Julie Rose B.

Cuerpo BSN 2-12D

October 14, 2019

REACTION PAPER

“One Thousand and One Nights”

A thousand and one nights is a narrative of the frame. It is a compilation of

various stories from different authors from different Middle East Asian countries. It was
a good decision to make a single story that includes several different stories, and
virtually all stories in the Middle East should be revealed. The stories contain tales of
history, stories of love, tragedy, comedies, plays, burlesques, and erotic.

The main story of the frame itself has an amazing idea. It's explicitly about a
queen, a newly wedded prince's bride, who's about to face her husband's execution.
Scheherazade is one of the wives married by the prince. She's a clever woman. She
tells the prince a tale to save herself from execution. She doesn't end the tale before
they sleep and her execution is postponed due to the Prince's curiosity about the end of
the tale. The tales she tells are originally written by various authors from tales. Not only
is she telling short stories, but also historical stories, poems, science, and any other
literature.

Technically, the One Thousand and One Nights writer didn't take so long to write
the story since the only original story he had created was the story of Scheherazade,
the framing device's main character. Essentially, he also gathered and compiled all the
stories told by Scheherazade from various authors in various Middle East countries. It
has become popular and significant in Arab literature due to the fact that One Thousand
and One Nights is a collection of different stories. It has become the people's foundation
for reading Middle East literature.
Julie Rose B. Cuerpo BSN 2-12D

October 14, 2019

REFLECTION PAPER

“The Kite Runner”

The story starts with kites flying children. In 1978, it was the capital of Kabul,
before the Soviets, the Taliban, the Americans, and the chaos. Amir joins countless
other children in filling the sky with kites; often, while dueling, they dance on the
rooftops trying to cut their own kite strings. Amir's friend is Hassan the son of the long-
time servant of the family, Ali, who has been with them for years and has become like
his own family. Hassan is the neighborhood's best kite runner, predicting correctly when
a kite returns to earth and waiting to get it. There's a neighborhood bully named Assef,
Amir's kite jealous, his skills, and his kite runner. He and his gang track Hassan on a
day that will shape the course of many lives, attack him and rape him. Amir arrives to
see the attack going on, and sneaks off to his embarrassment. Amir feels so bad about
Hassan that he turns his feelings into rage, and tries to taunt his brother, even throwing
ripe fruit at him, but Hassan is impassive. So Amir attempts to plant evidence to make
Hassan look like a thief, but Baba forgives him even after confessing Hassan
untruthfully and masochistically. It is the dad of Hassan, Ali, who maintains that he and
his son have to leave home over the objections of Baba.

One of the places where the movie succeeds is its portrayal of kite flying. Sure, it
uses special effects, but they work to convey to their owners what freedom and
excitement the kites represent. I remember my own strong identification as a child with
my own kites. I've been there. However, between the kite flyer (Amir) and the kite
runner (Hassan) there is a fundamental difference. Maybe that sad wisdom in the eyes
of Hassan comes from his certainty that sooner or later all must fall to earth.