Kite Runner Essay Essay Example for Free

Kite Runner Essay Essay Khaled Hosseini’s kite runner has many themes that are significant. This book also has themes that are hidden to the reader, to find these themes the reader needs to think about the events that occur in the book. In this book redemption, discrimination, and violence play a big role in the events in this book. Redemption is one of the most important themes in the kite runner. Throughout the story, Amir is trying to redeem himself because of many events that he was a part of. In the begging of the story Rahim Khan calls Amir and tells him â€Å"There is a way to be good again. † (Page 2) Putting this in the first chapter of the story tells the reader many things about Amir, it could tell us that Amir has done many things that he regrets, or he has done things that caused pain to someone else. Amir’s mother dies when she is giving birth to him, throughout the story Amir tries many different things to redeem himself to his father. When Amir wins the kite competition he thinks that he would finally redeem himself for his mothers death. Amir thinks that he redeems himself because â€Å"A smile played down on my father’s lips. He opened his arms† (Page 79) When someone does this someone will automatically think that you redeemed yourself to that person. Another event that Amir does that he redeems himself for later is when he blackmails Hassan. Amir’s father gives him a watch and Amir decides to put it under Hassan’s pillow. Later when Amir’s father finds out that he took his watch he forgives him, but Ali (Hassan’s father) says that they make the decision to leave. To the near end of the book, when Amir goes back to Afghanistan, he receives a letter from Hassan. The letter tells him that he (Hassan) died, and that he has a son that it taken by the Taliban. Amir tells Farid (The person who takes Amir around in Afghanistan) about Sohrab, and he tells him â€Å"You have a visa to go to America, to life with me and my wife. It’s true. I promise† (Page 355) When Amir found out that he lost his best friend he went through a lot of trouble to get Sohrab. Amir could have avoided this if he did not frame Hassan. If Amir did not frame Hassan, Hassan and Ali could have fled the country with Amir and his father. This event has a big impact on the events in the story. Without these examples of redemption, it is hard to picture the book ending in the way that it did. Along with many other themes, discrimination is one of the less discussed themes in this book. In my opinion I think that discrimination should be a theme that should be as important as any other theme. Discrimination plays a big role in the kite runner because of the structure of the social classes. In the begging of the story we know that Hassan is Amir’s Hazara but later we know that he is Amir’s brother. When Amir won the kite competition Hassan went to get the winning the kite. Hours had passed and Hassan did not show up. Amir goes looking for him and he asks Omar (only involved in one paragraph) if he saw Hassan, Omar answers him by saying â€Å"Your Hazara? † (Page 68) without saying more than two sentences, we can see that people in the class with Hassan are treated with no respect and they are called Hazaras. Another event that happens when Hassan finally finds the kite that allowed Amir to win the competition he is surrounded by Assef and his gang. Assef is one of the biggest discriminators towards Hazaras as he is intimidating Hassan, he says, â€Å"A loyal Hazara, Loyal as a dog† (Page 72) When Hassan said this he could of compared Hassan to something else, but he picked a dog to show the most disrespect towards Hassan. In my own opinion I think that discrimination towards Hazaras in Kabul is horrible because they are treated as if they are a different race of people. Hazaras have the exact physical features as any average human being but they are treated like they are slaves. This is how discrimination, which is one of the themes that is not talked about a lot, is significant in this book. Violence is also one of the themes that are not discussed as much, violence should be because it is important and it is hidden. There are many examples that show violence in the book. One of the examples that show violence is when Hassan gets raped when Assef and his gang surround him. The author does not tell the reader that Hassan got raped but instead he makes Wali, one of the members of Assef’s gang, tell Assef â€Å"My father says it’s sinful† (Page 75) This is a indirect message to inform the reader that Hassan gets raped. This is one great example that violence plays a big role in the process of this book. Assef could of threated Hassan instead of raping him. In my opinion I think that he could not have done something that wasn’t related to violence. Assef wanted to have his revenge on Hassan but it was hard to do something that has nothing to do with violence. Later