Circularity In The Kite Runner

There is an old saying that: Life follows a circular path. This idea can be seen especially in Khaled Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner, a beautiful, yet devastating story of love, traitorousness and payback. The narrative takes place over collar generations: Baba and Ali's generation, Amir and Hassan's, and Sohrab's. Circularity is one of the core concepts in the novel and it is employed by Hosseni as a narrative technique. It is portrayed through the main characters relationships, and has a powerful connection to the main root word, redemption. First important cycle is Assef's life; another example was when Hassan threatens Assef by saying he would hit Assef in his left eye, then later on, Sohrab hits Assef in his left eye; finally,

Amir was able to redeem himself for his act of betrayal towards Hassan, by helping Hassan's son, Sohrab.
An important cycle in The Kite Runner was Assef's life.

When the readers were first introduced to Assef, he was described by Amir as a sociopath. He approved of Hitler's ways, said what he tried to do was right, and Assef wanted the same to happen to the Hazaras, because of his beliefs, "Afghanistan is for Pashtuns,"(Hosseini,43) this quote was said by Assef to Amir when he met them in an alleyway after Daoud Khan had become president. Years later, when Amir met Assef again, when Amir was trying to get Sohrab, you can see how much worse Assef had become, he turned into what he had admired when he was younger. His hatred of the Hazaras in Afghanistan had led to the massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif. That was the circularity in the life of Assef, going from a young sociopath, to a

psychopath.
Another cycle was when Hassan threatens Assef by saying he would hit Assef in his left eye with his slingshot when he was about to hit Amir back when we were first introduced to Assef. Years later, Sohrab, Hassan's son, hits Assef in his left eye with his slingshot, again, protecting Amir, just like Hassan. Not only has Sohrab carried out what Hassan had threatened to do, but also protected Amir, just like Hassan always had looked out for Amir. This relates to redemption because, in a way, this is revenge for what Assef had done to Hassan, and his son getting the redemption Hassan deserves. This really completes the entire father-son circle, always looking out for Amir, and protecting him; the circularity between the relationship of Hassan and Amir, and the relationship of Sohrab and Amir.

Finally, the most important cycle was Amir's road to redemption.

Trying to redeem himself for how he had betrayed Hassan, twice, when he was younger. He travelled to Pakistan, initially, to visit Rahim Khan, since Rahim was getting older and wanted to meet Amir for the last time. Then Rahim Khan asked Amir to bring Sohrab back, Amir had rejected bringing Sohrab back because he did not want to risk his life but he agreed once he knew Hassan was his half-brother. When he had fought with Assef, he was laughing while he was getting beat up by Assef, because he finally felt like he got redemption for what had happened with Hassan, "What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace"(Hosseini, 303). He did manage to bring Sohrab to the U.S, and when they were flying kites, Amir decided to run the last kite, and said the same thing Hassan had said to him when he ran the last kite during the kite tournament, "For you, a thousand times over,"(Hosseini, 391). That was the circularity of Amir

life.
Circularity was a writing technique used by Hosseini, because it was a core concept used throughout The Kite Runner. He shows this through the entire interaction between the reader and Assef; the oppression showed by Assef to Hassan, and to his son, Sohrab; and finally the entire life of Amir is a circle that all comes down to the event of what happened between Hassan and Assef. Khaled Hosseini has truly conveyed the situation in Afghanistan while truly explaining the importance of friendship. Circularity is a key concept in many books, and even in real life. Like the saying in pop-culture; it is the circle of life.