Journal Entry.

Baba’s Journal

An eventful day it has been, my son Amir has done me proud. I only hope now that he can grow up to become his own man, in fact. I hope he develops the ability to fend for himself; He cannot rely on me forever.

I could see him looking up at me as I expressed my feelings over his victory as I stood on the roof, I retired to discuss with Rahim on his views. I caught Amir’s eyes, he seemed awestruck...  He has pride in me that is unquestionable, he feels he has to earn it though, thanks to my stubbornness over his mother’s death, I shouldn’t blame him, It makes me feels guilty to blame him. But he cost me my love... Away from this topic!  I should not dwell on the dark of my past.

Seeing Amir Win the tournament has restored my confidence in him. Rahim agreed that this could be a turning point for Amir. I could hear Amir as he come before my study, as he entered the room however I could tell that something was troubling him. I could see out of the corner of my eye, Rahim giving me a questioning look.

What had happened?

 My son, he wore a look that was all so familiar to my childhood. He burst into tears, why was my son so upset after his victory, no matter. I wrapped my arms around him as he cried. Later that night I found myself reflecting on the day more that I would, it was an important day, but to see such sadness from one so young troubled me. 

Thinks are changing quickly in Afghanistan, I have debated on leaving, and there are rumours of an extremist group gaining following in the border of Afghanistan, leaving however would take planning, I would have to find passage out of the country with Amir as well as Hassan and Ali, they have become like family to me and to lose them would cause me great sadness.

Presentation of Assef.

How is Assef presented and what are his qualities?

We first meet Assef in the Kite Runner as a boy; even in his childhood it is made clear that Assef is a bully. However, he is presented as so much more that this throughout the book. We see that whereas Hassan can be described as the representation of hero like qualities, Assef is the complete and polar opposite. He has psychotic tendencies and acts along the lines of an Alpha predator when he has his eyes set on something, this is seen when he seeks to take the winning kite from Hassan, resorting to the most horrendous of means when he rapes Hassan.

In the eyes of the reader he represents all that is bad about Afghanistan in Amir’s eyes, he causes outright terror as a child and he continues this cycle into his adulthood when joining the Taliban. However we see that he doesn’t join the Taliban for personal gain, rather he joins it so he has reason to continue his psychotic outbursts.

Assef personality is also particularly heinous, with no remorse being displayed for his rape of Hassan; he shows extreme prejudice to those who are different. Wishing to exterminate them and see Afghanistan rid of them, overall these qualities themselves would have anyone believe Assef to be a psychopath he is truly the villain to the story, on the other hand we see that Amir is able to relate to both Hassan and Assef, displaying the qualities that both portray. We see this when Amir wishes to redeem himself and must confront Assef to do it. Those selfish tendencies appear in both these characters.

From this we can infer a theme of balance. Amir takes the middle and Assef is a result of him abandoning his conscience, however Hassan acts as this conscience when Amir is in doubt enabling a middle ground to be breached. 

Assef is still presented as this dark and unremorseful sociopath, he sees his role as mission for god, “Knowing you’re doing God’s work it’s breath taking” this shows us how committed Assef is to his role as a Taliban and is reinforced when he relates to the people who were shot as animals.  “We left the bodies in the streets, and if their families tried to sneak out to drag them back into their homes, we'd shoot them too. We left them in the streets for days. We left them for the dogs. Dog meat for dogs.”  These quotes show us the extent that Assed is portrayed as an extremist and how willing he was to act out these atrocities, Assef truly shows us how someone can relate so well to the goings on of a war torn country such as Afghanistan. 

Purpose of Steve and Eunice

We can see in "A Streetcar Named Desire" that the purpose of Steve and Eunice is to provide parallels for Stanley and Stella, We see that in both relationships there are abusive in aspects, consequently we see that Eunice throws Steve out where as Stanley and Stella have made peace by the end of the night due to their more primal and animalistic relationship which has a more physical basis to it. Steve and Eunice represent the life Stella has chosen for herself and Williams makes it seem, that this is possibly the time of life all people of this class have to go through and that due to Stella's choosing of it, it shows us that she has rebelled or gone against the life she was handed to and instead forsaken it for this "New American" class. Those who have to work instead of enjoying the life like Blanche did for so long.

So pulling from previous points I can infer that Williams presents this as being the norm at the time, A man would beat his wife yet would go back to him due to the stability he could provide, even if they had other options, this was the case for Stella originally. Furthermore due to the loss of Belle Reve she has nowhere else to run to, except Stanley. We see that it works for Stella and Stanley. However it may not work forever for Eunice and Steve, Blanche being appalled at the abuse she has witnessed and wishes to leave.

So to reiterate, The purpose of Eunice and Steve is to provide parallels for Stanley and Stella.

(Really had trouble writing this one, The two just appear as characters who act as a way to further the plot after the Poker Scene)

Character Guide

Character Guide.

Blanche DuBois

·         Older Sister of Stella Kowalski

·         High School English Teacher (Fired)

·         Lost Belle Reve

·         Lies about past endeavours

·         Married in the past. (Alan Grey)

·         Dates Mitch

·         Raped by Stanley

·         Committed to a mental asylum.  

·         Represents “Old America”

Stella Kowalski

·         Blanche’s little Sister

·         Privileged Background

·         Married to Stanley

·         Torn between Blanche and Stanley

·         Pregnant

·         More in common with Blanche than suggested.

Stanley Kowalski

·         Husband to Stella

·         Represents “New America”

·         Fought with Mitch in WW2

·         Lacks Ideals and imagination

·         Beats Stella

·         Rapes Blanche

·         Proud of Family and Heritage 

Harold “Mitch” Mitchell

·         Served with Stanley in WW2

·         Dates Blanche

·         More Sensitive than Stanley

·         Lives with his dying Mother

·         Doesn’t fit the typical “Hero Role”

·         Mitch also shows despair due to Blanche’s incarceration

Eunice

·         Stella’s friend

·         Lives upstairs as Landlady

·         Married to Steve

·         Represents the Low Class

·         Abused by Steve

Allan Grey

·         Blanche’s Ex-Husband

·         Committed Suicide

·         Homosexual

·         Married as a teenager

·         Still haunts Blanche’s memories.

The Young Man

·         Teenager who comes to collect for the paper

·         Shows us that Blanche has a thing for young men.

·         Reminds us of Blanche’s first Husband.

·         Flirts with Blanche.

Shep Huntleigh 

·         A former lover of Blanche

·         Married

·         Blanche hopes he will provide support

·         Millionaire

Diary Entry

Diary Entry on the end of scene 5. Focusing on Blanche's perspective.

Oh dear, Oh dear what have I done? 

I promised myself I wouldn't play around with young boys again, can I not control myself? 

I suppose it was a moment of temptation, he looked so much like an Arabian Prince. I couldn't but help myself but repeat those words to myself after he had left. "I've got to be good-and keep my hands of children. Because that’s what he was. a child barely half my age and I was playing with his heart, I threw myself at him for goodness sake!

Then, Mitch turned up just as he was leaving! Oh god what if he had caught me, I couldn't do that to him! I need him! He calms me down he's stable and damn it if I’ll give up on him. It's a wonder Stanley hasn't given privy to any of the rumours, my old life's catching up with me! I just wanted to leave it all behind! Can I not live in peace? “Everyone knows a Shaw” god what was I thinking?