Metacognition: Kite Runner Essay

  When the assignment was first being introduced to the class, ideas for my paper were overwhelming me. It took me some time to sort things out and get focused on one main idea. I came up with what I thought was the best thesis to fit me and my thinking style. My final understanding was the idea that Hassan proves ironically that power and social status do not necessarily have to go hand in hand. 
   In my original idea, I did not use the word "ironically". This was a word Mr. A suggested to be put in my thesis. I added it right away, just because the teacher told me to, but then I really started to think about it. Why was it ironic? Think about the dominant-submissive relationships in your life. In a teacher-student relationship, the teacher has power over the student. They are smarter, older and generally in a higher social class. The same idea goes for a parent-child relationship. For those of you with siblings, this can be related to that type of relationship also. I'm an older sister. I have more power over my sibling in general. I'm older, wiser and have a higher social status. In Hassan and Amir's relationship, there is a huge social, cultural and religious difference between the two children. Hassan is a Hazara boy and works for Amir and his father around their house. They also live on Amir and Baba's property. Amir should have complete power over Hassan, no questions asked. But he doesn't. 
   When I realized this, all I needed to do was figure out why he had more power. Through observing the details of the boy's relationship I saw that there were a number of reasons. The four main reasons I observed were as follows: bravery, experience, intelligence and passion. These characteristics can be seen through Hassan's actions, words and even his facial expressions. As I began to notice these things, everything was clicking into place in my mind. It may make it easier to come across power and be of a high social class, but you need assets such as bravery, experience, passion and intelligence to have real power. To really have power, you don't need any kind of social title. 
   By the time I had the final "aha" moment, my essay was done. We learned earlier in the year that writers write to discover things, and that is exactly what I did.