Every Trip is a Quest(Even When It’s Not)

By: Cindy Williams, EmmaRae Spencer, Hannah Wright

A Quest Consists of:

Quester

A place to go

Stated reason for quest

Challenges and trials in route

Real reason for quest

Quest 1

Quester: Amir

Place to go: Pakistan

Stated reason: See Rahim Khan before he died.

Challenges and trials: He learned Hassan was his brother and that he has a nephew. Amir was asked to get nephew from an orphanage and then he was almost killed in the process by Assef. Sohrab almost died from attempted suicide.

Real reason: To set atonement for his past and right his wrongs.

Quest 2

Quester: Baba

Place to go: America

Stated reason: The Russian army took over Afghanistan.

Challenges and trials: He was almost shot while defending a woman.

Real reason: To give him and Amir a better life.

Quest 3

Quester: Dorothy

Place to go: Anywhere far away from home

Stated reason: She wanted to get away from Miss Gulch and her family

Challenges and trials: She ends up in Munchkin land after being trapped in a tornado. She has to follow the yellow brick road to get to the Land of Oz in order to get back home.

Real reason: She realized that her home life wasn’t as bad as she thought and Kansas is where she belongs.

In the Summer of 1968, an average sixteen-year-old kid name Kip-who hopes his acne clears up before he gets drafted, is on his way to the A&P to get a loaf of Wonder Bread for his mother. His bike one-speed with a coaster brake and therefore deeply humiliating , and riding it to run an errand for his mother makes it even worse. Along the way he has a couple of disturbing experiences including a minorly unpleasant encounter with a German shepherd, topped off in the super market parking lot where he sees the girl of his dreams, Karen, laughing and horsing around and Tony Vauxhall’s brand-new Barracuda. Now Kip hates Tony already because he has a name like Vauxhall and not like Smith, which Kip thinks is pretty lame as a name to follow Kip, and because the ‘Cuda is bright green and goes approximately the speed of light, and also because Tony has never to work a day in his life. Kip goes on into the store to buy the loaf of Wonder Bread, and as he reaches for the bread, he decides right then and there to lie about his age to the Marine recruiter even though it means going to Vietnam, because nothing will ever happen for him in this one-horse burg where the only thing that matters is how much money your old man has.

Answers:

Quester: Kip

Place to go: Super Market/A&P

Stated Reason: to get a loaf of Wonder bread for his mother.

Challenges and trials: He sees the girl of his dreams in a car with another guy whom he cannot stand.

Real reason: to discover that he didn’t belong there in his home town.