Blog Response #7
Upon completion of reading your novel, what have you learned about a different culture? What shocked you? What seemed strange to you? What couldn't you believe? Take time to give specific examples from your novel that share what you learned about history and a different culture. Share your feelings about what you read.
I learned from the book Night that mostly all Germans that were alive back then liked Jews. It shocked me that they would kill them by putting them in a gas chamber and then they would burn there dead bodies after they got out of the chamber. What seemed strange to me was that they chose Jews out of all religion. I could not believe that Germans could force these Jews to watch there fellow Jews get whipped and make them watch other Jews get hung. In this book i learned that history should not be repeated and that some religions were cruel to other religions. My feelings about what i read were how humans could be so mean and treat other humans like no one should treat anyone.
ReplyDeleteI read the book I Am Malala. My mind thought the same thing some humans treated others bad in my book as well.
DeleteThis resembles my book as well but the people in Afghanistan do not take it as far as the Germans did.
DeleteI agree with you, I cannot believe people would want to torcher other people. All the people watching them feel terrible.
Deletei also agree, This was a very shocking book, learning about how the jews were treated
DeleteThe treatment of the Jew was horrifying for all who endured it to the point it hurts to read and learn about it.
DeleteI am reading the book Night and I have learned that the Germans do not like the Jews. It shocked me that they gassed them and then burned them right on the camp, and that they made the Jews look at the other Jews in the face after they hung themselves. Something that seemed strange to me was when the kids got called to the blockalteste and one of the prisoners told them to go back to their bunks otherwise they will be shot, and they listened. I couldn't believe that Elie's father died right the end, I thought he would've died half way through the book.
ReplyDeleteI read I Am Malala. I also had conflict between character throughout my book like the Taliban and Malala.
Deletei also thought it was terrible how Jews died in other Jews faces. It would be tough to continue on.
DeleteThe hanging of the boy was definitely hard to read. That was one of the worst parts of the book
DeleteI thought the shooting of the babies was the most scarring thing in the book in my opinion.
DeleteI am reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. I have learned so much about the different culture and as I get farther into the book so many things keep surprising me. One of the thing is how much they treat men and woman differently. A thing that seems very strange to me is the men can have up to four wives. Farther in the book I learned that woman are not allowed to travel alone or leave there house without their husbands. Mariam and Laila tried running away from home but once they got to the train station they had to find a young man that would say they belonged to him. Sadly it did not go their way and they were sent to the police station. I can not believe that even after the police officer knew that Rasheed would beat Mariam and Laila when he brought them back home he still did it.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds interesting. I would like to learn more about the different cultures that are in this book!
Deletethis sounds like the book a long way gone where the man can have a lot of wives and they don't have as many rights as the husbands
DeleteI thought it was strange too how the men could have as many wives as they want and how the women can't go out in public or leave the house without covering there face and having a man by their side.
DeleteI thought this book was very interesting too! It was very different hearing about some men having multiple wives.
DeleteIn I Am Malala women and men are treated differently tooo, men are celebrated at birth and women are not.
DeleteWhat i have learned about in the book A Long Way Gone is that they have a very uncontrollable government that doesnt take any authority what so ever towards its citizens. They allow a whole bunch of violence and killing people and dont do a thing about it. Cant believe they dont give a crap about each other when it comes to the people dying everyday. They fuel them with crack and expected them to function properly after the war is over. Dont like how they are treated but its a good read.
ReplyDeleteI was surpised how easy it was for them to overthrow the government and start up a civil war and how they treated all the civilians during the book
DeleteI would hate to live with a government like that. I would so upset if one of my friends or family died and they wouldn't give them justice
DeleteI think that its weird that the government really isn't doing anything against the war and the citizens. It doesn't make sense that they are sending in children to fight for them. How do you think Ishmael feels after the decisions that he has made.
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ReplyDeleteI learned from A long way gone how far advanced we are commpared to a lot of other countries because they had a lot of villages where they still had mud and straw huts instead of buildings like us. I was schocked that the rebels and the army were working together to overthrow the democraticly elected president. I was suprised that the gov was making kids fight and then givving them a bunch of drugs to. I was a overall good book other than how they were treated
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in doesn't make sense that children are fighting in wars more and are being used. The children are being affected by the war and they will live with the experiences and those experiences will change them. What do you think about the decisions that Ishmael has gone through.
DeleteThe rebels are so careless they even kill their own men sometimes they just go around shooting because they are scared to die but the drugs have something to do with it.
