Independent Study Novels

This summer I read Kite Runner, and suffering is very apparent in the novel. Amir suffers from his remembrance of his treatment of Hassan. His suffering, too, comes from his own actions. Though he viably probably could not stop the rape of his dear friend, he could have stood up for him after, or even just been a decent friend. His suffering ultimately comes from his inability to stop these actions, and his inability to deal with what he saw. He isolates himself from Hassan, and by denying his most important relationship, he suffers from his past, wondering how his life may have turned out if he had done something different.

I later read A Clockwork Orange, in which, Alex, the protagonist suffers from his own actions. Though he feels no remorse, he is caught by the authorities, and is punished severely through the use of Ludovico's treatment. He does suffer, also, from an aspect of his past, when he is taken in by the man whom Alex ruined his life. Alex raped his wife before he was caught, and as the man begins to realize that this indeed is the boy who committed the terrible act, he uses Alex's newly acquired weaknesses to show the harm of Ludovico's treatment. Alex suffers physically from this man's avengement of his wife's rape.

Currently, I am reading The Cry of the Dove, in which a young Bedouin woman is ultimately made to seek asylum from her tribe in England, after she had sex out of wedlock. She suffers from following her own desires, and now she must deal with the fact that she must completely abandon her old life, family and friends.