APLit2010

Argument: Khaled Hosseini gives a face to the Afghan people in The Kite Runner. It humanizes the culture and gives outsiders to the culture a little insight to the fact that we may not be that different from each other after all. The novel offers the theme of personal redemption that many have dealt. Literary critics have seen this book as being an allegory but Jefferess takes this a step farther by pointing out how this novel is really a political allegory that uses a humans shot at redemption in comparison to that of the country Afghanistan's chance to fix itself. Evidence: "Hence the novel "humanizes" Afghan culture, providing depth and meaning to the sign "Afghanistan" for the non-Afghan reader, otherwise a mere signifier of post-9/11 conflict" (Jefferess). "While Amir's quest for personal redemption may be read as an allegory of Afghanistan's national project of healing, I read the novel as a political allegory that reflects the way in which the "third world", marked by its difference from the "West", becomes a site to be transformed through the project of nation-building" (Jefferess). "This project is presented in the West as an ethical demand that is paradoxically conceived of as both a humanitarian project and a disciplinary one; to be recognized as human, Afghanistan must conform to particular western expectations of democracy, liberalism, and multiculturalism. While the novel's reception reflects an openness to, and a desire for, understanding the Other, it also reflects the limits of acceptable difference"(Jefferess) Thoughts: The view that Jefferess took on The Kite Runner is extremely interesting. Not many have seen the novel as merely an ethical allegory, but he argues this point well. The fact that since the US has entered the war in Afghanistan, many people view that the end of the war will be when Afghanistan becomes a democracy and adopts western ideals, but what isn't always understood is that with change, comes

Argument: Although the subject of Steinbeck's novels change overtime, he maintains a view of certain fundamental values and attitudes such as naturalism and romanticism. Claim: Steinbeck's obsessiveness with science/biology as well as the relationship between man and his environment appear throughout his novels. However, he often strays from science and writes off an emotional bias by writing fondly of those that live natural lives and behave naturally. Evidence: In "Sea of Cortez", he states "There would seem to be only one commandment for living things: Survive!" (Sea of Cortez). A majority of this book is about a group of boys who focus on what is occurring during the present time and handle issues with their reactions instead of with 'teleological thinking' (2). In addition, he touches on the subject of the scientific viewpoint that everyone is fighting to stay alive and make it in this world. http://go.galegroup.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=chandler_main&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CH1420074523&&docId=GALE|H1420074523&docType=GALE&role=LitRC

Argument Heller used juxtaposition and the idea of "déjà vu" to create the insight on the world that Yossarian had been it at the time (World War 2). By the use of "black" comedy and the influence of works such as Crime and Punishment and Dante's Inferno, Heller was able to craft such a fine "epic" that there are authors today who use the similar style of non-organized (or non-chronological) order - such as William Faulkner. Evidence * "Most significant is Heller's incremental repetition of the Snowden episode; he presents fragments of the scene and builds to a climax where Yossarian learns the extent of his gunner's injuries." * "Heller relies heavily upon patterns of recurrence-whether of scene, image, or verbal exchange-so that the reader experiences a sense of deja vu." * "Heller uses the technique of black humor, juxtaposing comic and tragic effects, mixing the slapstick with the grotesque." Thoughts This article stresses the importance of the non-chronological order that Heller had to defend upon Catch-22's initial release - in which critics were just stupid and though he did it out of panic and misrepresentation rather than using it as a true surface style with meaning.

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