The Kite Runner/A Thousand Splendid Suns Project

Within the text, there are several universal themes that are discussed and developed based on cultural influences. The cultural influences can be traced in the setting, characterization, and conflicts of the story. You job is to choose one of the following universal themes:

The Kite Runner / A Thousand Splendid Suns
Bullying / The Role of Women
Sin and atonement / Sin and atonement/The Justified sinner
Role of books, literacy / Resilience of the human spirit
Friendship, guilt & redemption / The Relationship between women
Fathers & sons / Loyalty, Friendship,
Coming of Age / Redemption and Self-Sacrifice
Resilience of the human spirit / The Power of Love
Man's inhumanity to man / Hope
Discrimination, prejudice, bigotry, class structure / Overcoming obstacles
Master/slave relationships: loyalty & devotion vs. duty / Man's inhumanity to man

Next, based on the universal theme you chose, you are to seek out quotes from the text that are linked to the setting, characterization, and conflict to help a reader to understand the culture and help to develop a book-specific theme. You will create the theme based on the evidence/quotes you locate. For each literary element, you will need at least seven well-identified quotes.

Next, you will create a graphic organizer, based on symbols from the text, which shows the relationships between the literary elements and the quotes you selected. Your graphic organizer must contain your text specific theme and the quotes you identified as helping to develop you theme. For example, we have talked about how characterization and conflict connect in helping to develop a theme. Now you need to incorporate how setting, characterization, and conflict help to develop a theme that is text- and culture-specific.

Finally, you will create a one-page explanation of your development of your theme and graphic organizer. You will make sure to include:

  1. How the literary elements impacted the development of the theme.
  2. The relationship among the literary elements, theme and culture.
  3. A reasoning for you selection of the graphic organizer.

You must use outside sources to support your thoughts.

You will be graded on the following:

Skill assessment / 18-20 points / 16-17 points / 10-15 points / 5-9 points
Development of text- specific theme based on literary elements. / A well developed, text specific, theme that can be specifically connected back to quotes that are identified on the graphic organizer. / A well developed, text specific, theme that can be vaguely connected back to quotes that are identified on the graphic organizer. / A vague text theme that can be vaguely connected back to quotes that are identified on the graphic organizer. / A theme with little relation to the text or quotes.
Quote selection / 21 carefully selected quotes that demonstrate mastery of setting, conflict, and characterization AND are impactful in creating the text-specific theme. / 20-21 selected quotes that demonstrate understanding of setting, conflict, and characterization AND are helpful in creating the text-specific theme. / Less than 20 selected quotes that demonstrate a vague understanding of setting, conflict, and characterization AND are somewhat helpful in creating the text-specific theme. / Less than 20 randomly selected quotes that demonstrate a little understanding of setting, conflict, and characterization AND are in no way helpful in creating the text-specific theme.
Graphic organizer / Graphic organizer is based on an identifiable symbol from the text AND it contains 21 quotes, 1 theme split into categoriesAND it shows strongrelationship among the literary elements and theme AND culture / Graphic organizer is based on an identifiable symbol from the text AND it contains 21 quotes, 1 theme split into categories AND it shows relationship among the literary elements and theme OR culture / Graphic organizer is a symbol from the text AND it contains less than 21 quotes, 1 theme AND it shows a vaguerelationship among the literary elements and theme OR culture / Graphic organizer is a symbol from the text AND it contains less than 21 quotes, 1 theme AND it shows no relationship among the literary elements and theme OR culture
Rationale behind the relationship between quotes and theme development. / Well thought out, explained AND elaborated reasoning for the development of the theme based on the quotes. / Well thought out, explained OR elaborated reasoning for the development of the theme based on the quotes. / Vague description of relationship of quotes and development of themes with little explanation or elaboration. / Summary of quotes with little to no connection to a book- specific theme.
Rationale behind relationship between theme and culture. / Well thought out, explained AND elaborated reasoning for the connection and relationship between the culture and the themeAND USED multiple sources beyond the text. / Well thought out, explained OR elaborated reasoning for the connection and relationship between the culture and the theme AND Used at least 1 sourcebeyond the text . / Vaguely explained OR elaborated reasoning for the connection and relationship between the culture and the theme AND used no sourcesbeyond the text. / Little to no explanation ORelaborated reasoning for the connection and relationship between the culture and the theme AND used no sourcesbeyond the text.