on in the book, when Amir and Hassan do not talk to each other after Hassan got raped for him over a kite. Hassan asked if he could go under the pomegranate tree and let Amir read a story for him. When Amir and Hassan were under the pomegranate tree, Hassan asked Amir what he was doing wrong so he could stop, Amir told him that Hassan should stand up for himself. Hassan did not answer and Amir started to throw pomegranates on Hassan, Amir then told him â€Å"Hit me back! Hit me back goddamn you† (Page 92) this is another great example that shows the violence that is included in the book. Hassan is the most loyal person in the book and Amir does not appreciate it; instead Amir wants Hassan to hit him with a pomegranate. When Hassan stands up, he then smears a pomegranate on his face and walks away. This is how violence plays a theme in the book. It is not as visible as the other themes in the book but it is as significant as the other themes. Redemption, discrimination, and violence are themes in Khaled Hosseini’s kite runner that play a big role in the book. Without these three themes it is hard to picture if the book would end up the way that it actually ended up being. Quotes and Information taken from Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

The Beginnings of the Soviet Union Essay examples -- Soviet Union Euro

The Beginnings of the Soviet Union The United States that we live in makes it very hard for us to fathom what a struggling nation is like to live in. In the United States, we are socialized to believe that America is the most superior of all the countries and our prosperity will continue to grow. We are very fortunate to be born into a relatively high standard of living as a society, thus we cannot comprehend what it is like for countries trying to build societies from the bottom up. John Scott portrays this brilliantly in his book "Behind the Urals" as he examines individual people and their struggles as they worked in Magnitogorsk. These citizens worked in the most inhumane conditions, all with the intention to help their country develop under the new system of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had just gone through an entire turn around in their political, social, and economic spheres as they went from one extreme to another. The old Czarist government was always out to serve the rich landowners, while treating th e peasantry as second-class humans rather than equals. However, when the Russian Revolution came to a head, and the Red Communists or Bolsheviks defeated the White Czarists, Russia was left with an entirely new system of thought in its government. This ideology viewed the working class and peasantry as the main citizens in their society, while the rich landowners were not nearly as powerful as they once were. Thus the workers of Magnitogorsk held a very important position as they had the responsibility to help the Soviet Union take flight as a country that could compete with other powerful countries of the world, all while working under the most inhumane conditions. John Scott moved to the Soviet Union leaving the United States and in his eyes, its unsatisfactory capitalistic way of governing. Scott may have been aided in making his decision as he saw the United States slip into the Great Depression, a time when the conditions in America reached an all time low. He left his roots in the United States to begin a new life in a foreign country simply because he was disgruntled with American governing and was appealed to by the Soviet philosophy of governing. It tool Scott a tremendous amount of will and fortitude to leave behind everything he knew so well, to start a new life on the other side of the world. He showed his courage as he began... ...derwent, he served his sentence with dignity and was respected as one of the best workers there. In the beginnings of the Soviet Union, and more specifically Magnitogorsk, a diversified group of people from various ethnic, religions, and national backgrounds all put forth their individual efforts to develop the new Russia. The grueling environment that these people lived in developed them into strong and proud workers. In looking to our home front, I cannot find one example that even borders similarities to life in the Soviet Union under Stalin's Five Year Plans. We can study the times, even look to experts in the field for information on the topic, but we can never fully grasp the extreme environment that the peoples of Magnitogorsk lived in. They jeopardized and sometimes even sacrificed their own lives to build up a country. Lives were not lost in the battlefields, but instead on the job as workers froze from the climate while working the blast furnaces. The Soviet Union's success is usually given to the Communist ideology or even Stalin, but instead it was the hard workers w ho came from all over the eastern hemisphere to take on and complete the task of developing Russia.

