Fate In Oedipus Rex And The Kite Runner

Over the centuries, the concept of fate is constantly being changed to adapt to our current way of living. In modern times the concept of fate is usually connected to the themes of love and romance. However the ancient Greeks recognized fate as an inescapable reality that shaped their lives. The famous playwright, Sophocles, adopts the idea of fate in his plays to control the character’s actions. In both plays, “Oedipus the King” and “Antigone”, the writer uses the concept of fate to show human’s inability to conquer the will of the gods.

Fate as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary is ‘an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end’. Sophocles discusses fate vs free will in his plays. In the play Oedipus Rex there was a prophecy that Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, he attempts to escape his destiny by running away to Thebes where he meets his fate. In the play Antigone, that main character Antigone decides to go against Creon’s (her uncle who has inherited the throne) decree and bury the brother, Polynices, knowing the consequences would lead to her death. In Sophocles’ plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, the theme is mankind not being able to escape their fate.

It is amazing how two literary works from different time periods and different cultures can portray the same theme. A major theme in both The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex is the limits of free will. The way Khaled Hosseini portrays the theme in The Kite runner is the way that the majority of Pashtuns treat the Hazaras, they are either treated as objects that people can do whatever they want with, they are treated as second class citizens or they are servants to the Pashtuns. In Oedipus Rex, the way that the theme is portrayed is that Oedipus is bound to a prophecy that he heard when he was a child.

“Who am I?” This has become the essential question asked in each literary work The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex. Striving to find who they are the characters, Oedipus and Amir, try to figure out what they have become through their separate journeys. Most of their conclusions rely on the fact that both characters continue to look back into their past. The constant theme in both the novel and the tragedy is continuously looking into the past. Both characters constantly look at the past in ways such as their relationship with their father, the wrong choices they have made, and the secrets that lie in the family.

Both stories have the theme of fate in them. In The Kite Runner it showed fate when Sohrab was adopted by Amir. The reason this is fate because Amir’s wife was not able to have children. Amir and Soraya tried to have a child of their own but were unsuccessful. Amir and Soraya then lived there life for a while by themselves because Soraya’s father General Taheri is strongly against adoption because he doesn't feel it is right for afghans. Once Baba died from cancer and word got back to Rahim Kahn, Rahim Kahn then invited Amir to come back to Afghanistan to inform Amir things he was not told about his life. Amir found out that Hassan is his half brother and that he had died but Hassan had a child named Sohrab. Amir then adopts his child Sohrab and now he has a child who related by blood and Amirs wife is okay with it and is happy that he is bringing him back to the United States. In a way this is Amirs repayment to Hassan from when Amir watched Hassan get raped. In the book Hassan would do anything for Amir and proves it when he says “For you, a thousand times over” (Hosseini 2). This quote is very important to the story and is repeated multiple times throughout the story. Amir hears Hassan say this and it reminds him of letting Hassan get rapped and makes him feel extremely guilty Amir needed some way to repay him and fate made him take care of his child Sohrab. In Oedipus Rex Oedipus is king of Thebes and there is a huge plague happening. Oedipus has Creon go to Apollo to find out how to stop the plague. Creon finds out that in order to stop the

Oedipus Rex is a play that depicts the life of a king, Oedipus, who has the task of revealing the late kings murderer. Once he deciphers this mystery, Oedipus is shown his fate and relinquishes in guilt. What Oedipus finds out is that he had no idea who he really is and this ends up being the same for Amir. The Kite Runner is a story about a boy named Amir who lives in Afghanistan and his journey throughout life. He goes through life with unknown betrayals and the chance for redemption.

The fate of many happens in conjunction with their decisions in different events. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles do not fail to describe the dreadful hardships of life through difficult decision-making and grim situations. Although written more than two millenniums apart, both authors manage to entwine the them regarding fate and, how it causes change in the character’s state of mind along with personality. The author showcases the theme of fate in the contrasting personality shifts of the main protagonists, their similar use of fate to escape their issues, also including their distinct decisions that alter their destiny.

