHY.

CHAPTER 6 PAGE 57-58

• “HIS EYES SEARCHED MY FACE FOR A LONG TIME. WE SAT THERE TWO BOYS UNDER A SOUR CHERRY TREE, SUDDENLY LOOKING, REALLY LOOKING, AT EACH OTHER. THAT’S WHEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN; HASSAN’S FACE CHANGED. MAYBE NOT CHANGED, BUT SUDDENLY I HAS THE FEELING I WAS LOOKING AT TWO FACES, THE ONE I KNOW; THE ONE THAT WAS MY FIRST MEMORY, AND ANOTHER, A SECOND FACE, THIS ONE LURKING JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE. I’D SEEN IT HAPPEN BEFORE- IT ALWAYS SHOOK ME UP A LITTLE. IT JUST APPEARED, THIS OTHER FACE, FOR A FRACTION OF A MOMENT, LONG ENOUGH TO LEAVE ME WITH THE UNSETTLING FEELING THAT MAYBE I’S SEEN IT SOME PLACE BEFORE. THEN HASSAN BLINKED AND IT WAS JUST HIM AGAIN. JUST HASSAN.”

CHAPTER 6 PAGE 61

• “I SIGHED, ‘THOSE IRANIANS….’FOR A LOT OF HAZARAS, IRAN REPRESENTED A SANCTUARY OF SORTS- I GUESS BECAUSE, LIKE HAZARAS, MOST IRANIANS WERE SHI’A MUSLIMS. BUT I REMEMBERED SOMETHING MY TEACHER HAS SAID THAT SUMMER ABOUT IRANIANS, THAT THEY WERE GRINNING SMOOTH TALKERS WHO PATTED YOU ON THE BACK WITH ONE HAND AND PICKED YOUR POCKET WITH THE OTHER. I TOLD BABA ABOUT THAT AND HE SAID MY TEACHER WAS ONE OF THOSE JEALOUS AFGHANS, JEALOUS BECAUSE IRAN WAS A RISING POWER IN ASIA AND MOST PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD COULDN’T EVEN FIND AFGHANISTAN ON A WORLD MAP.’ “IT HURTS TO SAY THAT.’ HE SAID, SHRUGGING ‘BUT BETTER TO GET HURT BY THE TRUTH THAN COMFORTED WITH A LIE”

KEY PASSAGE

1. CONTEXT

2. PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

3. ELEMENTS OF FICTION

4. CONCLUSION