Examples Of Figurative Language In The Kite Runner

Baba would always tell Amir how lying was a sin yet Amir eventually finds out that Baba had lied to him about Hassan being his brother. Baba said, "There is only one sin. And that is theft... When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth."(pg.237) By him lying, he completely went against what he said was right. Baba had not only lied to Amir, but to Hassan and others as well. Baba had been doing something he knew was wrong, but he had still chosen to go against his own beliefs and do it anyway. The theme addressed here is simply betrayal. Baba is consistently hypocritical throughout the novel. For example, Baba is immensely ashamed of 11 year-old Amir for crying when he saw a man murdered in the street, but later in the novel when Ali and Hassan leave for good, Baba is full of tears. This reveals the bias and corrupt personality Baba possesses. Baba is not a great father and only shows his affection for Amir when great successes occur such as the kite competition victory. Baba betrays many characters in the novel, however he does most of an injustice to Amir, his son. Baba never informing him of his sibling relationship with Hassan appears as stupidity and selfishness. Baba does not wish to provide joy for his sons at the cost of revealing that he had slept with Ali’s wife and produced Hassan. Baba is really just a coward. The lying demonstrated by Baba contributes to the main idea of forgiveness. Baba does a poor job as a father for the most part of his life and on his deathbed he receives the forgiveness from Amir for all of the pain he has caused Amir throughout his

Amir does move on with his life but doesn't begin to forgive himself or let go of the load of guilt he carried until the story

From the start of the novel, Hassan was made out to be the near perfect person who was “...incapable of hurting anyone” (10, Hosseini). Hassan’s only fault being his Hazara lineage. This mixed with the attention he got from Baba made Amir jealous for the same sort of affection from his father. This brotherly rivalry could be compared to Cain and Abel for in the same way that Cain killed Abel - Amir watched as Hassan’s captors took

Here, the narrator, Amir refers this to the first smile of Sohrab, Hassan’s blood. It gave him a sense of satisfaction as if Hassan and Baba have forgiven him from the crimes of his childhood.

Amir's entire life had been haunted by what he saw happen to Hassan. Although he was a child at the time, he couldn't accept his shortcoming during a time of need. He was jealous of his father for being able to stand up for himself and others and Hassan's undying loyalty to him. He developed a pattern of behavior - of covering up his mistakes and hiding his past – that he could not rid himself of until he suffered like Hassan did. He made it up to Hassan by saving his son, and he made it up to himself by suffering the way he

As I read through the book it had rhetorical strategies that helps present the guilt that Amir had within himself. When his father started bragging with joy about Amir's victory of the kite fight. Amir isn't matter of fact he is overwhelmed with guilt of event it led to, the rape of Hassan. His lack of courage which prevented him from stopping the rape, it fueled the guilt he already had. While his father is boasting about the kite fight, he thought to himself that he wanted to stick a knife into his eye. This shows pathos by helping the

This one decision left a stain on Amir for the next thirty years. A quote on pg. 88 states “I wish someone would wake me up, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore” This quote explains how guilty Amir felt after seeing Hassan get raped as he desperately sought for anyone to find out but didn’t chose to tell anyone the actual truth. Another example from the text is when Amir tries throwing pomegranates at Hassan, as an attempt to get Hassan to fight back and punish Amir for choosing to leave Hassan. However, Hassan refused to throw any pomegranates at Amir, but instead smashed one into his face. A quote on pg.94 states “I wanted Hassan to fight me back for the way I failed him” This quote indicates that Amir wanted Hassan to fight him back, so he could have the “punishment [he] craved” (93) This demonstrates that Amir wanted to feel the act of being punished for his wrongdoing, similar to how Hassan was brutally raped due to Amir’s apparent mistake. Amir’s guilt forces him to travel across two countries to seek redemption for the mistake he made. 15 years later, Amir’s guilt led him to make the hefty decision of returning to Afghanistan “to be good again” (189) by rescuing Hassan’s orphaned son, Sohrab, from the terrible conditions he was left to face in Kabul. Amir sees this as an opportunity to redeem and free himself from

In addition, symbolism is shown to portray redemption at the climax of the book. Amir has rescued Hassan's son, Sohrab, from captivity in Kabul. However, a recent life of sexual abuse has rendered his emotions inert. Attending an Afghan summer celebration, Amir notices a kite-fighting tournament taking place. Purchasing a kite for him and Sohrab, they accomplish in cutting another. Looking down at Sohrab, Amir sees the vacant look in his eyes is gone. “Whistles and applause broke out. I was panting. The last time I had felt a rush like this was that day in the Winter of 1975, just after I had cut the last kite, when I spotted Baba on our rooftop, clapping, beaming. I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there” (Hosseini, 391). Thus Amir redeems himself, and thus it is shown that symbolism portrays redemption throughout the story.

