Conclusion

“My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture…” (pg 208).

Once again the reader is susceptible to the monster’s true feelings, or atleast the idea that his intent is not to be purely evil. Like any human he feels guilt. He feels guilty for the direct murders of Victor’s family. As the quote says, he was made like a human, he was to feel all emotions humans feel. Victor ultimately feels guilt for the same reasons. He believes he is the reason most of his family is dead. First, because he refused to create the companion and mostly because he gave life to the monster. However, the idea of loss of people, or companionship both caused these characters misery. It is important to note that to ultimately live happily, one must be free of guilt and surrounded by those who not only show interaction, but love. That’s truly what both characters lacked, and they both made each other miserable by ridding of all interaction and companionship.

Foreshadow

“If for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this miserable marriage”(pg 182).

Although I have read the novel, when I first read this sentence I tagged the page, as I thought of it as foreshadow. From the frame story, I understood that Victor would eventually end up in the arctic, a very cold and deserted place, and I assumed he would be chasing the monster. Although he did consent to the marriage, he did eventually banish himself from his country. This self-alienation led to a devotion of the rest of his life to killing the monster. On first reading this, I thought Victor was essentially going to become the monster’s companion in order to save the ones he loved. With the information we already knew, I guessed the Arctic would be a desolate place free from human exposure. However, I was wrong as Victor tries to live his normal life. It is a result of trying to live his normal life, getting married, and refusing the monster’s request that leads to his doom. Or ultimately, it was the creation of life itself, that led to the end.

Foil Character

“He felt as if he had been transported to fairy-land and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man”(pg 148).

Once again, the reader finds Henry as a foil to Victor. As they journey to England, along the Rhine Henry is content in just taking in his surroundings, the nature. However, Victor is restless and although he recognized the beautiful scenery around him he cannot simply enjoy it. Their reasons for journeying to England are also different. Henry is simply continuing his language affairs, and wishes to travel to India. Victor states that he needs time away before getting married. However, his real reasons to visit England are that he needs the guidance of men there to complete his work. Victor’s journey is no longer about education, as it would have been about in the past, rather it is about setting up some type of pleasantness for the rest of his life. If he is able to create the monster’s companion, he, his family and friends will be left alone forever. Even though he believes his mind will be at peace once the monster is out of the setting, I believe differently. If Victor would have created the second being, his thoughts still would have never rested. He would have worried about them creating a race, and leaving man kind to deal with this new species. Whatever choice Frankenstein would have made, I believe he would have been destined to be haunted by the thought of the original creation for the rest of his life.

Foreshadow

"For the first time feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom..."(pg 132).

As this is a frame story, the monster already knows what actions he has committed and there is a significance of foreshadow in his story. I feel this is one of the first time he possibly mentions the murder of William. The creature is truly expressing true human emotion, and one of the ultimate human emotions--despair and rage. His anger seems to arise from the fact that the De Lacey family has rejected him and left. However, his true anger is shown towards his creator who has left him to fend for himself with no other inhabitants. He mentions all that he knows about his creator, and specifically where he lives. From this context, the reader can come to understand where the monster is heading next. Although his intentions are not clear, we understand that he is looking for revenge. Connect the pieces and it makes sense who killed William. The real question is, how is it that the monster was able to frame Justine? Did he truly understand the context of frame and blame?

Technique

"'Presently I found, by the recurrence of some sound which the stranger repeated after them, that she was endeavouring to learn their language; and the idea instantly occurred to me that I should make use of the same instructions to the same end'" (pg 112).

Of course it seems important that the author would find some way for the creature to easily learn the language of the inhabitants of the house. Of course, he had already picked up basic words, but not enough to fully engage in conversation. Thus, the occurrence of the Arabian woman ties the events of how to learn language and how the monster acquired such fluent language. The Arabian woman also presents another component to the story, another frame story. This frame story, however, is very short compared to the current depth of the book. It relates the story of her father, and how the DeLacey family came to live in their current location. The frame story only adds to the story in that it allows the monster to understand the family's hardships and a reason for it to learn language. It might also serve as another component, in that, the frame stories might finally begin to unravel, so the reader will finally make their way out of the frame to the conclusion of the novel.

Halfway Point

"'My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature...'"(pg 110).

