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Write About the Way in Which Hosseini Uses Setting in

Decent Essays

Write about the way the significance of the way in which Hosseini uses setting in ‘The Kite Runner’. Focus on two or three. Hosseini uses setting in the kite runner in various ways. It is a tool in showcasing the social division between Hazara and Pashtuns in Kabul and is also used to dramatise and add tension to the story. An example of Hosseini adding tension through setting is Amir and Baba’s car journey from Kabul to Jalalabad. It is narrated by Amir in the present tense, as if he is there telling us what’s happening at that moment as opposed to the past tense narrative style that the remainder of the book is told in. The scene begins with ‘ We pulled up to the check point’ we are only limited to Amir’s view at the time, whilst Amir …show more content…

The two houses are also used to show the different father-son relationship between Hassan and Ali and Baba and Amir. Baba’s house is described as being very grand; the entire paragraph dedicated to it oozes wealth and prosperity. Hosseini uses superlative adjectives to describe the house ‘prettiest house in all of Kabul…’ Everything about the house is luxurious and beautiful, there are great descriptions of tapestries and ‘marble floors and wide windows’. Even the smells in the house are rich ‘perpetually smelled of tobacco and cinnamon’, the word ‘perpetually’ hints that Baba’s wealth was continuous, it would never end, as if Amir believed that he would always live in this luxury. The house is very formal ‘poplar trees lined the driveway’ and ‘rosebushes’ flanked the entryway. However throughout this beautiful description there are some cracks and some uneasiness. In particular the ‘wrought- iron gates’ that give the house a prison like feel, and also the mention of Rahim Khan ‘ I’m in his arms, but it’s Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around’ this suggests that within the opulence there are some badly hidden issues. In contrast Ali’s hut is introduced to the reader by the heading ‘the Wall of Ailing Corn’ the corn that ‘never really took’ as if there is also something wrong with the hut. Whilst Baba’s house is given a detailed description Amir’s description of Ali’s hut is brief, perhaps because he doesn’t think its

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