The Physical Journey In The Odyssey And The Kite Runner

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The physical journey of a character plays a central role in the book and influences many parts of it. Both The Odyssey and The Kite Runner, have main characters that go through a physical journey for different reasons that impacts their lives in many ways. By introspecting the books’ themes, archetypes, and symbols, it is more comprehensible. In The Odyssey and The Kite Runner both, the physical journey augments to the meaning of the books in total.
An important theme that relates to the physical journey in The Kite Runner is the past. The influence of the past affects Amir in his life as we see from the very first sentence of the book until the end. “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of the 1975… That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years,” (Hosseini 1). Throughout the book, Amir’s past haunts him in every action he takes and the journey for his redemption. To Amir, the past defines who he currently is. All of his feelings of guilt stimulate him to make up for his mistakes. For example, he feels responsible for the events leading up to Hassan’s murder by the Taliban because he pushed Hassan and Ali out of Baba’s house. So, years later when he goes back to visit Rahim Khan, Amir is told to make amends by finding his nephew, Sohrab. The past is mentioned in many parts of the book in his quest, Amir faces many obstacles from his past.
In The Odyssey, the theme of loyalty relates to Odysseus’s physical journey back to Ithaca. Many characters in the epic are loyal and faithful, like Penelope, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and even Odysseus himself. Penelope remains loyal to her husband, by not choosing a suitor during the 20 years he’s gone. “And there she [Penelope] sat down with the case on her knees and burst into sobs as she drew out her husband’s bow,” (Homer 317). Just carrying out Odysseus’s bow with such sorrow shows how in love she was with Odysseus and how the thought of choosing a new husband moved her to tears. As Penelope remained loyal to Odysseus and
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