What qualities must a person have to be considered a good parent?

A good parent should have love for every single one of their children and treat them equally. No child should feel less loved than their siblings. In the help, Sara Fitzgerald who is the mother of Kate, Anna, and Jesse gives Kate more attention to her than her other siblings.

Sara is a great and supporting parent to Kate. Kate is sick with Leukemia and she is always by her side and helps her through everything.
Kate said to her mom "When you care more if someone else lives than you do about yourself….is that what love's like?"(page 310). I agree with what Kate said because she does love Kate and wants to do everything she can to make her feel safe and get healthier. Kate's mom thinks Anna is willing to help her sister but Anna doesn't feel like an individual. She feels like she's only there to help her sister live her life.


'Did you ever feel, when you were a kid, that maybe they were playing favorites?" Her face tightens, just the tiniest bit, and I feel bad about putting her on the spot. "We all know you're supposed to love your kids equal, but thats not always how it works out."(page 145) - Brian 
According to what Brian said, He knows that they are favoring Kate than any of the other kids. He does help support Anna is having her spend some time alone when he says to Kate "I'm giving her space to come to the right conclusions by herself." (page 197)

Can one person make a difference?

 Of course one person can make a difference. In My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, Anna is a "allogeneic donor" Which is perfect for her sister Kate when she needs leukocytes, stem cells, or bone marrow. These all help "fool" the body to thinking its healthy.When Kate ends up in the hospital, Anna ends up there right beside her because her genes match Kate's perfectly.(page.10)

I feel that Anna is definitely that one person who can make a difference on her sister, Kate's life. But she doesn't. She ends up suing her family for the right to her own body. She wants to be independent and doesnt want to always be dependent for her sister Kate. She could make a difference on Kate but she decides not too.

http://www.organdonor.gov/lifestories/lifeabrown.html

This website shows tons a real life stories who are hero's because of saving someones life by being an organ donor. One person is all it needs to save another persons life. While reading the story from Kentucky they mentioned a quote from Amelia who was sick girl who once said “The real heroes are the donor families. I look at it this way: there could have been two tragedies, but my donor family turned their tragedy into a blessing. I’m forever grateful.” Everyone who has been in this situation as found someone who has changed their life in a significante way. Amelia was scared she wasn't going to make it to the end of graduation but thanks to her donor mother, Amelia did graduate and took a full course load and summer classes and also got to be homecoming queen!

Heroism part 2

Skeeter is known as another hero in The Help. Skeeter writes journals about the maids life and started interviewing with Aiblieen. She wants to make a change society looks at "the help" known as the maids. She is a white women who doesn't believe in the myths of black people. She wants to be a journalist and starts her writing career based on what she believes and the stories she hears from the maids.

"I was raised by a color women….Everyone knows how us white people feel….But no one ever asked Mammy how she felt about it."(page. 123)

She was raised by a color women which shows thats why Skeeter is not racist at all and she's fighting for blacks to be free without racism. She was raised by a black person and they're normal people just like everyone who's white in society.

http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/cffall94.html

"Can heroes really be heroes if only a certain group In a society call them heroes? "

This quote is trying to ask if someone is still considered a hero if only ONE group of people think they're a hero? In my opinion I think if at least one person looks up to you then I believe you're a hero. Skeeter does't believe in racism which all the blacks want to hear. All the black maids will agree with Skeeter and what she believes in but other people such as the rest of the white society will have different beliefs and opinions. This shows that only one group of society looks up to Skeeter as a hero.

Heroism

Heroism to mean means someone who puts someone else before them self. A hero's helps make a change in someones life in a positive way. A person who looks up to someone and learns something valuable to them is a hero.

Aibileen is a hero to Mae Mobley. Aibileen puts Mae before her self. She teaches  Mae that she's a smart girl. "I say you a kind girl, and she nod, repeat it back to me" (page 107) Aibileen is there to help teach Mae about love and be confident in her self that her mother doesn't teach her or tell her. 

"..Miss Leefolt do not like changing diapers." (page 110) If you have a child then you should care for the child and take care of them. There is no reason Miss Leefolt should have someone else take care of her and look after her on responsibility. Not only is Ailbileen a hero to Mae Mobley but also to Miss Leefolt. If it wasn't for her then Miss Leefolt would have to take care of her own daughter, Mae would probably suffer because she doesn't express love and kindness towards her like Aiblieen does.


Ailbileen is trying to lead Mae not to have racists ideas as she gets older. Aibileen believes that people get taught from previous generations that they have racists beliefs, people aren't born with those beliefs, its what they have been taught by their family. If Aibileen ever got caught teaching Mae about this she could get in trouble. She is putting herself in danger but she wants to help Mae Mobley when she gets older to be independent and don't go by 'society rules'.

The Help

What qualities must a person have to be considered a good parent?

To be a good parent you have to care for your child and take care of them. You should always put your child first. Your own chid is now your own responsibility. 

"Soon as I walked into the nursery, Mae Mobley smile at me, reach out her fat little arms." (pg. 5)This shows that Mae is happy for Aibileen's presents. A child gets attached to their mother very quickly and Mae goes to Aibileen for comfort. Miss. Leefolt doesn't like the fact that Mae is getting close to Aibileen because that hurts her that someone else can take care of her own child better than she can. Her daughter is going to someone else for love and attention. Thats all a child needs in life is attention and love from their parents, thats how that gain their trust in you and know that there is someone there for them, always. 
A parent should always before there for their child and comparing Miss. Leefolt and Aibileen, Aibileen is always there taking care of her.

http://www.counselingcorner.net/parents/care.html

This website shows great ways to communicate with your child that Miss. Leefolt seems to   fail but Aibileen succeeds at such as hug them frequtly, stay with them when they're afraid, laugh and giggle, smile, and most importantly notice them and acknowledge them frequently.

