Comparison Of The Lovely Bones Vs. The Kite Runner
English ISU Comparison Essay The Lovely Bones vs The Kite Runner
After a traumatic experience some people hide their painful emotions by pulling away and withdrawing from those they have hurt. However, some are able to recognize the pain and harm they have caused from becoming disconnected from those they should be closest to, and do their best to repair the damage. Alice Sebold, Author of The Lovely Bones and Khaled Hosseini, Author of The Kite Runner tell of dysfunctional responses to grief and emotional pain. Abigal of The Lovely Bones, and Amir of The Kite Runner are both emotionally immature, and do not know how to handle their feelings appropriately. Both these protagonists run away from their fears and pain and the ones who hold them close. …show more content…
In the end of both novels Abigal and Amir are able to return to their loved ones, and face their own shortfalls.
Both these characters are given second chances. For Abigal, it is when she goes to the hospital to face her estranged husband after his heart attack, and for amir Amir it is when he rescues Hassan’s son to mend family ties. The personalities of both Abigal and Amir demonstrate that they have experienced emotional growth, leading them to a last chance for atonement and reconnection.
Emotional immaturity can lead some to deal with trauma in a dysfunctional way. In the book The Kite Runner, Amir had been looking for Hassan after winning the kite running competition. Loyal Hassan had left to chase after the prize kite. When Amir finally located Hassan he froze, he stood by in shock unable to respond:
There were two things amid the garbage that I couldn’t
Stop looking at: one was the blue kite resting against the wall,
Close to the cast- iron stove; the other was Hassan’s brown corduroy
Pants thrown on a heap of eroded bricks. Hosseini
80.
At a time when courage and strength was needed, Amir’s emotional immaturity held him back. Unable to respond when needed, Amir withdrew, and hid, weak and feeble. Amir could not face his fears or himself “I had... one final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – The way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run.... I ran” (Hosseini 82)
When confronting the personal choice of fight or flight, character reveals itself. By making the choice to run, Amir shows his emotional immaturity.
In Abigal's case she also proved that she is emotionally immature and did not know how to deal with the murder of her daughter. The Salmon family was at a low point not knowing what to do with murder/ disappearance of their daughter. Abigal had the most trouble with her daughters death, where she started to close down and separate her self from her family. “She was a wall” (Sebold 27).
Not knowing what to do she pulls her self away.
After a traumatic experience some people hide their painful emotions by pulling away and withdrawing from those they have hurt. However, some are able to recognize the pain and harm they have caused from becoming disconnected from those they should be closest to, and do their best to repair the damage. Alice Sebold, Author of The Lovely Bones and Khaled Hosseini, Author of The Kite Runner tell of dysfunctional responses to grief and emotional pain. Abigal of The Lovely Bones, and Amir of The Kite Runner are both emotionally immature, and do not know how to handle their feelings appropriately. Both these protagonists run away from their fears and pain and the ones who hold them close. …show more content…
In the end of both novels Abigal and Amir are able to return to their loved ones, and face their own shortfalls.
Both these characters are given second chances. For Abigal, it is when she goes to the hospital to face her estranged husband after his heart attack, and for amir Amir it is when he rescues Hassan’s son to mend family ties. The personalities of both Abigal and Amir demonstrate that they have experienced emotional growth, leading them to a last chance for atonement and reconnection.
Emotional immaturity can lead some to deal with trauma in a dysfunctional way. In the book The Kite Runner, Amir had been looking for Hassan after winning the kite running competition. Loyal Hassan had left to chase after the prize kite. When Amir finally located Hassan he froze, he stood by in shock unable to respond:
There were two things amid the garbage that I couldn’t
Stop looking at: one was the blue kite resting against the wall,
Close to the cast- iron stove; the other was Hassan’s brown corduroy
Pants thrown on a heap of eroded bricks. Hosseini
80.
At a time when courage and strength was needed, Amir’s emotional immaturity held him back. Unable to respond when needed, Amir withdrew, and hid, weak and feeble. Amir could not face his fears or himself “I had... one final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – The way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run.... I ran” (Hosseini 82)
When confronting the personal choice of fight or flight, character reveals itself. By making the choice to run, Amir shows his emotional immaturity.
In Abigal's case she also proved that she is emotionally immature and did not know how to deal with the murder of her daughter. The Salmon family was at a low point not knowing what to do with murder/ disappearance of their daughter. Abigal had the most trouble with her daughters death, where she started to close down and separate her self from her family. “She was a wall” (Sebold 27).
Not knowing what to do she pulls her self away.