Marissa Beck

Ms. Bonnsman
Honors English 10
September 8, 2015
Humans of San Francisco

One time I begged my mother for a transistor radio, but she refused to buy me one. I
understand now because she asked me how I could miss something I never had after I moped
around for an hour. My name is Jing-mei Woo, but everyone in America just calls me June. My
mother started up a mah jong group with a few friends from China two years before I was born.
This group was called the Joy Luck Club, and now that she has passed on, I had to take my
mothers place. Doctors say she died from a cerebral aneurysm, but my father claims that she
was killed by her own thoughts. My mother was such a great story-teller, she always spoke of her
first marriage and Kweilin, but she always changed the ending to something darker each time.
While escaping Kweilin, she had to leave her twin daughters on the side of the road because she
could not care for them. She was hoping that someone kind enough would take them in and care
for them. Something I was not expecting to hear was spoken while I sat around the mah jong
table, surrounded by my mothers friends. My aunt told me that my mother tried to find her
daughters back in China and that she has wrote to them. All of my mothers friends wanted me to
go to China to meet my sisters. How would I tell them about our mothers death?

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I selected this character from The Joy Luck Club because Jing-mei was brave for many
reasons. After hearing her mothers friends tell her about her mothers twin daughters in China,
she realizes something that her aunts children never realized. June sat there while her aunts
talked about her visiting China and thought, They are frightened. In me, they see their own
daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to
America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think
they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English (Tan 40). Out of all the daughters
in this book, June is the only one who realizes that she is to pass on her Chinese heritage, even
though she is the only one whose mother had already died. I admire the way she thinks, and that
she was brave enough to go to China to meet her half-sisters.

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Humans of Kabul

My name is Amir and I wish I could go back and change my past. I never considered
Hassan, a Hazara, my friend, just someone to play with when no one else was around. I
remember winning the kite competition and Hassan running after my blue kite. After seeing
Babas approving look, I ran to find Hassan. I looked all around, only finding him after an old
merchant pointed to where he went. I surely was not ready for what I saw. I could have stopped
what was happening, but I was too selfish, I only wanted that blue kite. Hassan was getting
raped, and I just stood there. I think he saw me, and noticed how I did not stop what was going
on. Even after that incident, Hassan remained loyal to me. I felt so horrible, enough to make
Hassan and Ali move. I was such a selfish kid, all I wanted was my fathers affection.
In the beginning of The Kite Runner, I associated the word selfish with Amir. He was
always using his knowledge to trick Hassan, someone who was so nice to him. Also, he was
constantly jealous of the attention Hassan was getting from Baba. Amir was also a coward, I
had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I
could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I
could run. In the end, I ran (Hosseini 68). Amir was a coward because he did not stand up for
someone who was so loyal to him. Finally, after watching something horrific and growing up

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into an adult, Amir transformed from a selfish child into a selfless adult. I finally gained respect
for him after he saved Hassans son from Assef, Hassans rapist, and from suicide.

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Humans of Afghanistan

To sum up my life as Laila in one word, it would be complicated. After a rocket blew up
my house, killing my parents, I had to make a split decision. Miriam, a neighbor from down the
street, took me in. Her husband did not want me living there, but suddenly he asked me to marry
him. Sadly, I had to say yes because I was pregnant with the love of my lifes child. Apparently,
after escaping Afghanistan, Tariq died, at least that is what some stranger told me. I needed to
say yes to marriage because I needed protection for my baby. After tricking Rasheed into
thinking I was pregnant with his baby for a long time, he found out that it was not his child. He
made me have another child, one that was his. His name was Zalmai. Since we were low on
food, Rasheed forced me to put Aziza into an orphanage. This must have been pure luck, because
after visiting Aziza, I found Tariq, alive. After that, my life finally started to come together.
I definitely admire Laila as a woman living in Afghanistan. She lived both in a time
where women were almost as equal as men and a time where women were treated unjustly. As a
girl growing up with education running in her family, Laila was glad, when the Taliban went to
work, that Babi wasnt around to witness it (Hosseini 250). Laila had to deal with her

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discouraging mother throughout her youth because she could not live up to her brothers, who had
died in war. Lailas father was the only one who understood her, but sadly neither of her parents
survived the rocket that blew up her house. She had absolutely no family left, but she kept her
head high and fought through the hardships that life threw at her. I aspire to be like Laila
because, even though she lost everything, she found a way to make it work. This character plays
a big part in the middle and ending of the story. After Miriam passes away. Laila is the main
character who follows after Miriam. Even though Miriam hated Laila because she stole her
husband, they form an unbreakable relationship because of Aziza, who loves Miriam. Women in
Afghanistan during the Talibans rule were courageous and strong and can inspire girls from all
around the world for their dignity.

Works Cited

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Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003. Print.
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Penguin, 1989. Print.