An allegory reveals a hidden meaning through the interpretation of a novel, picture, or a poem. Allegories are frequently used in literature to enhance the meaning of the novel, and allow it to be read on more than just a literal level. The author of the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, uses allegory to allow for the interpretation of the novel on a higher level. The rape scene, Amir’s quest for personal redemption, and the relationship between Amir and Hassan all stand for something greater than entertainment and can be considered an allegory for events in the country of Afghanistan.
The most significant scene in the novel, the rape scene, has an allegorical dimension to it, it is an allegory to Afghanistan. After Hassan runs to
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get the blue kite as a trophy for Amir, he is abused and raped by Assef and his friends.
Just as Hassan served his purpose and in return was abused and raped, the same happened to Afghanistan, “Once a million Afghans died and the Soviets were defeated, which in no small way contributed to the end of the Cold War, once that happened, the international community just kind of watched while the Afghan community was brutalized by these warlords and by the extremists and the Taliban and they did nothing” stated Hosseini in an interview (Rocchi "Interview: 'The Kite Runner' Novelist Khaled Hosseini"). In the book, Assef is the one implementing the brutality just as the warlords, extremists, and the Taliban are to the people of Afghanistan. Assef, as those taking over Afghanistan, is not one hundred percent Afghan, his mother is German and therefore is linked to totalitarian rule because he descends from a foreign country just as the others inflicting pain upon Afghanistan. Hassan is the victim of the brutality in The Kite Runner just as Afghan people are in Afghanistan. Just as Hassan was helpless and outnumbered in the ally, the Afghans were in Afghanistan. While he was being raped, “Hassan didn’t even whimper,” he did not …show more content…
tell them to stop, he just tolerated it (Hosseini 75). Just like Hassan, the men women and children of Afghanistan could not do anything but tolerate the riots and gunfire started by groups such as the Taliban. Neither received any help although there were bystanders to both the rape of Hassan and the rape of Afghanistan. Amir watched as his friend was helplessly raped by Assef and the international community stood by and watched as Afghanistan was brutalized by warlords, extremists, and the Taliban. As Amir watched the rape of Hassan he “Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb” (Hosseini 76). Amir saw that Hassan had given up fighting, and still did not step in to help him. Amir feared what Assef would do to him if he stepped in to help, just as the other nations feared what the extremists would do to them if they stepped in to help Afghanistan. In the novel, Amir’s quest for personal redemption is also allegorical.
Assef, Amir’s childhood nemesis, is the Taliban official in the end. Amir had to rescue Sohrab from Assef as redemption for not helping Hassan in the alleyway when they were children, this “lends an allegorical and mythical dimension to the battle between the two men. As a young boy, Assef is already described as ‘a sociopath;’ an admirer of Hitler, Assef displays fascist tendencies and openly advocates removing the Hazara population from Afghanistan” (Maria Elena Caballero-Robb "The Kite Runner"). Again, Assef is representative of the Taliban and extremists causing pain to Afghanistan, or Sohrab. He is a part of the group, the Taliban, that wants to get rid of all of the Hazaras. Amir is also still representative of his previous role, a bystander and at the end of the novel Amir is faced with another decision; to put himself at risk to save Sohrab, or to remain a bystander and watch the innocent be brutalized. Maria Elena Caballero-Robb analyzed the situation and says that “If the grown Assef appears to be a nearly cartoonish embodiment of sadism and the desire for absolute power, Amir's struggle to defeat him and save the young Sohrab appears to be an allegory for a broader struggle for Afghanistan” (Maria Elena Caballero-Robb "The Kite Runner"). The struggle is over the safety of Afghanistan. Amir wants to take Sohrab with him to America to keep him safe, just as other countries got involved with the
war in Afghanistan to keep the innocent people safe and to stop the fighting. The Taliban and Assef make it hard for Amir and the international community to help Sohrab and Afghanistan to safety because the Taliban wants all of the power for themselves. In an article by David Jefferess he says that, “Amir’s quest for redemption may be read as an allegory of Afghanistan’s national project of healing,” and since Sohrab was safely taken back to America with Amir, the novel allows for a flicker of hope (David Jefferess "To be good again: The Kite Runner as allegory of global ethics "). After being brutalized and crushed, Afghanistan like Sohrab, may survive after all. Not only are the events in The Kite Runner allegorical, but a relationship between characters is as well. The relationship between Amir and Hassan is almost one sided because Amir would never call Hassan his friend, this is apparent when Amir says “The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either” (Hosseini 25). Even though Amir would not admit that they were friends, they would do all of the things that friends do together. The two boys allegorically represent the Pashtuns and Hazaras, two social groups in Afghanistan. The Pashtuns, allegorically represented by Amir, are a higher class ethnic group and the Hazaras, represented by Hassan, are a minority in Afghanistan that many groups would like to exterminate. The fact that Amir would never call Hassan his friend perfectly displays the divide between Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtuns frequently mistreat the Hazaras, and Amir’s betrayal of Hassan shows how Hazaras were mistreated by the Pashtuns. In his review in the Times Literary Supplement, James O’Brien argues that, “this muddled, unbalanced and ultimately tragic relationship between the privileged Amir and the servant Hassan, lies at the heart of The Kite Runner and echoes the betrayals and power shifts that begin to shape the country shortly after the story begins" (Maria Elena Caballero-Robb "The Kite Runner"). Throughout the beginning of the story, Amir and Hassan’s relationship is introduced to the reader. The reader is able to see the great amount of loyalty that Hassan to Amir, and
Actions made in a moment of pain, anger or simple immaturity can take anyone to make mistakes that can change their lives completely. Everyone has something in the past that is shameful, embarrassing and regrettable that is kept present daily. Whether this event happened during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, this event could haunt and have shaped that person’s life into what he or she is today. In a similar way, the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is shaped by a tragic and eventful past that has shaped Amir’s, Baba’s, and Hassan’s lives. The four literary elements that will be used in this essay that Hosseini strategically uses in this book are: irony, simile, metaphor, and personification.
