Lesson 10/11/10

So, today's lesson was all about Hosseini's use of voices in chapters 16 and 17. Here were the things I found most interesting things.....
 1. Chapter 16 seems to be a bit like an introduction into the second half of the novel... Partly because it's back into the time frame we had at the beginning of the novel, and partly because what happens either side of the chapter is Amir's sin, and Amir's redemption.
  2. The different voices Hosseini uses throughout both chapters changes the way that the reader interprets the mood and atmosphere of the chapters. So for example, chapter 16 is told by Rahim Khan- there is a switch in narration. This means that Rahim's story is coming directly from himself, rather than through Amir first, so all the bias of having a 1st person narrator to tell his story through (i.e Amir), Rahim IS the 'first person', so no details are missed out, no facts misinterpreted. This could be a pretty sneaky trick used by Hosseini to show that Amir often manages to conceal or reject the full story.
 3. I really liked the way Hosseini managed to incorporate Hassan's voice into chapter 17 through a letter. It meant (like with Rahim) the reader knows just as much as Amir, rather than having to guess some of the things that he'd rather not mention. The pure innocence demonstrated through the letter, as well as the never-failing devotion of Hassan to Amir, makes it even worse when we learn about Hassan's death.


INTERESTING POINT- when Rahim breaks the news that Hassan is in fact Amir's brother, something very interesting has to happen. Very early on in Rahim's confession, when all he's admitted is that Ali couldn't have children, Amir 'began to see where this was going'. He catches on so quickly that the idea comes to mind that maybe deep down, Amir already knew Hassan was his brother. Hmmm....