Deleteyeah the goverment is trash and its suprising they had that young of children fighting in the war they hand childern doing coke that was the most suprising thing there all coke junkies fighting in the war
DeleteI am reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and what shocked me about their culture was how they treat the women there like objects and possessions. Women are not seen as people in there country. They are seen as objects that are there to worship men and give them kids. Like when women in my book are really young, they are forced into arranged marriages with men that are usually way older than they are. They have no rights at all. They are there to cook, clean, stay at home, produce kids, be at the men's beck and call. They aren't allowed to go out in public without there husband and they have to cover there face so no one other than the husband is allowed to see it. I would hate this because I hate when people tell me what to do and I don't like when people control me.
ReplyDeleteI agree that woman are not seen as people in this country, they are very controlled by the men.
DeleteIt also shocked me how they treat women there, and how they are only seen as objects.
DeleteIn The Kite Runner, you learn a lot about the culture in Afghanistan. I have about 100 pages left but I know kite running is a activity that is really popular in Afghanistan. They fly kites and try to knock other people's down, so it's a big competition. Also the wealthy people have servants, so that's different than here. The kites are a huge part of the book, it's surprising because nobody here really flies kites and it's really big there.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the kite running isn’t really a thing in the US
Deletesounds like its harder for us to understand.
DeleteI like to view kite-fighting, as bewildering as it sounds to coat strings with tar and glass to try to use your kite and cut other kites' strings, as a very fitting tradition for Afghans. To quote the book directly, "The thing about you Afghanis is that... well, you people are a little reckless." To me, a tradition that creates enjoyment from recklessness is perfect for people who are reckless in nature.
DeleteI am reading the book A Long Way Gone and I am surprised with how the people in the book find little boys more dangerous than grown men sometimes. I also think it is interesting that there are tribes in the country and they tend to be individuals instead of working together in a group to protect themselves. I have noticed that women do not really have that many rights as it seems in the country that this book is based in. An example is that mostly men and boys are in war and woman and girls are nurses and cookers and are civilians. I think comparing some of the cultures that we have in America are way different than what is going on in the book's country.
ReplyDeleteI agree I feel like if they all came together and united this scenario wouldn't even be a problem but with the corrupt government they are all in that has a very little chance of happening.
Deletei do think that he came very far and for survive for that long bye himself.
DeleteI agree it crazy how the kids that are 10 can be vicious children. No one seems to be trusted and they have had to adapt to the violence
DeleteIm still in disbelief that children were brainwashed by an insurrectionist group to kill innocent civilians, family, or even their own friends.
Deleteyeah i also noticed most of the rebals arent that old there seen as childern and not adults this books culture is hard to compare to the culture of the united states
DeleteIn the book I Am Malala, you learn about Pakistan along with the Taliban. It shocked me when they decided girls could not go to school. Also shocked me how much authority the Taliban had among everyone. What seemed strange to me was how close Malala and her father was. I was surprised that Malala and her mother weren't as close. I could not imagine living in this type of culture there is many things I disagree with such as the woman getting treated. It is s different from here but I enjoyed reading and learning about another culture.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Malala is close with her dad because he is not old fashioned like her mom. Malala's mom favored her brothers and that was what probably changed everything for her. Her father believed in her and other females when other people didnt.
DeleteIn the book Night, i have come to realize the Jews were hated by the Germans because they were not part of the Perfect race. I also learned that the Jews are very religious no matter where they were; Either in the camps or back in their homes before the Massacare began. What shocked me the most was the amount of kids that were killed. Each one of them could've been alive today although this was not the case. What i thought was strange was why the Germans needed the Jews for so long, why not just shoot them? lastly i could not believe that the father finally died when he was so close to getting through it all. I could not imagine what went through Elie's mind that day.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with everything you said, I for sure thought Elie's father would survive.
DeleteThat was the worst part having to imagine the things that they endured and witnessed
DeleteIts horrible that these things happened to them but its truely amazing that throughout it all they still kept faith in their religion
DeleteIn the book A Thousand Splendid Suns the culture on the western part of the world is very different. For example in the start of the book Mariam and her mother lived outside a city in a small shack. Nana never saw her husband because her husband had several other wives to care for. In their country they treat woman as objects and do whatever they want with them. In another part of the book Mariam's husband Rasheed marries a 14 year old girl Laila and doesn't think twice about it. It truly shows how men do not think of woman's feelings at all and do whatever they please. Some woman are even forced into arranged marriages even when they are in love with someone else.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with everything you said, It was very surprising that Rasheed was allowed to marry a 14 year old
DeleteI agree with how differently they lived and what is normal for them vs. what is normal for us
DeleteInteresting response, Nick! I too agree that men do not think of women's feelings at all and do whatever they please in this country.