Difference of Trademark Protection and Passing off Action Essay

Commerce cannot be denied to be an essential factor in the existence of one nation. This is so because commerce is considered as the backbone of economy. Being an indispensable aspect of economy, serious consideration has been taken to ensure the protection of those forming commerce. In the particular field of commerce, an existence of a business is considerably dependent on its name. A business name is a vital aspect of one business because it carries the reputation that has been built up by the business owner. A business name also has several values. Basically, it is used to distinguish a business from another. It will also ensure security and privacy as others cannot arbitrarily encroach or use it. Hence, businesses are required to be registered. The business name being registered is termed as trademark. In the world of commerce, where millions of business establishments evolve, trademark serves a vital role. With trademark, the goods of another are distinguished from that of another. Primarily, trademark serves as an identification of the origin and ownership of the product. Significantly, trademark will also protect the consumer from confusions as to the sources of the goods or services. Through time, some business owners were also established using the name of others. Some cases were deliberately done while other cases were unintentionally done. Due to acts of copying and using famous names, the other party suffered considerable damages. There were also case where famous trademarks or reputable names have been attached by other business owners in their products, goods or services primarily to attract or to deceive customers as to the origin of the goods or services. These situations have been considered as an impetus for the judicial actions of passing off and trademark infringement. Passing Off and Trademark Protection: Definition and Origin In distinguishing passing off and trademark protection, the two have a slim similarity in a way that both protect the business’ privacy. It has also similarity as both are purposely to prevent other business owners from thefts or unauthorized use of business names of others. In addition, both empower business owners to instigate an action in court in cases others have violated their rights to their business name or trademark. Nonetheless, passing off and trademark protection have various differences as to elements, principles, protection, among others. Basically, passing off has no definite definition. However, it has been commonly defined based on Lord Halsbury’s statement in one of cases he decided which states that, â€Å"nobody has any right to represent his goods as the goods of somebody else. † Contrarily, trade mark has been defined in Trademarks Act 1994 as â€Å"any sign capable of being represented graphically which is capable of distinguishing goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings. † Furthermore, word, design, letter, numeral, or shape of the goods or packaging may constitute trademark. As to origin, Passing off have been recognized by the common law as early as16th century. Few cases tried under passing off includes, Southern v. How and Dean v. Steel . After a century, another passing off case was tried by virtue of Blanchard v. Hill. Although, it was not at that time recognized as passing off, the principle laid down was severally used in many cases. Meanwhile, in Blanchard v. Hill, the plaintiff applied for an injunction to forbid the defendant from using the Great Mogul as a trade mark in the manufacture of the latter’s playing cards. However, Lord Hardwicke refused to grant injunction and reasoned out that the court has no basis to grant an injunction. Besides the court recognized the right of trader to bear a mark for his products or services but it stressed the absence of any instance that will support an injunction. Nevertheless, after several years, through the decision in Blanchard, it has been established that each proprietor has an exclusive right to the mark used in his goods or services offered for sale. In addition, it was interpreted that when the use of other’s mark was stained with fraud, injunction can be granted. In the following century, the term â€Å"pass off† was used in Perry v. Truefit, and it was further interpreted and applied to mean that, â€Å"A man is not to sell his own goods under the pretence that they are the goods of another man. † In the early days, intent was considered as an essential element for passing off. However, in the 20th century cases, the element of intent was abandoned. On the other hand, trademark protection has its recognition in 1863 through Lord Westbury in Edelsen v. Edelsen. In this particular case, the court stressed that there exist a right to property in trade names which is transmissible and enforceable even against innocent infringement. Formally, trade marks were permitted to be registered under the Trade Marks Registration Act 1875. According to this act, anyone was barred from instituting an infringement proceeding provided that the trade mark was earlier registered. The act was further amended by Trade Marks Act 1995. For a mark to serve as a trademark, it must be distinctive by meeting any of the categories namely; arbitrary or fanciful, suggestive, descriptive, and generic. A mark is said to be arbitrary of fanciful if it has no logical relationship with the product it represent. An example is the trademark â€Å"Nike† which does not have logical relationship with shoes. The mark is suggestive if marks evoke or suggest the characteristic of the product like â€Å"Coppertone† which is suggestive of sun tan lotion. A mark is descriptive if the consumers would associate it to the producer rather than on product or services such as â€Å"Holiday Inn†. Lastly, a mark constitutes to be generic if it describes a general category, like â€Å"computers†. Difference Between Passing Off and Trademark Protection Fundamentally, the differences between the two lies on the protection it affords. In passing off, there is no property in the name or design of the business, while in trademark, the registered name or mark is the property being protected. In passing off, the law protects the ownership over the goodwill or reputation