The Kite Runner Socratic Seminar Reflection #2

      The final seminar of the year influenced the way I understood the title of the story.  While doing the preparation for the seminar, I realized that the kite in the story symbolized both Amir’s happiness and his guilt because Amir enjoys flying kites as a boy, yet the kite running tournament is also what leads to Hassan’s rape.  One thing that was said which I hadn’t though of in depth was that Amir’s choice to save Sohrab was a way to redeem himself of not saving Hassan when he was a boy.  I though this statement was true because it seems as if Amir is reliving his childhood when he goes back to visit Afghanistan, but that he wishes to do it correctly.

      The statement made by one of my peers that I agree with the most is that Baba follows his own code when it comes to morality.  I wholeheartedly agreed with this statement because there is a scene in the book where Baba discredits Muslim beliefs and instead teaches Amir that theft is the only sin.  The statement made by one of my peers that I agree with the least is that Baba did not become more tolerant of Amir when they moved to California.  I disagreed with this statement because there are instances in the book where Baba brags about Amir’s writing, showing that he is becoming more lenient towards Amir’s dream.

      Some things that worked well for the seminar were the use of emotional appeals.  Because The Kite Runner is such an emotional book to begin with, the analysis of the text went even further into the relationships and feelings of the characters.  There was use of other rhetorical appeals in the seminar, but emotional appeals were by far the most prominent, and rightfully so.  The strong arguments appealing to emotion displayed the growth of the class discussion as a whole.

      Although the use of emotional appeals was strong, the seminar’s flow was terrible.  There were often long pauses in the conversation in which every person waited for somebody else to speak up.  The half time ended up taking place after about ten minutes because there was such poor cohesion in the conversation.  In my opinion, these long pauses were very odd because it seemed like every person has completed their preparation.  The poor flow of the conversation was an opportunity to learn when and how to speak up, and how to maintain an interesting topic.