DeleteI agree Nick I think there normal of treating woman is a lot different than most countries and they say it as wrong.
DeleteIn “the kite runner” they focus on the Afghanistan culture and show us the kite fighting tournaments. The tournaments are pretty big in Afghanistan and it was pretty suprising that it was that big of a part of their culture. In the US we don’t really have anything like that
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't get why it's such a big thing. Like of all things, why kites?
Deleteeven though the kite fights are not shown a lot in the book it is still a big thing in the book.
DeleteIan Huseman
I agree it was interesting about the kite competition and I wonder if they have any other odd competitions they do
DeleteI started to understand the culture of long way gone and I truly don't know how they live thru there because of the war and how it effects them and he handles it very good for being hunted like an animal and not having a save place to stay for the night.
ReplyDeleteYea it is crazy how they just live and adapt to the war and learn how to live with it.
Deleteit would not be fun to be a kid that is 13 and going into war
DeleteThe fact that many of them would just turn against eachother because they were told to is probably the most terrifying part of the war.
DeleteI am reading a long way gone and I was shocked when there is a mix of modern technology and also the primitive style of living. They have to go get her food and build their homes and yet they have tape recorders and tvs. They have generators and vehicles but struggle to find their next meals.
ReplyDeleteWeird how people are struggling while they have technology. They do not have enough money to get some food but will go buy a tv.
DeleteI was also shocked with the mix of technology it was interesting how they had primitive tribes but those tribes also had cassette players.
DeleteI read night and what happened is almost unimaginable. It’s hard for my brain to actually picture some of the horrible things that happened. I brought the up the children being tossed in the fire before but it honestly can’t leave my head. Having to watch that would simply break me. Also the 20km march between camps is insane. When he said they were moving mechanically and were way beyond exhaustion is hard to even imagine
ReplyDeleteBook sounds pretty fire
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Deletethat is very sad to hear about or to even think about i cant believe he had that happen to him
DeleteI agree, its truely just sad what these characters and real people had to endure because of who they were.
Deletei agree both my physical and mental aspects would be challenged and i dont know if i could do it or not
DeleteI read A Thousand Splendid Suns, which took place in Afghanistan. It showed how women weren't really given any basic human rights. They were given away for marriage at a very young age by their fathers to random older men, who hopefully had money. The men could have up to 3 wives, and they were their to tend to the men's needs. They cooked, cleaned, and any other task the husband would request. The book also took place during a war with the Taliban. They put a ton of rules in place restricting women even more. I had a bit of culture shock while reading because of how different it was from how we live now in America.
ReplyDeleteIn I am Malala, they were treated the same way. They had no educational rights and personal rights. I was very eye opening that women were treated this way.
DeleteIt angered me the way women were treated! Nonetheless, a very great book to read.
DeleteIt made me really mad on how they treated women and thought they were nothing. All there supposed to do is clean, cook, give children, and give them what they want.
DeleteThe Kite Runner portrays more than the stereotypical Afghanistani we'd imagine today, the most notable time being the time in the book before the invasion by Soviet Russia or the rise of the Taliban inside Afghanistan. There was an age in Afghanistan where life was good, a country not plagued by death, hunger, and war but thriving with (at least in this story) huge parties being thrown in elegant homes, bazaars and markets full of people, food, and other items; a time when Afghanistan was governed by a king, and women weren't made to wear headdresses or had to be accompanied by a male relative should they leave home.
ReplyDeleteThat all changes either in the invasion of the Soviets, introducing the "death, hunger, and war" to the people, or the Taliban who, when drove the Soviets out, seemed like hope for the people, before the Taliban took over with an iron fist of religious beliefs and extreme ruthlessness.
my only question would be why are people trying to flee Afghanistan?
DeleteIan Huseman
I read I am Malala. I learned many things about this culture. That women have to ask for permission to marry a man and usually dont marry for love. Also, they cannot be seen outside without their husbands as it is seen as disrespectful. They celebrate having a son and hide away their daughters. Women are not treated like that here and it is very surprising.
ReplyDeleteI read A Thousand Splendid Suns and women can also not be seen outside without a man. When one of my main characters went outside without her husband the Taliban beat her and sent her home.
DeleteThat was also something i believed was un fair how women had to ask for permission to be able to remarry but usually it was rearranged by the parents.
DeleteI read A Thousand Splendid Suns and something that shocked me was how women are treated in Afghanistan. They are forcibly married off at young ages, sometimes even as young as 10, and are unable to escape from an abusive husband. Some husbands see women as baby makers and housekeepers rather than their wife. For cases like Mariam, who is unable to produce a child, she is deemed useless in Rasheed's eyes, and this causes him to lose his temper. After being married off these women are unable to live their own lives, in the beginning of the book Mariam would talk about how she wanted to go to school and learn but after being married to Rasheed, that dream was no longer possible.