I feel there is a lot of use of nature in this novel to help with many aspects of the story. First, I often feel nature is used to set the tone. For example, 'it was a dreary night in November' --the night the life was created, something ultimately against nature, atleast by a human. Second, I feel that nature helps to pass the time. For example, the changing of the seasons as Frankenstein works on his creation which ultimately averts the reader a way from the details of how is he actually creating life. Third, I feel that nature brings the novel together--as in the actual plot. The reason that Frankenstein found his monster was because nature seemed to be his refuge to think. While nature is the same aspect that supported the monster with life and ultimately kept him alive. Overall, it is no surprise to me that nature plays an important role in the novel as it discusses the means of life and creating life. Victor ultimately went against the laws of nature by creating life from methods unheard of, it is no doubt that nature is going to continue to haunt him.

Comparison

"'Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded'" (Pg 96).

When the monster describes his miserable mood and feeling alone I immediately thought of both Walton and Victor. All three seem to complain of the same feeling. However, there is a difference between the two men and the monster. Walton and Victor are miserable and alone because that is the nature of the work they have chosen. Walton is sailing towards the North Pole while Victor secludes himself to his experiment and now currently his guilt and thoughts. On the other hand, the monster is miserable because he is not able to acquire affection like these men so easily are. He is ugly and terrifying to most humans. Yet he yearns for some type of positive attention. It seems that these characters could almost be foils in that Walton and Victor choose to be alone, while the monster is pushed from society. Yet isn't it the monster that deserves the love and attention? For he truly is the one helping humankind by supplying firewood and doing the many chores of Felix. But the other two are trying to help mankind through the work of science, which has ultimately been nothing but a failure to Victor.

Ambiguity

"'How do you welcome your wanderer?'" (pg 72).

When Victor returns to his hometown the reader finds him talking to the mountains, the lake, the elements of his childhood. Yet, when he asks how do you welcome your wanderer, I have the sense that this was not just about him. Yes, Victor had been gone nearly six years. Almost a sin in itself, distancing himself from his family for his work. However, the real sin or the real wanderer is the monster he has created which now wanders his homeland. By asking this rhetorical question to nature, he once again shows his guilt for the life he has created. His guilt is to become worse as well. For as soon as he saw the monster, he knew who had killed his brother, which would soon lead to the death of Justine. The life he had created had already taken a way two innocent lives, and the murderer was not the monster, rather is was Victor.

Parallel Structure

"The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature"(pg 53).

This passage serves two purposes. First, it is a technique used to pass time quickly. Ultimately, there is not much for the reader to come to know of Frankenstein's work. It is not as if it is important to understand the daily proceedings of a man at work on human life. To the whole of the story it is rather unimportant. By talking about the seasons as a whole, Shelley is able to advance her story without the reader saying wait, what happened? Second, the description of the beautiful nature parallels the life Victor is creating. While he is creating life, life is continuing to go on. Victor believes his work to be beautiful, creating life, just as the life of summer nature. It is a comparison of nature. It is also the inverse of what Frankenstein will soon think of his creation. It will soon not be beautiful, and rather more like a gloomy rain that will fall upon him.

Frame Story

"I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words, what he has related during the day"(Pg 29).

This is the point in the novel where the frame story seems to take control of the structure. Up until this page, the reader has read letters from Walton to his sister, Mrs. Saville. He records his plans, and the schedules of his days while being out at sea. However, these letters that tell Walton's story, soon begin to tell the story of Frankenstein, and why he finds his life so desolate. Technically, the reader is now four frames deep. There is the reader---> Mrs. Salville's letter ---> Walton's story ----> Frankenstein's story. The effect of a frame story for Frankenstein adds to the eerie or scariness. Shelley's technique makes it as if her story is becoming widespread, almost like tradition. It is as if the story of Frankenstein and his monster has been passed on and is something still haunting residence and children. A frame story ultimately provides that the story lives on.

My Thoughts

'"Moving and Unexpected."' -The Denver Post

I have a lot of remaining thoughts on the book as I have now finished reading it. Instead of choosing a quote from the novel I chose an opinion of the book as a whole, one that similarly matches mine.
When I began reading, I could not understand what about the novel drew me in. It seemed as if Hosseini used little action, but his descriptions to the characters enticed me to keep reading. I believe it was how real he was able to make the characters. Each their own issues. They were not one dimensional, and I believe that many of their secrets were to be revealed as the novel went on.
Also, I liked Hosseini's technique of foreshadow. I feel that many things connected in the novel and made sense. For example, Amir and his wife were not able to conceive children. This statement became apparent to me when Rahim sent Amir to look for Sohrab, in my mind I thought this is the dream they've been looking for, but that dream ultimately was a nightmare. Also, the haunting words of do not make children promises, and that the man's daughter had committed suicide. I never expected the actions of Sohrab to take place, but as soon as I did, I thought back to the man at the embassy and his bitterness.
Finally, I enjoyed many of the themes found in The Kite Runner, in that, it was not predictable, it was not a theme we find a thousand times over. Rather, it focuses on redemption from the past. And not redemption of an insignificant event but one that had life changing consequences. It also focused on a father/son relationship, and how to come to renew and keep that relationship along with acceptance.
Overall, the novel can be viewed on many different depths making it a complicated piece of literature although its plot is easy to follow and understand.

