Power • “It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had ‘quelled them with unspeakable violence’.”(2, pg 9)

• “…WHAT DOES GOD SAY? God says that every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin. Those are not my words, nor the words of my brothers. Those are the words of GOD!” (21, 283)

• the overarching theme of the rape of Afghanistan’s powerless by those in power.

• General Taheri has power over Jamila because he doesn’t let her sing in public. (Chapter 13)

• Implicit here is a belief that a woman needs a man to lead a meaningful life

• In 1996, the Taliban take control of Kabul. Two weeks later they ban kite fighting.

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(LOTF)
➢ “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” (Ralph, 1, pg 18)

➢ “I was chief, and you were going to do what I said.” (R, 4, pg 74)

➢ “All sit down. The boys ranged themselves in rows on the grass before him but Ralph and Piggy stayed a foot lower, standing on the soft sand. Jack ignored them for the moment, turned his mask down to the seated boys and pointed at them with his spear.” (Jack, 9, pg 166)

Loyalty – state or quality of being faithful to commitments or obligations • “I had played a cruel game with Hassan that day, toyed with him, asked him if he would chew dirt to prove his loyalty to me. Now I was the one under the microscope, the one who had to prove my worthiness. I deserved this.”(25, 374)

• “For you, a thousand times over” (23, 391)

• “But even when he wasn’t around, he was. He was there in the hand-washed and ironed clothes on the cane-seat chair, in the warm slippers left outside my door, in the wood already burning in the stove when I came down for breakfast. Everywhere I turned, I saw signs of his loyalty, his goddamn unwavering loyalty.”(8, 94)

• Throwing pomegranates at Hassan but hassan still wouldn’t hit him back.

• Hassan admits to stealing even when he didn’t do it, sacrificing for Amir even when Amir didn’t do it in return when he got raped.

• Disloyalty: people turn each other in for money or under threat. (chapter 10)
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➢ “"Memory of their new and shameful loyalty came to them. Eric was silent but Sam tried to do his duty. "You got to go, Ralph. You go away now ----" (pg 208) ➢ “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (p.225) ➢ “Which is better—to be a pack of painted niggers like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?” (p. 200) ➢ “Eyes shining, mouths open, triumphant, they savoured the right of domination. They were lifted up: were friends” (p.27)

Survival • “Now, though, they squatted at every street corner, dressed in shredded burlap rags, mud-caked hands held out for a coin. And the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six.” (20, 257)

• "Keep your eyes on your feet when the Talibs are near” (Farid, 20, pg 260)

• Hassan said in his letter to Amir that the most important thing for him was to survive so that Sohrab would not become an orphan.

(LOTF)
“We’ve got to decide about being rescued.” (p.18)
“’We’ll get good,’ cried Jack. ‘Hunt. Catch things…until they fetch us.’” (p.27)
“’We can help them find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.’” (p.37)

Human Nature – general psychological characteristics, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of humans • “There is a way to be good again.” (1, pg 2) – human nature to commit sins/mistakes, and make up for them later

• "…time can be a greedy