ReplyDeleteIn I Am Malala I was also shocked with how women were treated, they couldn't leave the house without a man with them.
DeleteI read this book as well and I was completely frustrated at many points with the way women are treated. Even the way female children are treated, you can just see a lack of respect for them.
DeleteI am reading the book The Kite runner and something that shocked me was how difficult it is to raise a child in Afghanistan. their cultural is very honed on praising one person and following orders from that person. I couldn't believe the amount of poverty that they were facing. they live off pay check to paycheck and some even live off food they found off the street, or the very little there was.
ReplyDeleteIan Huseman
DeleteI agree it is shocking how they over power boys than girls. What did you like learning about the most? Mine was the kite competition.
Deletei was also very shocked by how hard it is to raise a child in Afghanistan. It is a tough world to grow up in!
DeleteI read I Am Malala, and something that I learned was that in the middle east, when a girl is born they aren't celebrated but when a boy is born a celebration could last days. That shocked me because women do so much for their families in the middle east and they don't get celebrated, they can't even leave the house without having a man with them and give them permission. I think Malala's mom or someone that she saw got yelled at by a merchant because they didn't have a man with them.
ReplyDeleteI was also shocked by how the women had to have a man with them to even go outside or then they would be yelled at.
DeleteI may be biased, but I believe the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, had the most shocking cultural differences. It was so shocking to see it be so normal in Afghanistan to have several wives. Jalil, one of the main characters dads, had 3 wives and 9 kids. That is sick to have that many wives. I also could not believe how the characters made it through such harsh conditions. Whether is be the random missiles that were shot through their town or the abuse that they had to take from their husbands, it was cruel. The other shocking thing was that women are not allowed to divorce their husbands AND were assigned who they would marry by their parents because "they knew best". I know this is their culture, but I could not even fathom living this way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Claire, I don't understand how having more then one partner can be normal. I know that there are poly people in united states but i would not consider it as a normal.
DeleteI read A Thousand Splendid Suns. I learned that in middle eastern countries, specifically Afghanistan, they live by a very male-dominated culture. Women have to be covered from head to toe when going out with a burqa. Women have to be accompanied by a man when they leave the house. Women often have no choice in who they marry. Women are expected to cook and clean at home. I found it shocking how women in this culture have all of their choices stripped away. When reading I often became frustrated because of this.
ReplyDeleteI read the book A Thousand Splendid Suns. I learned a lot about the middle eastern culture one thing that I thought was weird about there culture was that they had several wives. And if one was unable to have children they would just move on to the next and get rid of her. I also found cool that the parents make them have an arranged marriage and it only really matters about money to them.
ReplyDeleteWow nathan really interesting feelings you have going towards their culture. I felt the same way about the arranged marriage.
DeleteI am reading a long way gone and there is a big culture change we don't have people that are 12 or 13 going into the military and have to see what they see at a young age. I think it is kind a sad that this kids have to go through that stuff and be on all of this weed and pills and stuff
ReplyDeleteI read I am Malala and what shocked me was how the woman were treated. How when a mom had a baby boy they would throw a party but when a girl was born they would be sad. Also by how woman were not allowed to walk outside without their husband with them or then they would get punished. Also how the women had to get permission from their parents if they are able to remarry. I just felt like they should appreciate the women their more because they are the ones who give birth to the men. it just shocks me that men would take women for granted.
ReplyDeleteI am reading A thousand Splendid Suns and women in my story get treated really bad to. Men always wants a boy and dose not care much if you have a girl and does not really care for them.
DeleteI read the book A Thousand Splendid Suns. I learned about the culture in Afghanistan and how they do things. I also have learned about the roles women and men have in this story. Something that shocked me is when some men do not care if other women do not hide there body and they want there wife to hide there face. Girls have to get married at thee age of like 14, and 15. They do not have a say in it and they have to have kids at a young age. You could not really call the cops if your husband is beating you because they say its not there business what a man does inside his home. Its shocking on how girls have to grow up so fast and how much of there life is taken away. While reading this book it shows you how different people live and heartbreaking that they have to go through it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Kajiyah, I think the thing that surprised me the most was the way woman were treated and there is nothing we can do about it.
DeleteIn a thousand splendid suns the arranged marriage part and the woman have to have all of their face covered at all times. I could not believe those things because it is weird that you do not have a choice who you end up marrying it is already planned out for you. I guess since you already know who you are marrying you really never have to show your face because it is already arranged.
