BOOKS & IDEAS
BOOKS & IDEAS
Books open doors to new ways of thinking Ideas help me ask better questions and see the world with more curiosity This space holds what inspires me and what makes me wonder
Khaled Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Sun
Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is a heartbreaking novel that transports the reader to Kabul, Afghanistan, spanning the 1960s to the early 2000s under relentless conflict. The book focuses on the intertwined lives of two women, Mariam and Laila. Despite coming from different generations, both are subjected to tyranny and forced marriage, eventually forging an unexpected bond of love, loyalty, and solidarity to survive. The novel centers on the unbreakable spirit of women and the powerful theme of motherhood amid war, domestic abuse, and oppression.
Why I Was Impacted
As an 11th grader at The MacDuffie School, learning about and upholding our CIRCLE values especially Community, Respect, and Leadership is a core part of my education. The story of Laila and Mariam shows what happens when those fundamental human values are completely absent. I’m currently interested in understanding human behavior. The themes that most resonated with me were:
Solidarity and Community: The book demonstrates how two strangers, under extreme pressure, manage to form a powerful community and a makeshift family. The unconditional support they give each other is the key to their survival. Seeing how people find strength in others, even in the darkest times, deepened my questions about human nature.
Respect and Human Rights: The constant control and violence imposed on the women are a stark reminder that Respect is a universal and fundamental human right. Their fight for agency over their own lives shows how Leadership can emerge not just in grand gestures, but in everyday resistance.
The Unbreakable Spirit: Even amidst war and oppression, the women’s ability to hold onto love, hope, and dignity is astonishing. This novel is a powerful, moving lesson in just how strong and resilient the human spirit can be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is an enduring classic that plunges the reader into the grim, impoverished streets of 19th-century St. Petersburg. The novel follows Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, as he grapples with the guilt, remorse, and psychological torment following a murder he commits based on his philosophical theories. The novel explores the psychological impact of crime, justice, morality, and the search for redemption with astonishing depth.
Why I Was Impacted?
(As an 11th Grader at The MacDuffie School)
As a student at The MacDuffie School, reading this novel helped me appreciate the gravity of our CIRCLE values. It was a stark look at where a person can end up when key principles like Integrity and Respect are abandoned.
I’m currently in 11th grade and deeply curious about human behavior. The themes that most captivated me in this book were:
Integrity and the Cost of Conscience: Raskolnikov tries to create his own morality, but his conscience constantly punishes him. This shows the necessity of being true to your own sense of right and wrong (Integrity). The greatest punishment comes not from the outside world, but from within his own mind. I learned that crime carries a heavy mental toll.
Respect and Human Value: Raskolnikov disrespects the victim, seeing her as “worthless.” The novel shows how completely disregarding someone’s Respect destroys the soul of both the victim and the perpetrator. It powerfully reinforces the philosophy that every human life holds equal value.
Crime and Punishment is a deeply powerful lesson on the complexity of life and the human mind. For someone interested in figuring out why people make good or bad choices, this book is an invaluable guide.
Tara Westover’s Educated:
A Memoir recounts the author’s extraordinary story growing up in rural Idaho. Tara was raised by a family who was isolated from society and fiercely dedicated to self-sufficiency, whose deep distrust of authority led them to forbid formal schooling. Imagine not stepping into a classroom until you’re 17! This powerful memoir centers on the transformative power of education, detailing Tara’s fierce hunger for knowledge, the enormous culture shock she experienced at her first university, and her eventual achievement of a PhD from Cambridge University.
Why I Was Impacted (As an 11th Grader Preparing for Psychology)
As an international student at The MacDuffie School, this book resonated deeply. While we have privileged access to education here, Tara’s story is a stark reminder of how a woman’s right to knowledge can be denied. This memoir is a universal testament to how education can become a battleground for gender inequality, regardless of where one lives.
Since I’m in 11th grade and planning to pursue Psychology in college, the themes of family dynamics and trauma were extremely pertinent to me:
Gender and Limitation: Tara’s narrative is a fierce struggle to break free from the traditional female roles assigned to her. Denying her education was essentially denying her potential to have agency over her own life. This perfectly illustrates the conflict between societal roles and individuation that we study in Social Psychology.
Trauma and Identity Construction: The violence Tara endured from her brother, Shawn, and her family’s subsequent denial of those memories, was the most thought-provoking aspect. It brings into sharp focus the psychological harm caused by gaslighting and the complex issues surrounding the reliability of traumatic memory in Clinical Psychology. University became the place where she learned to construct her own truth.
Tara’s eventual achievement at Cambridge sends the clearest message about education: It is the power for a woman to rewrite her own narrative. For a student like me, who wants to study psychology to understand human resilience and healing, her story is nothing short of incredible motivation.