What is courage?

Courage is the ability for one to do something that frightens them, having the bravery to face the ordeal. In The Kite Runner, courage was portrayed as the characters ability to share and embrace their past experiences. It is shown as not being held down by the bad things they have gone through, but moving forward into the future. Amir is courageous because he isn’t breaking down from his past, urging himself to move on and go through the present. He continues to be strong even after knowing that Baba doesn’t have long to live, taking care of him and fulfilling his requests. Among all that he even had the courage to make his own decisions and ask for permission to marry General Taheri’s daughter.

The more courageous characters in the novel, in my opinion, are Baba and Hassan. It is because Baba is a strong and courageous man. He is quite independent and works hard when he isn’t as rich anymore. He deals with his struggles well and is brave when he finds out he has cancer. He just wants to teach Amir how to live a good life and what to do when he isn’t around. Hassan is also quite courageous. He knows that Amir isn’t always the best to him, but through everything, he is still loyal and takes the blame for things he didn’t do. Like when Amir framed him for stealing, he knew Amir set him up, but because he understands that Amir wants them to leave, Hassan takes the blame, willing to accept whatever punishment that may come.

Some instances in my life where I displayed courage is when I signed up for AP Biology and got a job as a temporary office clerk. In freshmen year, when we were required to take the Biology class, I received poor results. My average grade for the tests was a B- and I almost failed the exam. However, when choosing AP’s, I chose Biology again because even though I was frightened of all the difficult content and exams, I wanted to try again. The material was quite interesting, but it was just difficult to master. Having finished the AP exam now, I am glad I was courageous enough to choose this course because I don’t regret in doing so, and I feel that I have improved in this area. Last summer, many of my classmates were applying for summer jobs. I was quite afraid of the process, wondering if the days would be boring and if the people at work will be scary. After a while of thinking, I decided to embrace my fear and go the interview day to get the job. I was extremely scared since I knew no one there, and the interview was more legitimate than expected since it was just a summer job. For a month, I just went to work by myself and as I went more, I felt less frightened. My parents were proud of me because they themselves didn’t expect me to have the courage to go for the job, but I did.

 

Rough Draft & Peer Evaluation

Reflection

Courage is something many characters in the Kite Runner has. I went through who I thought had more courage than others and explained why I think that way. Besides only analyzing their courage, I decided to add in my personal experience in courage as well. I enjoyed this piece because it was a bit more personal and fun to write.