Is viewing The Kite Runner through a critical lens affecting my analysis?

Sometimes when knowing about the critical lens affects your analysis later on, but in the book The Kite Runner, makes me forget that this isn't based on a true story. Knowing that its fiction doesn't make me look at it any differently. It may change the way other people look at it because everyone has different views.

The conflict in this book with Baba and Amir, and rape of Hassan are both realistic problems that can happen in real life and that is a reason I forget this isn't based off of a true story.

This is a fiction book that seems so realistic. This book is a coming of age story and it also is shown as a memoir because of all the flashbacks he has from his childhood. If you ask questions based on this novel or any novel, not everyone would answer the same way as you. People have different opinions.

The Kite Runner vs. Persepolis

Why is childhood such an important time of life?  When does it end?

Both The Kite Runner and Persepolis relate their stories based on Childhood. Childhood is an important time in your life because it is memories that you will remember in the future. We all make mistakes and people learn from their mistakes. The beginning of your life is where your personality is formed. When does childhood end? In my opinion I think it ends when you are mentally able to take of yourself. You have to be in control of your life.

In The Kite Runner I felt that Amir was very innocent before the war started. Innocent is key for childhood. Kids grow up not knowing whats right from wrong. Once it started he wanted his father to be interested in him and tried to change to be more aggressive. This is when he started to become more independent and take control of his life. This is when his childhood seems to end.  The adult Amir looks back and remembers struggling to have a good relationship with his father. He looks back on his "childhood".

In Persepolis, Marji starts becoming more of women and becomes more independent when she knows bad things are happening in her country and she needs to stand up for herself and take control. When Marji leaves her family to go to Australia she proved she can take care of herself and not have someone watch after her. 

I believe that my childhood isn't over yet because I can't defend for my self yet. Yes I have a couple jobs, I drive and own a car, but I'm not able to support myself yet and I need my parents. Without them I would be lost. Slowly they are teaching me how to be more independent and take on responsibilities. I'm not like Amir and Marji who's childhood ends right away and they have to grow up really fast in life.

The Kite Runner

How do people cope when their lives are changed by forces they can't control?

People deal with difficult times in their lives everyday. You can't control what happens just like in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. One person can't stop the war so when the war starts Amir can't do anything about it. This is when he becomes closer with his family. He copes with the war he can't control by turning to the things that will always be there for him, family. 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C7ZZyE4L8oU/TdAsM0zd-SI/AAAAAAAAAAk/yipDKT01MCk/s1600/Kite_Runner-40.jpg

Amir and his father, Baba had a different relationship than a normal father and son would have. Baba doesn't believe that Amir can go off and stand up for himself in the future. Even though Amir sees his father has little interest in him, he tries to change to be more aggressive so his father would be proud of him. This is where his violence comes in.
He's trying to change his fathers perspective of him but can't seem to control the way his father feels about him.

Persepolis Book vs. Movie

I liked reading the book Persepolis by Marji Satrapi as much as I liked watching the movie. I noticed that there was some important characters in the book that were not mentioned in the movie such as the family's maid.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JUffiABq4OY/Uoe865c2TCI/AAAAAAAAHsA/CSR1yUZJsyk/s1600/1.png

Merhi in the book was an important character in the book. She came to live with Marji's family because her own family couldn't support her. There was even a whole chapter about her and how she fell inlove with the neighbor's son. He sent her a letter and she wanted to write back but she couldn't because she didn't know how to. Marji decided to write it and got caught by her father. Merhi and the neighbor shouldn't comunicate because they are from different social classes.

This was not included in the movie and I thought this was such a good sence to watch, especially because it was a pretty big sence in the book. This scene was important in the book because it taught Marji about the different social classes and how people can only love people within their class, it would be wrong to love someone from a different social class.

Childhood

Childhood is an important time in your life because it is memories that you will remember forever. You learn from your mistakes and will carry that with you for the rest of your life. The beginning of your life is where your personality is formed and you don't have a care in the world. Does childhood ever end? Yes, in my opinion I think it does. One day you're going to wake up and not have your parents take care and look out for you. You have to be in action in controlling your life and how you want to live.  Your parents and loved ones surrounding you influenced your childhood by the way you were brought up.

In Persepolis, Marjane was living in the Islamic Revolution. At the age of six she was sure she wanted to be a prophet. Her father owned a Cadillac and thought everyone should have a nice car and her grandmothers knees always ached and she didn't like seeing old people suffering. She was raised to believe in god and to trust him.  She told god that she wanted to be a prophet but did want her parents to find out.

Marjane deals with her life with forces she can't control during the war. Marjane was forced to wear a veil at school and couldn't go against it, she couldn't control not to wear it. Her family also decides to stay while the Islamic Revolution was happening and she has to deal with her fear. The army kept marching and throwing stones all day and she had tons of aches on her body. There was no way she could control that and stop the war. 

Unit 1- Blog Critique

http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com

This blog catches my attention when I first started to skim through it. I love how this blogger used tons of pictures and used tons of girly colors. She wrote about the makeup she uses and tips to using it. She also give the reader reviews about the makeup if she likes it or not. Not only does she talk about makeup but her life too. She keeps the reader interested to keep reading more.

link to class blog

contemporaryliterature2014.blogspot.com