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
In the way that the Taliban had destroyed Kabul and killed many citizens, Amir was destroyed by Assef and the experience of seeing Sohrab attempting suicide. Amir eventually recovered and he want back to his stable life in America. He recovers from his injuries and makes progress towards helping Sohrab feel better. Present-day Afghanistan and Amir both have a history which continue to negatively affect them in the modern
He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. " Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision." (40) Assef rapes Hassan went they are children and later Hassan’s son Sohrab. He also stones people to death for fun and people see him as a hero for it.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about a young boy named Amir that begins in 1975 in Kabul, Afghanistan. As a child, he mistreats his servant, Hassan, who is like a brother to him. After failing to intervene in Hassan 's rape, Amir lives with guilt until his late thirties when he is presented with a chance at redemption. Amir 's father’s old friend, Rahim Khan, called from Pakistan to summon Amir to him. Upon his arrival, Amir learns that Hassan is his illegitimate half-brother. Hassan had been killed and his son had become an orphan. Amir then goes to drastic lengths to find and retrieve Hassan 's son, Sohrab. During this time Amir faces the guilt of his past and finds peace with himself while saving Sohrab
“I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” In Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, Amir, the young protagonist, lives a lavish lifestyle with his father, Baba. Until the Soviets invade and the Taliban become the dominant influence in Afghanistan. Amir’s sumptuous lifestyle comes to an end, and the values of not only his father but also his society begin to impact him and he realizes how much he does not belong in his own culture. Amir is taught the virtues of being a good man, however when the opportunity presents itself to demonstrate his teachings; Amir realizes how different he is from the ways of his father.
On his journey to save Sohrab, Amir discovers that a Taliban official took him from the orphanage. When meeting with that Taliban official, who turns out to be his childhood nemesis Assef, Amir is placed in a situation where he is forced to choose between fleeing from the enemy and saving Hassan’s son. The structure of this scenario is analogous to one earlier in the book when Amir had to choose between saving Hassan by standing up for him and repairing the relationship with his father by bringing the blue kite back. The author uses the similar setting with Assef and the similarities in characterization of father and son in order to provide Amir with the opportunity to make the choice to stand up for what he believes in. When Amir allowed Hass...
In conclusion irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing contribute to the omnipresent theme of redemption throughout The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini ties together seemingly unimportant details of the story to create irony, and juxtaposes segments of his book to show redemption.
In his first historical fiction novel, Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a young boy growing up in Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is the story of Amir, the young boy, and the path his life takes because of the decisions he makes when he is a young child. Forgiveness is woven throughout the book as it takes Amir to places he might not have gone if he hadn’t been able to forgive.
It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.
Amir, the main character and narrator in the Kite Runner, belongs to a wealthy family in which his father is a powerful businessman. Amir is also a part of the dominant Pashtun ethnic group and Sunni religious group. Amir in the Kite Runner tells the story of his friendship with Hassan. Hassan and his father, Ali, are Amir’s servants. Hassan on the contrary is a low-caste ethnic Hazara and belongs to the minority Shi’it religious faith. This provides many of the Afghan’s who are different such as Sunni’s, who make up 85% of the Muslim faith, to persecute people like Hassan for their religion.
#) These opening lines of the novel foreshadow what is yet to come. You can see Amir looking back at the past in an attempt to justify why he is the man he is today. In the winter of 1975 it was the final round of the Kite Running tournament when Hassan chose to run the last kite for Amir. In doing so, Hassan is cornered by Assef and his gang, who question Hassan’s loyalty to Amir.... ...
War establishes many controversial issues and problems within society and can often expose an individual to many economic and sociopolitical hardships; thus creating an altercation in the way they view life. Amir, from the novel The Kite Runner and the novel’s author Khaled Hosseini, both saw the harsh treatment toward the people of Afghanistan through a series of wars, invasions, and the active power of a Pashtun movement known as the Taliban. Amir, much like Hosseini, lived a luxurious and wealthy life in Kabul. He is well educated and immerses himself in reading and writing. After transitioning from a life in Afghanistan to a life in the United States, both Hosseini and Amir faced obstacles in order to assimilate to American society. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist Amir parallels the experiences and hardships that Hosseini endured in his own lifetime.
...achieves redemption and finally succeeds in overcoming his guilt. Hosseini uses this struggle to persuade those who feel extreme guilt for a wrongdoing to seek forgiveness and to help others in need. The author emphasizes that atoning one’s sins comes from reaching out to others. He expresses this when Amir offers to help Sohrab and he rids himself of guilt from his former relationship with Hassan. In addition, Hosseini writes to those who challenge the ideals of society in order to encourage them to create and follow their own values. The author uses Amir’s struggle in his relationship with Baba and his acceptance with Amir’s writing career to demonstrate this idea. Throughout his novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini develops a main character that questions his decisions, yet conforms to societal ideals to represent his theme of redemption and self-acceptance.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a heart breaking novel. It features events that bring tears to the eyes of its readers, as well as a look into the world outside our own. This book deals with tragic adult themes such as racism and child rape. The story takes place in two different countries, Afghanistan, and later the United States. The novel is in the point of view of the main character Amir and it begins as he recalls events from his childhood in Kabul, Afghanistan in a time on the brink of civil war, when the Afghanistan king is overthrown.