Socratic Seminar Reflection - Kite Runner #2

                   The Socratic seminar influenced my thinking on women's role and how the rest of world sees America. The seminar made me compare women's roles in different countries and how they are similar or different. For instance, it made me think more about how American women are seen in the United States and how Afghanistan women are seen in Afghanistan. In the seminar, there was a lot of talk over what would have happened if Amir and stopped Assef from getting raped. I hadn't thought too much about this scenario before the seminar. 

                         I agreed the most with Jessie when she said that women all over the world were generally viewed the same, but just on different levels. I believe that women are viewed as lesser than men and in society they are expected to only be the mothers and caregivers. Jessie touched on this same point and then brought up the fact that this ideology is expressed in more extreme ways in certain countries. I disagreed with Ryan and Frankie the most when they said that all countries loved America. If I had been able to respond to that I would have and I would have shed light on how 1st world countries in Europe and Australia, there is a dislike for America's arrogance. I would have said this to see if anyone else agreed with me.

                       One thing that worked really well for the seminar was that we went deep into issues. Instead of skimming the surface of issues like the other group, our group was able to dive a little deeper. We went a little farther than the book and talked about it's general themes, not just about how Assef raped Hassan. Lastly we were passionate about the subjects that we were talking about and shared experiences from our own lives to help explain our comments.

One thing that did not go well during the Socratic seminar was that it was extremely hard for people to talk and everyone one was arguing, not discussing. People talked over one another constantly and cut into people talking. Because of these two very rude things, the conversation was very jumbled and confusing and no one really understood what was going on. Also, people got really angry and hurt by certain comments and so the discussion turned into a heated argument a couple of times. It was not very pleasant to talk and it felt as though people were trying to beat each other, not collectively discuss themes and emotional appeals from the Kite Runner.

Socratic Seminar Reflection - The Kite Runner - #1

 The Socratic seminar influenced my thinking on the concept of 'friendship.' Of course everyone has their own definition of what friendship is but there are some words that are generally associated with friendship. The words kindness, loyalty, trust, happiness, support, caring, concern, etc. all go along with friendship. In the book, "The Kite Runner," Hassan and Amir have an interesting relationship that is on the borderline of friendship, but not really there. The seminar made me think more about the relationship that Hassan and Amir had. I also thought more about difficult decisions, and what justifies making a decision or not, especially in Amir's case.

One topic that our group focused on was whether Hassan and Amir were friends or not. I disagreed with Ryan when he said that Hassan and Amir were friends. I disagreed with him because I think that Hassan and Amir were just people who had know each other for their whole lives, not people who were friends. Friendship is balanced, and no one has direct power over the other. Hassan was Amir's servant and was under him in society. That is not a good basis for a genuine friendship. I think they appreciated one another, but they weren't friends. Also I don't think a real friend would let their friend get raped. I agreed with Helen when she thought that Amir was solely based his actions on trying to please his father, and by doing this he was trying to be more manly. In the Socratic seminar I wish I had touched more on Amir's relationship with Rahim Khan and talk more about the support that Amir got from Rahim. Rahim is an important character and he promoted Amir's writing. 

Something that worked really well for the seminar was that we were all well read and were very passionate. It seemed as though everyone had read the book and knew what they were talking about. Also, the seminar was not dull or boring because people were passionate about what they were talking about. 

Some things that did not work well for the Socratic seminar were some people didn't have a chance to speak and the conversion stayed on two topics and stayed mainly on the book. Because many people were passionate about the book, there were others who had to fight to get a word in. A lot of the same people continued to talk and control the conversation. Also, the conversation focused mainly on whether Hassan and Amir were friends or not and Hassan's rape. While the conversation was never dull, we could have moved on to more things. Lastly for the next Socratic seminar, we can focus less on the facts of the book and more on central themes that belong to "The Kite Runner." I think that will enrich the conversation and put it on a higher level.