ReplyDeleteI read a long way gone what surprised the most is how soldiers recruited children for the fight against the rebels. Witch is really sad because they ruined their childhood really early and they are left traumatized for a really long time.
ReplyDeleteThe most shocking part of A Long Way Gone was the Rebel faction's unwillingness to show mercy. In most villages in Sierra Leone, helping others and caring for them was part of their culture. For a group of individuals that claim to care about the people and their country, they show no mercy to anyone and kill everyone who refuses to cooperate in their war effort.
ReplyDeleteThe main thing that confused or surprised me was how much people changed throughout the novel. People started off with sticking together, but soon started turning on eachother like with the old women on the train that got beat up by her peers. or the preist's son who left him because he wasnt fast enough to keep up. as the novel progressed i started seeing the characters selfishness progress,
ReplyDeleteIn my book a long way gone its kind of similar in the way of people sticking together then having no trust for anyone.
DeleteI am reading the book a long way gone, in Ishmaels culture they were all very peaceful and valued community until the civil war. It shocked me how they went from enjoying each others presence to hating each other. It also shocked me that the soliders were all really young like 12.
ReplyDeletei was alos surprised how young the soldiers are.
DeleteI am reading The Kite Runner and something I liked learning about was the kite competition, It was kind of weird how they use a kite and try to not the other one down. Also, it's interesting how they make it such a big deal. Something I couldn't believe is that Assef was the Taliban man and wanted to fight Amir.
ReplyDeletei agree that the kite competitions were pretty weird.
DeleteI agree that the kite competitions were something unique and something that I have not seen before.
DeleteI read the book The Kite Runner and something i found different from american culture is the kite fighting competitions. I thought that the idea was very cool! I couldn’t believe that Assef was the Taliban official. Very good book!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I also could not believe Assef was the Taliban official and the book tied into him and Amir fighting again years down the road.
DeleteWhile reading the book a thousand splendid suns I learned a lot about the culture in Afghanistan. Going into this book i thought i knew a lot about this type of culture, but after reading it i realize that i had a lot to learn. The thing that surprised me the most was the way woman were treated. Young girls at the ages of 14 and 15 were forced into marring a complete stranger. More likely then not that stranger turned into a abusive partner and there is nothing anyone can do about it because it is considered the normal.
ReplyDeleteI read the book, The Kite Runner, one thing about the culture there was how Afghanistan was. I was shocked to see that before all of the Taliban and the Russians invading, that the country was a pretty peaceful place. It had nice houses and places there and it was not a war torn country as it is now. I also learned about how cruel the Taliban are there and some of the things they do and the book showed kind of how they rose in the country. I could not imagine having that go on in the United States. In general though, I thought the book was very good and always had something exciting going on.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading the book Night I was horrified by the treatment of the Jew and the cruel experiments that afflicted them. As well as seeing the point of them breaking physically and mentally. I could believe the length they went to hurt people they never met on one of the biggest scales imaginable. One of the cruelest things the book described is the SS officers throwing babies in the area and shooting them out of the sky it was the most vomit worry thing in the book which was extremely sickening.
ReplyDeletei agree the treatment and experiments that were done would be mentality breaking. I could not imagine being in their shoes.
Deleteim reading along way gone and the thhing i noticed right away is how they live to me there villages seem like old hunting tribes not the modern way we live they live like the men go get the food the women cook thats the way i see there villages and they seem to have a huge acces to coke which is weird i didnt expect that to be a relavent drug in africa and where they live its just villages for miles like the last city they went to rehab is rare
ReplyDeletei agree the villages seem very old.
DeleteI am reading long way gone and what surprised me is that the government of Sierra Leone is not doing much or anything to stop the civil war from happening. the villages also seem very slum like and not much to them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read A Long Way Gone one thing that stood out to me was how they walked everywhere and they didn't know what an elevator was or how to use it. When the rebels where just killing anyone no matter how old or young they were, if they were against them they died.
ReplyDeleteIn the book night what shocked me was the things that I did not know about the holocaust like some of the different ways people were killed and the marches the Jews were sent on. Also another shock to me is that if the people in the infirmary would have stayed then they would have been liberated. lastly something i learned is how peaceful Elizer and their culture was.
ReplyDeleteI read the book, The Kite Runner and one thing about the culture there was how Afghanistan was. I was shocked to see that before all of the Taliban and the Russians invading, that the country was a pretty peaceful place. It had nice houses and places there and it was not a war torn country as it is now. I also learned about how cruel the Taliban are there and some of the things they do and the book showed kind of how they rose in the country. I could not imagine having that go on in the United States. In general though, I didn't like the book but there were a few parts in it that I thought were interesting
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