Kite Runner
- Submitted by: fizzface
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 11/15/2011 02:56 AM
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The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, is a bildungsroman which explores complex relationships; of family and friendships, Afghanistan in the late 1900’s, redemption and loyalty vs. betrayal. After spending years in California, Amir realises that one day he must return to his homeland –an Afghanistan now under Taliban rule. It was the place which Amir could help his betrayed servant-friend Hassan and his son, in order to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption. Also evident in Burton’s Big Fish, both texts evidently explore concepts of changing self, in particular psychological and physical.
In Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the protagonist Amir, comes across several self revelations and psychological changes. Firstly portrayed as a youthful, cowardly boy born to a wealthy father, Amir lives much of his younger years with an aspiration to be his father’s “courageous son”. However, after the incident at the kite tournament, Amir, not only becomes a man but grows with a rising sense of guilt for allowing his servant friend Hassan to be raped. He later comes to realise the huge mistake and cost he has taken to seek his father’s approval and takes the responsibility to salvage the various misfortunes he had caused. This search for redemption is evident from the beginning of the text, “…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.” The opening continues, “I realise I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” Hosseini cleverly uses imagery of the alley –place where Hassan had been raped, to depict the constant guilt clinging onto Amir. The symbolism of the kite is also important as it portrays the two sides of Amir; success/fulfilment and pain. The kite tournament- a huge cultural event in Kabul at the time celebrated the last flying kite as a huge achievement. An extended metaphor, the kite becomes symbolic of Amir’s glorious...
In Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the protagonist Amir, comes across several self revelations and psychological changes. Firstly portrayed as a youthful, cowardly boy born to a wealthy father, Amir lives much of his younger years with an aspiration to be his father’s “courageous son”. However, after the incident at the kite tournament, Amir, not only becomes a man but grows with a rising sense of guilt for allowing his servant friend Hassan to be raped. He later comes to realise the huge mistake and cost he has taken to seek his father’s approval and takes the responsibility to salvage the various misfortunes he had caused. This search for redemption is evident from the beginning of the text, “…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.” The opening continues, “I realise I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” Hosseini cleverly uses imagery of the alley –place where Hassan had been raped, to depict the constant guilt clinging onto Amir. The symbolism of the kite is also important as it portrays the two sides of Amir; success/fulfilment and pain. The kite tournament- a huge cultural event in Kabul at the time celebrated the last flying kite as a huge achievement. An extended metaphor, the kite becomes symbolic of Amir’s glorious...