Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
By Khaled Hosseini
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
CHAPTERS 1, 2, 3 1. What does Amir’s teacher say about Shi’a Muslims? Do Hassan or his father, Ali, fulfill this stereotype? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What type of a man is Baba? How does he view the world? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What is Baba’s definition of sin? Do you agree with him? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Baba worries that Amir is a coward. He says, “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” Is this true about Amir? Do you agree or disagree with Baba’s statement? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
CHAPTERS 4, 5, 6 5. Compare and contrast Ali and Hassan to Baba and Amir. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What character qualities do we see in Hassan? Which do we see in Amir? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 7, 8, 9 7. What motivates Amir to do well in the kite tournament? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. What does Amir do when he sees Hassan in the alley? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. How does Amir’s inaction affect the way he feels about Hassan? Why do you think it has this affect? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Amir decides that something must be done to get rid of Hassan. What does he do? What is Baba’s response? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11. What are your thoughts about Amir and Hassan? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 10, 11, 12 12. How has Kabul changed? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
13. How does Baba respond to the idea of a woman being raped? How does this contrast to Amir? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. What happens to Baba’s memories in America? What happens to Amir’s memories? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 15. Baba makes an observation about Soraya, saying, “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir.” How does Amir know that is true? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. Soraya reveals her past to Amir, why do you think he still withholds his from her? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 13, 14, 15 17. Compare and contrast the General and Baba. Who do you respect more? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18. Rahim Khan says to Amir, “Come. There is a way to be good again.” How is going to Pakistan the first step in Amir’s redemption? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 16, 17, 18 19. We encounter Hassan again as an adult. What kind of man has he become? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 20. Why does it so surprise Amir when he looks in the photo and sees “a man who thought the world had been good to him”?
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 21. What does Amir learn about Hassan? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 19, 20, 21 22. How will Amir be redeemed? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 23. Why is planting the money under the mattress symbolic of how Amir has changed? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
24. What horrible situation is the orphanage director living under? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 25. What have the Taliban done to the country? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 22, 23 26. What do they witness at the soccer match? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 27. Who is the evil sociopath? Describe this person. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
28. Why is getting beaten cathartic for Amir? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 29. How do the events in the room mirror Amir’s childhood? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 30. Rahim Kahn says that, “A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer.” Is that true? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTERS 24, 25 31. Do you think Baba and Amir are similar now? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 32. “True redemption is when guilt leads to good.” Is that true? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 33. How is Hassan’s character summed up in the lesson he taught Sohrab, “Father used to say it’s wrong to hurt even bad people. Because they don’t know any better, and because bad people sometimes become good”? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 34. Hassan used to run kites for Amir, and now Amir is running kites for Sohrab. In what other ways have we seen the plot come full circle? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
Extra writing space __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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Reading & Creating Texts – Unit 1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VCE ENGLISH UNIT 1&2
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