of one person which may be destructed by misrepresentation of other people regardless of intention. However, in trade mark protection, the law particularly protects the mark, name, or get- up which has been registered by a business owner. In other words, the property in passing off is the goodwill or reputation while the property in trademark is the trademark itself. Notably, there are three purposes for requiring marks to be registered. One is to guarantee to the consumers of the origin of the marked products or services to avoid the possibility of confusions and serves as a distinction of the goods of one from another having another origin. Second is to protect the customers from deception by other traders. Last purpose is to notify other traders or rival engaged in the same product or services from using the trademarks of another. Having the mark registered, the owner will draw various benefits. One of which is to put off people from using the trademark without permission. The owner can also initiate an action against unauthorized use. Finally, being a property of the owner, he has the discretion whether to sell or have it licensed by other people for a price. As to the acquisition of right, rights to property or goodwill in passing off are acquired in a gradual way because the business owner only builds his business reputation after a long period of time. This is so because a reputation or goodwill is dependent upon consumers, quality and service which necessitate handwork and persistence. Goodwill can also be established on the nature of the mark, degree of distinctiveness, figures of sales, expenses for promotions, marketing of the products and period of use. On the contrary, property right over the trademark and protection of such mark is acquired immediately upon registration. Moreover, goodwill cannot exist independently from the business which has created it even if such can be transferred or assigned to another. On the other hand, trademarks can be licensed or assigned separately from the business by the proprietor provided that such is not spurious or deceiving to the consumers. Furthermore, the two are distinct as to the remedy available in case of unauthorized use of the name or mark. In passing off, the claimant may institute a passing off action while trademark infringement is available in trademark protection. More specifically, a passing off action has been defined as a â€Å"remedy for the invasion of a right of property not in the mark, name or get-up improperly used, but in the goodwill likely to be injured by the misrepresentation made in passing off one person’s goods as the goods of another. † The former is a common law remedy while the latter is a statutory one. It is said to be a common law because it has its genesis from an unwritten law or fundamental practice in the olden days. On the other hand, trademark is statutory because the relief has been created by law or legislations by virtue of Trade Marks Registration Acts. Passing off and trademark protection also differ as to the elements that needed to be proven in seeking judicial intervention. Three elements are required to be satisfied in passing off action while trademark infringement only requires one. In passing off action, the claimant must prove the existence of claimant’s goodwill, the misrepresentation by the defendant, and the damage caused to the plaintiff’s goodwill or reputation. To explicate further, goodwill is the whole benefit derived from a reputation and connection of a firm which has been built up operating honestly and lavishly expending money for a considerable year or period. Likewise, reputation is the public’s opinion on the product that may be associated with the symbol or name under which the product is being marketed. It is considered as a private personal property which is being sold to customer. Through goodwill or reputation, the inherent worth of the product is recognized and the loyalty of the customers to the product is developed. The second element which is misrepresentation must be material one and actionable that is capable of creating real or tangible damage to the plaintiff. Moreover, misrepresentation need not be intentional in order to succeed in a passing off action and any defense of innocence, negligence, or recklessness is not acceptable. Even fraud or malice cannot affect the action but will have effect on the penalty to be imposed. Under misrepresentation, it is necessary for the plaintiff to prove that the public is deceived or is made to believe that the defendant’s goods or business have been authorized or licensed by the plaintiff. The plaintiff must further prove that the customers, actual or prospective, are influenced by the misrepresentation. Since passing off safeguards the good will of the plaintiff, it is important that the misrepresentation being alleged is or had caused material damage to such property. Absence of a clear damage may result in the failure of the action. The damages, tangible or intangible, may be in the form of loss of sales due to confusion or dilution of the reputation. It may be observed that proving damages is difficult, but plaintiff may employ surveys and other statistical methods to show reliable evidence of damages. On the contrary, a claimant in a trademark infringement needs only to establish that the mark alleged to be infringing is deceptive as it is identical or similar with that of the plaintiff’s trademark. The issue involved in passing off is â€Å"whether the use concerned is likely to affect adversely the goodwill of the business. † While injury or damage is necessary in passing off action, the defendant need not cause injury or damage in the case of infringement. It is only necessary that trademark is identically deceptive. This is because the trader considers the trademark as a property and is the only means whereby the manufacturer retains or invites the confidence of the public as to the quality and integrity of the product. From the given elements, it can be observed that it passing off protects the business as a whole which encompasses the name, get- up, style, mode, etc. of the business. However, in trademark infringement only protects the name or symbol of the business.

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