The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini’s, “The Kite Runner”, uses an abundance of diction and tone, to convey a centralized motif. Hosseini, uses three specific symbols throughout the story, the cleft lip; kites; the lamb. The central symbols, tie into what the overall theme is of the story, the search of redemption, tension and love between father and son. Hosseini expressed his centralized motif of irony and regressing in time by using symbolism and figurative language to make his point more clear “I actually aspired to cowardice, because 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.”

While Amir is lying in the dark, with nothing but his own thoughts, he feels that his guilt is taking over his life. He realizes that he is going to get away with his betrayal and yet he feels terrible. He decides that the only way he is going to live with his remorse is to ignore Hassan, blot him out, so he does not have to think about his sin. Amir’s guilt is so great that he cannot bear to have Hassan under the same roof, so he commits another sin. He lies to his father and accuses Hassan of stealing. “…I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out…I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it…I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long

Amir cannot stand to look at Hassan and seeing the lamb-like eyes, so to make himself feel better about the situation, he frames Hassan. Amir is upset that Baba forgives Hassan but it is ironic because he is the one doing the sinful act and yet again it is Hassan who is saving and protecting Amir. These unfaithful acts are not in fact an act of selflessness but and an act of selfishness. Everything Amir is doing is for himself. He only cares about his own feelings but never is he putting himself in others people’s

-Hassan goes and chases after the losing kite. Amir goes looking for Hassan and finds him in an Alley being pinned down and raped by Assef and his friends. Amir fails to speak up. He instead runs away.

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

It leads to the many things that go wrong in this book and the only reason it happened is because Hassan stayed loyal to Amir and would give up his kite. Another example of how being loyal can end up hurting you is after Hassan does not give up Amir's kite when Assef is tormenting him and the retaliation from Assef in that alley was: ¨He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face.

The character of Hassan is shown to be the symbol of loyalty. He grew up only knowing how to be a servant and so he only knew how to give his loyalty. When Assef demands the kite, he stands strong and refuses to give it up. As Amir witnesses the rape, he sees that Hassan has resigned to his fate and the look in his eyes show that “it was the look of the lamb” (The Kite Runner, 76). He accepts his fate because he feels he is only a Hazara and he must do everything he can to please his Pashtun master.

Hassan is introduced as the protagonist’s best friend who sticks with him through thick and thin even though he is a servant. Here is where he makes his first sacrifice. When attending a kite fighting tournament the two friends encounter a group of boys who only mean trouble. The hostile group led by Assef (antagonist) begins to make their move straight for the two boys ultimately raping Hassan. Amir (protagonist) is shocked and doesn’t know what to do, but simply only thinks about himself in what the future holds if he keeps his mouth shut. Hassan decides to do the same thing seeing that only the truth would hurt his friend. Due to this event we see Hassan in a better light as he is portrayed as an unselfish person who

“I actually aspired cowardice… 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.” (Hosseini, 77) Nobody would ever believe that something innocent as kite flying or kite running could lead into an epic tale of betrayal and redemption, however Hosseini, in his novel The Kite Runner, manages to weld this activity with the journey that a man has to make from his betrayer to his redemption. Though Amir is the protagonist in this novel and we’re supposed to want him to come through as victorious, it’s hard with a character like Hassan under his wing. Their situations almost make you hate Amir, without Hassan being so pure, readers might be able to relate to Amir yet his

As he leaps after the kite, he yells, “For you a thousand times over!” over his shoulder (Hosseini 67). While chasing down the kite, Hassan runs into Assef. Assef demands the kite as payment for previous embarrassments, but after Hassan refuses, Assef decides he will take something even more precious from him. At this point, Amir comes looking for his best friend and his trophy. He witnesses Hassan getting raped and quietly slinks away, not brave enough to protect his protector. Worse, Amir never acknowledges the incident, wounding Hassan deeper than any physical abuse. Ashamed of himself and his cowardice, Amir decides that the best way to be rid of his guilt is to make Hassan leave. He plants money and his watch under Hassan’s mattress with the hope that Baba will throw the thief out. Baba forgives Hassan, but Hassan and his father decide to leave anyway.

Amir is often threatened by Hassan which Hassan is oblivious to, resulting in Amir feeling jealous and misusing his authority over Hassan, ‘though I stopped reading those when I saw he was far better at solving them than I was’, implying that Amir can’t handle an ‘inferior’ person exceeding him in any way. This jealousy develops into abuse towards Hassan when Amir uses his intelligence to make a fool of Hassan who is illiterate, ‘”When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile.” “Aaah” he said, nodding’. However, Amir would then feel ‘guilty’ for this and would give him an old shirt or a broken toy, ‘I would tell myself that was amends enough for a harmless prank’ displaying Amir’s malicious behaviour towards Hassan.

Plot summary: Amir flashbacks to when he was twelve years old in Afghanistan. He lives with his father, Baba, and has two servants, Ali and Hassan, who are also a father and son duo. The latter two are Hazaras, Afghan’s minority, and as such, are subjected to racial slurs and cruelty. Amir and Hassan are playing when Assef, Kamal, and

The author of The Kite Runner is an Afghan man named Khaled Hosseini. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 4, 1965. He wrote two other noteworthy novels one being world renowned like The Kite Runner. He writes his novels to enlighten readers about Afghanistan, his home, not simply defining it as war and terrorist but an actual place in the past filled with people and life.

Behind every lie there is a portion of truth. This same principle is seen across authors. Many well respected novels have an underlying autobiography within them. For instance, renown author J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter saga based on a poor orphan. It is no coincidence that Ms. Rowling was also poor as she started writing the saga on napkins in coffee shops. This way of writing, however, is not unique to just J.K. Rowling. Khaled Hosseini also incorporates life experiences into some of his novels. A prime example of this is The Kite Runner. The storyline of this novel reflects his past to create a journey of a young Afghanistan boy, whose name is Amir. This boy changes drastically throughout his lifetime from a close minded, considerably arrogant boy to an open hearted and minded man. This emotional and mental trip is partially based on Khaled Hosseini’s own life. Throughout Hosseini’s lifetime he had the opportunity of living with a member of the Hazara ethnic group, a minority that has long suffered from discrimination in Afghanistan (Khaled Hosseini Biography). He taught the man, who was the family cook, to read and write. This act of kindness was also seen in the novel. Amir teaches his Hazara friend Hassan, who is the son of the family servant, to also read and write. In fact, Amir is depicted reading to Hassan on many occasions. The parallel between Khaled Hosseini and Amir is that they both open up and are willing to help these marginalized people despite the

In the novel “the Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the author tells the story of a young Pashtun boy Amir being shaped and influenced by his father, his bully and his best friend. Through each interaction he is introduced to self doubt, fear and jealousy. While trying to please a disappointed father, creating an enemy and he pushing away his best friend we see how they shape Amir in to becoming a good, brave man.