The guilt that Amir feels due to his destroyed relationship with Hassan haunts him throughout his entire life. First, Hosseini uses the scene of Hassan’s rape as a haunting source of

Baba’s lack of faith prevents him from finding atonement through God. Moreover, Baba is unable to find holistic atonement because he fails to admit and reconcile his sins to those who are affected by them. Although Baba preforms small deeds to redeem himself, such as providing cosmetic surgery to Hassan, he fails acknowledge him as his son, which would allow Baba to achieve true atonement. Evidently, Baba’s actions illustrate he only sought personal redemption. For instance, in an effort to ease his guilt, Baba constructed an orphanage in Kabul. While this initially depicted Baba as selfless, it is later discovered this act of charity is preformed predominantly to alleviate his guilt. Rahim Khan later tells Amir, “ I think everything he did, feeding the poor, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself” (Hosseini 302). Although, as Rahim Khan also says, “real good was born from your father’s guilt” (Hosseini 302), Baba never achieved holistic atonement because he failed to make peace with Ali, Hassan and Amir. Opposed to amending his sins to the people directly affected by it, Baba preforms charitable deeds to his community to make himself feel better about his iniquities.

When Amir and his wife, Soraya, can’t seem to have a child, Amir believes that it is because of his wrongdoings in the past. Right up until Amir is in his 30’s does he confront his mistakes. It takes a call from Rahim Khan to persuade him that there is ‘a way to be good again’ (Pg. 2). Amir knows that he needs to make up to Hassan for the wrong that he did all those years ago, and so by confronting his mistake and trying to redeem himself by rescuing Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir’s confrontation with Assef when he is getting back Sohrab made him feel like he was confronting his mistakes and gaining redemption ‘For the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace… In some nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.’ (Pg. 265). This is the punishment and redemption that he has been waiting all these years for, because Hassan wouldn’t punish him all those years ago when they were under the pomegranate tree.

Hosseini shows that it is Amirs immense guilt that drives him to want to make things right and to earn redemption. We learn the basis Amir's guilt through his memories. It is caused by a lack of response at a time when his loyal servant and close friend Hassan is in trouble. Amir makes a conscious decision to hide in the distance and just watch, not because he was afraid. He sacrifices Hassan in order to earn his fathers attention and affection. This decision results in Hassan suffering though a traumatic experience and is the root of Amir's lasting regret.

For instance, by using the relationship between the past and present to influence Amir’s character development, Hosseini demonstrates how despite one’s best efforts, there is no way to escape the memories of the past. Memories follow individuals wherever they go and can torment individuals for the rest of their lives. Hosseini reveals how Amir’s past decisions shape his character development and his decision­making as the story progresses. When Amir was young, he was

Hosseini incorporates Amir’s scar in his novel, to develop the idea about what the scar means. The scar reflects how Amir and Hassan have similar personalities although they were of different religions and social classes. Hosseini magnifies his use of symbolism when he includes Amir’s scar by writing how it represents brotherhood because just like his half­brother Hassan he now has a scar on his lip, “... with him is the lip injury—it’s split down the middle like Hassan’s cleft lip (Hosseini 255). The scar also symbolizes peace and redemption for Amir because the scar puts is a physical representation of the pain that he feels he has put Hassan through.Hosseini is saying that Amir was just like his 'brother' Hassan because he now had a scar on his lip.

It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb… I imagine the animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose…” (76-77). Amir knew that Hassan has accepted what was about to happen to him. At the time, he believed his actions of abandoning Hassan were necessary. Hassan was “the lamb [he] had to slay” in order to win Baba’s affections. However, Sohrab is now the sheep rather than Hassan, as he is the one being sacrificed. Later in the novel, when Amir asks Assef to give Sohrab to him, he makes the same comparison: “Sohrab’s eyes… were slaughter sheep’s eyes” (285). The author uses the metaphor of the sheep to depict the correlation between the two scenes. Just like his father, Sohrab understands that this is his position in life – he is too weak to stop the power-hungry from taking advantage of him. In this scene, Sohrab becomes his father – he is now the sheep that Assef is torturing. This parallel is constructed in order to place Amir in a similar situation, providing him with the opportunity to choose differently.