Obstacles

During my transition from public school back in Connecticut to Ridley here in St. Catharines I found myself coming upon many new challenges far different from what I had previously seen. At public school I was free to make my own choices, was given limited homework, and I even had the ability to do what I wanted on  the weekends as I was home. At Ridley all of this quickly changed for me as I now couldn't make my own choices, I had tons of work to do, and I was restricted on the weekends with a curfew and strict rules. All of this made me uneasy and I was hesitant to give in for a while. It took tons of self restraint to follow the rules and a lot of determination to keep up with the busy schedule and work load. After awhile I found myself slowly adapting to life at this school and eventually I actually began to enjoy it. This is one of the biggest obstacles i've had in my recent years and one that I had to use a lot of new skills to overcome.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a small boy from Afghanistan who needs to find his way in the world as he realizes that his own belief system is not that of his dominant culture. Set in Afghanistan and the United States this story shows the differences between the two cultures as well. Amir's greatest obstacle he faces in life is that of the socio-economic barrier between him and others in Kabul. As Amir is a wealthier boy there are many instances in which the different class levels and believes clash.

After researching the Milgram Shock Experiment and Zimbardo Prison Experiment the general idea behind both was to test how far people will take their actions when given a position of power or told to do something. The Milgram experiment was set-up so that the participant was told to read questions and to a man in another room and shock them upon receiving an incorrect answer. For each wrong answer the voltage went up and increase all the way to a lethal 450 volts. Some participants asked to stop because they feared they may kill the man but over half continued to administer the lethal 450 volts because they were told to keep going. Similarly in Zimbardo's prison experiment people were given the role of prison guards and told to run the prison. At first they were hesitant and not comfortable giving orders, but in a few short days they had become dictators making the prisoners strip naked and do sexually embarrassing orders. This relates to The Book of Negroes as we see the dehumanization in the way the slave traders treat the slaves. They strip them, bind them, and walk them with little food all in order to assert control. The relation really though is an examination of the moral beliefs that change when you are given power and as it may be true the captures are just doing what they are told and aren't really so malicious.