Literary Techniques In The Kite Runner

The “look of the lamb” is his loyalty to Amir. He is willing to sacrifice even rape just for Amir. He also sees that look from Sohrab when he was dancing and accepting that he will be doing that for the rest of his life.

While, in the short term, this decision would have helped him gain his father's affection, in the long term that affections would have no lasted and he would have to deal with the guilt of not choosing the better choice and helping Hassan. However, some, including Amir, may argue that they believe Hassan had to be the “lamb” that had to be sacrificed in order to gain affections from his father. "The alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right. Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price?" (pg.100) One cannot deny that Amir had always had a longing to gain affection from his father since he had never received any from Baba, and at the time Amir only had one goal and he was determined to bring the kite home and receive his praises from Baba. However, as I had mentioned before, he had only thought of the short term effects, and he knew that this affection would not have lasted forever. Amir had grown with this “lamb”, he has been with this “lamb” since birth; if a child had grown up with a pet or some sort of animal and that animal had stood by its side everyday, through

It was the look of the lamb” (Hosseini 133). In this context Amir stands by and watches Hassan sacrifice his

In Hassan’s case, Amir sacrifices him for the blue kite and Baba’s love. In Sohrab’s case, his sacrifice is the exploitation of an innocent child and is eventually stopped by Amir. However, both sacrifices have life-changing consequences for the “lambs” and everyone involved.

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.

Notably, when Hassan is raped by Assef, Amir describes his face as the look of the slaughtered lamb during Eid Al-adha - when Ibrahim almost sacrificed his own son to God. In the Bible, Jesus is called “The Lamb of God” because He is the ultimate sacrifice for sin. In addition, before Amir is nearly killed by Assef, Sohrab ends the fight by shooting Assef in the eye with a slingshot. It is possible that this is an allusion to David and Goliath - a story in which a small boy topples a giant with only a rock from his slingshot. Additionally, when Amir and Hassan were children, Baba always seemed to favor Hassan, from when he put his arm around Hassan when he skipped a rock across the water, and when he told Rahim that he would have “never believed [Amir was] his son.” (Page 23). Because of this, Amir held a bit of resentment for Hassan, similar to how Cain was resentful of Abel because God favored his

Hassan and Amir were sitting in poplar trees shining light from a mirror trying to annoy the neighbor’s one eyed german shepherd. Amir kept begging Hassan to shoot walnuts at the dog with his slingshot. Hassan kept saying that he did not want to, but in the end he reluctantly gave in and shot. Ali caught the boys shooting the poor dog and scolded them. Hassan then took all of the blame saying that Amir did not come up with the idea. He adored Amir and would do anything for him. Whether it was taking a beating for him or giving the ultimate sacrifice. Hassan was loyal to Amir to the end of time, “For you a thousand times over” (67). Even when Amir denied of his friendship with Hassan, Hassan stayed loyal to him even when he least deserved it.

conscious of the shameful idea that he did not consider Hassan his friend, but rather his servant. Amir is shocked at this inner revelation which doubtless had much to do

Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price?" (Hosseini 82). This again shows how Amir's guilt turns into shame, and his shame turns into anger. His anger creates tension in his life and begins to take

Throughout The Kite Runner, Hosseini explores the concepts of betrayal, trust, and friendship through the dense relationship of Amir and Hassan. Since the beginning of their childhood friendship, Amir and Hassan have been entangled in a relationship of unmutual love and respect that eventually leads to their relationship’s inevitable destruction. Hassan’s unconditional loyalty to Amir and Amir’s intense desire for his father’s acceptance form an unstable stage that predisposes them to ruination. As Amir strives for his father’s respect in the Kite Tournament, he severs the childhood bonds formed between him and Hassan and obliterates their relationship beyond repair.

Amir “never thought of Hassan as friend” because of his Hazara origin and to get Baba’s love as his goal, Amir feels jealous towards Hassan because Baba likes Hassan’s strength and integrity better. Hassan’s moral codes of integrity and selflessness is not repaid by Amir for all Amir aims at is Baba’s attention and love that he can sacrifice some of the moral codes in order to reach the goal. The very different moral codes between Amir and Hassan makes Amir to finally use Hassan as a “lamb” and destroy their relationship in the

Amir was determined to win one year because he thought it would finally give him the affection from his father that he desired. He won the competition, but that wasn’t enough for him, he also wanted to get the kite of the person who lost to him. For him that kite symbolized the victory and worthiness that he yearned for. He asked Hassan to go out and get the kite for him, and because of Hassan's loyalty, he was determined to do so. While Hassan was trying to get the kite, an appalling thing happened to him that Amir witnessed and did nothing to prevent. It was a horrible act of betrayal, and from that day on he was overwhelmed with guilt.

This shows that emotionally, he was disconnected from the scene • These memories came from Amir’s fright and battle of conflict within himself. • He was conflicted because he didn’t know what to do *quote* • One important flashback I will note is the image Amir had of the lamb, the “look of acceptance” • Hassan had that “look of acceptance” on his face. Like his suffering was for a good reason • He compares the lamb to Hassan which further enhances the theme of sacrifice. •

Hassan, throughout the story, is shown to be inferior to Amir in a lot of ways- one of these being innocence. Hassan always keeps a brave face even though he is always scared. In this scenario, he was more scared than ever- especially since Amir wasn’t metaphorically behind his back. The fact that Amir couldn’t help Hassan in any way hurt him more than Hassan. It is obvious that Amir feels guilty that he is not able to help his dear friends.

Throughout the novel the value of loyalty is underlying and its importance is questioned in regards to different characters. Hosseini shows how it is hard for people to keep their loyalty and how much worse the consequences of not staying loyal are. He has expressed the value of loyalty through plot and characterisation. Different aspects of loyalty can be seen through the different character relationships. Baba seems to be very loyal to Ali as he still provides him with a home and food etc. but later we find out that he was actually disloyal as he slept with Ali’s wife, Amir is not loyal to Hassan but rather uses him and Hassan’s mother is disloyal to Hassan at first as she leaves him but later shows loyalty to him by returning. Each character has wavering loyalty except for Hassan who shows unconditional loyalty to Amir. Even after everything that Amir does to Hassan, watching him get raped, not sticking up for him, Hassan still sacrifices himself for Amir. Hassan is symbolic of the lamb because of his loyalty and sacrifice for Amir. This can be seen when Amir sets Hassan up to make it look like he had stolen Amir’s watch.