With support on both sides, the concept of free will versus a predetermined fate is a debate that began centuries ago. This issue is also prevalent within both The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The main characters in the books, Amir, and Oedipus, have trouble accepting the truth and possess the tendency to run from reality. Both characters also have to deal with the burden of guilt and the consequences of their actions. Although the authors integrate common themes within their works, their angles differ. Oedipus Rex includes a more literal sense of fate, with a prophecy; however, The Kite Runner includes a more abstract version of the meaning of fate. In Hosseini’s and Sophocles’ books, the plot is driven by the character’s sins, and how they deal with the consequences of their wrongdoings, ultimately, fate decided their destiny. Both works have the common themes of the inevitability of fate and the consequences of sin.

Both The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles tell an intriguing story about two troublesome families, and their fight to help get through the rough times. In both the story and the play, there is a problem that takes not just one person, but many people to solve. In The Kite Runner, it takes Amir, and many other people to free Amir of his guilt. Not so much in the beginning, but torwards the end. In Oedipus Rex, it takes mostly the whole town to figure out why the town has a “curse” on it. These two stories share two common themes, which is the build up of the main plot of the story. The two major themes that run through both The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex is family troubles and violence.

From a tragic Greek play to a novel with a heartbreaking betrayal, the play Oedipus Rex and the novel The Kite Runner may be seen unrelated, but when taken a closer look they are found to share more than expected. Apart from both having well constructed and heart rendering characters both the play and the novel share one or more well treated major themes. Sophocles and Khaled Hosseini both chose to incorporate the theme self-destruction in their work. This theme is well represented in the play and in the novel. In both Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, and Sophocles’s play, Oedipus Rex, readers are introduced to a theme in which both authors treat the theme as their top priority, both use the theme to intrigue and attract readers, and both truly commit to exploiting the theme to the very end.

While reading both the play Oedipus Rex, and the book The Kite Runner. I have found a great variety of themes that they both share. I have also found many that they have that are different from each other. Both the book, and the play have a similar plot twist lay out that circles around the two major themes I found. Out of all the themes I have found and analyzed between both the literary works. They both share two of the same major themes that shape the main events leading up to the plot twist, the climax. These themes are father to son relationship, and the need for redemption.

To lack moral corruption and abstaining from sin would keep one pure; although, in Oedipus Rex and The Kite Runner, the protagonists lose their claim for innocence. The loss of innocence is a major theme within both literary works. The points in which the characters lose their innocence and the ways the authors utilize the theme progresses the plot. Both pieces of literature, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, portray the common theme that is the loss of innocence, which is exemplified by the authors through the decisions the protagonists make utilizing free will, the emotional hardships that ensue when truth comes to light and how in the end, each protagonist falls in line with fate.

Literature has a funny way of connecting even when two different novels are from two very different time periods. The time period does not contradict relations, especially in this case. One may read a book and never think about how much in common they really have; when in fact the similarities are endless. The Kite runner and Oedipus Rex share a similar theme of redemption, through the main characters in both books who believe that the best way to redeem themselves is through pain.

While reading both the play Oedipus Rex, and the book The Kite Runner. I have found a great variety of themes that they both share. I have also found many that they have that are different from each other. Both the book, and the play have a similar plot twist lay out that circles around the two major themes I found. Out of all the themes I have found and analyzed between both the literary works. They both share two of the same major themes that shape the main events leading up to the plot twist, the climax. These themes are father to son relationship, and the need for redemption.

So how can some books have sensitive topics like rape, death, or murder in them? Books like The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles catch the audience’s attention with their exciting thrills. The Kite Runner is mainly about a betrayal of Amir’s close friend/half brother, who was later murdered which led to him watching over his son when he passes. While Oedipus Rex is about trying to change a prophecy and trying to convince that he does not kill his father and to then marry his mother, but in the end the prophecy stayed the same and those events occur. As the books The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex establish a common theme, validate the author’s treatment of the theme, and its significance it serves a purpose to the reader.