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. 

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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.

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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.