Conclusion

"Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting" (pg 371).

The conclusion of the novel finds Amir, Sonya, and Sohrab back in America. After what started as Sohrab refusing to communicate with Amir, opening up some, and closing back up again, ends with the slightest hint of new beginning. This slight opening occurs around the flying of a kite. Throughout the novel I find the kite to represent Amir's childhood -- for that is when he flew kites, his guilt--for after Hassan's assault he did not fly a kite again, and finally a new beginning. The difference between the two scenes of the novel however is at the beginning we find Amir in control of the kite, and having Hassan run it. At the end however, Amir will do anything to earn Sohrab's acceptance so he ultimately becomes like Hassan and will run the kite "A thousand times over for you". Although the novel ends rather ambiguous, I believe it is clear that Sohrab is eventually going to be able to accept his new "parents" and surroundings. After a short tortured life that cannot even be considered a childhood, he has found safety in the arms of a man just trying to redeem himself from his childhood.

Humor

"He's great with a slingshot." (pg 253).
"John Lennon walked back to the mound" (pg 272).

I feel as if the narrator added a great amount of humor to the novel. This humor especially occurs in very serious situations. This means that the humor plays as a way to lighten the situation that may seem serious or even vulgar. For example, in the first quote we find Amir arriving at the orphanage in Peshawar and the man not willing to let them come inside. It is not until after Amir states that they are not from the Taliban and everything he knows about Sohrab that the man finally invites them in. After the unfriendly welcoming the man states that Sohrab is actually great with a slingshot. This humor also serves as a way for the man to make up for his previous actions and words before. In the second quote, the reader is envisioning a stoning of a Muslim adulteress. This brutal and vulgar scene is somewhat lightened by the idea that the stone thrower is dressed like John Lennon, an allusion. This is humorous because John Lennon would not be stoning a woman for her actions, let alone in Afghanistan. It just happens to be the way the man is dressed that resembles him as John Lennon.

Unity

"I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under a matress" (pg 242).

The importance of this scene is that it relates back to Amir's childhood when Amir framed Hassan and his father of stealing from him and thus trying to have Baba let them go. However, this time, instead of causing trouble for the sake of his own good, Amir leaves money for Farid in his family. Of course, they were too stubborn to accept it in person. So Amir does an act to symbolize reversing his old ways. The significance of this event plays two roles. 1. Much of the second half of the book focuses on Amir redeeming himself from the acts of his childhood. This is just one situation is which Amir tries to reverse what has occurred in the past. 2. The idea of a charitable cause only makes Amir more like his father than he believes. Not only do they share ugly secrets but also a sense of what is right and good. These two roles ultimately play into the unity of tying the events of this novel together.

Technique/Setting

"The city was bursting with sounds; the shouts of vendors rang in my ears mingled with the blare of Hindi music, the sputtering of rickshaws, and the jingling of bells of horse-drawn carts. Rich scents, both pleasant and not so pleasant, drifted to me through the passenger window, the spicy aroma of pakora and the nihari..."(pg 196).

This is one of the many descriptions in which the narrator use sensual imagery to describe a city. Although he is using a technique, it is ultimately applied to the setting making it an overlapping category. The more important idea, however, is why this technique is used. This is for several reasons. 1. The narrator wants a description of each city so that the reader can compare them to the other cities. For example, by showing the pleasurable sounds and smells of Peshaw, it ultimately contrasts the scene of when Amir arrives in Kabul. 2. The imagery also evokes the senses because this is Amir's return to the Middle East. These are the first surroundings a native is going to remember to his country. Which ultimately suggests that no matter how long Amir has lived in America, he still has roots in these countries. The descriptions are not so much for the reader to create an idea in their mind, but rather for the narrator to express the contrasts between a well off Middle Eastern City compared to the Kabul of his childhood and now. And to lastly show connections to his past.