In The Kite Runner Hosseini uses the literary device of foreshadowing throughout the novel. By using this literary device he allows the reader to comprehend that there is a major conflict in the story and that it will eventually be revealed. An example used in the text includes the quote, “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, 4). Early on in the novel this is stated by the main character Amir. Readers later discover that the “deserted alley” is where Hassan was raped and that Amir cannot deal with his guilt because the “past claws its way out”. Therefore this passage infers that no matter how hard Amir tries to “bury it” he cannot ignore his guilt of what happed all those years ago and the event that took place will never be forgotten.
Another literary device used in The Kite Runner is the use of
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By doing this it creates intensity within his writing and draws the reader’s attention to the events occurring within the novel. An example in the text includes the quote, “The blast echoes through the street of my father’s house. Hassan slumps to the asphalt, his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase” (Hosseini, 200). This quote references Hassan’s death and indirectly compares it to the kite fighting games he used to play as a child. By stating “his life of unrequited loyalty” it refers to Hassan’s never ending loyalty towards Amir which in turn led to his demise. Also, by comparing his death to the kite fighting games it infers that this is where his life truly ended. It ended when he chased down the loosing kite for Amir to give to Baba, it ended when he was
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, in 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 life. The four literary elements that will be used in this essay that Hosseini strategically uses in this book are: irony, simile, Metaphor, and personification.
“Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali’s arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. “There” she had said. Now you have your own idiot child” (Hosseini 10). Since the moment he was born, the defining feature of Hassan’s appearance was the split in his upper lip, just left of the midline. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Hassan was repeatedly belittled for being the harelipped Hazara. A harelip is considered an imperfection, a mistake in how someone is suppose to look. Why would Khaled Hosseini, the author of the novel, want Hassan, the loyal selfless servant, to be known as a mistake? Hassan’s cleft lip is a juxtaposition with his virtuous personality and character. In order to reiterate the juxtaposition, Amir suffered a cut on his lip after battling Assef, “The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip” (Hosseini 297). After Amir defeated Assef, he achieved redemption and his character was good again, his physical appearance now suffered. Contrastingly, Assef
In both novels, Hosseini and Steinbeck use motifs to show the power society possesses to manipulate an individual. In The Kite Runner, Hosseini continually uses the motif of blood to symbolize the sin and corruption of humanity. During a kite tournament in Kabul, the two boys, Amir and Hassan, begin to chase the final kite. When Hassan is approached by a group of bullies, including Assef, Amir decides not to intervene in order to maintain his status and place in the world. While Assef and his friends beat and rape Hassan, Amir witnesses "tiny drops [that] fell from between [Hassan's] legs and stained the snow black" (Hosseini, 78). This is the beginning of Amir’s m...
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows how lying and deceit is a counterproductive route when trying to live with a dreadful past, exhibited through the actions of Amir. Amir’s decision to withhold the truth and blatantly lie in several situations due to jealousy and his desire for Baba to be proud of him amounts to further pain and misery for himself and those he deceives. Because of Amir’s deceit towards Baba and Hassan, his guilt from his past manifests itself into deeply-rooted torment, not allowing him to live his life in peace. The guilt from Amir’s past is only alleviated when he redeems his sins by taking in Sohrab, contributing to the theme that the only way “to be good again” is through redemption, not shunning the past.
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
... Recovering from this rescue, Amir learns that an orphanage Rahim spoke of does not exist. This leaves him with the issue of what to do with this child. Amir ponders to himself, “I wondered what I'd do with the little wounded boy on the bed, though a part of me already knew” (Hosseini, 328). Related to redemption, this quote foreshadows that Amir will adopt and take Sohrab home. For what is he to do but save his brother's son? To redeem himself of a betrayal long ago Amir knows he has to take in and take care of Sohrab. Thus, foreshadowing is a principal device in evoking the theme of redemption.
“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” (Hosseini). In The Kite Runner, Hosseini shares Amir’s journey to atonement. As Amir states, he was unable to bury his past, similar to his father, Baba, who spent the majority of his life haunted by his sins. While both father and son are consumed by guilt, the way in which they atone for their iniquities is dissimilar.
“The guilty one is not the one who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In The Kite Runner, the theme of guilt and redemption is shown through the character development of the protagonist Amir. Hosseini used Amir’s guilt of his past to grow the impression that with regret lies a hope for redemption. Amir is a man who is haunted by the demons of his past.
Amir also committed a sin that affected him negatively throughout his life. This sin occurred when Hassan, Amir’s best friend during his childhood, was getting raped by Assef. This situation occurred when the children were chasing kites. Hassan got the kite first, but Assef insisted that he wanted the kite. Assef also had a racial and religious prejudice against Hassan. Because Hassan did not give the kite, Assef decides to rape Hassan as a “punishment”. Instead of helping his friend out, Amir just walked away from the scene and let Hassan get violated in one of the most vulgar ways. After this incident, Hassan quietly walked back home and gave Amir the kite for which he was confronted by Assef for. The kite in this situation proves to be an important symbol. Whereas earlier in the novel the kite represented happiness and fun to Amir, in this situation it represented sin and guilt to Amir. The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
This quotation is foreshadowing for the whole book. It foreshadows the internal struggles Amir will experience throughout his life because of what happened that one winter day in 1975. The author not only utilizes the quotation as foreshadowing for the book but also as a reflection on the hurt in his life.
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
During The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini reinforces the theme of the loss of innocence and redemption. Many characters lose innocence or are the cause of another character losing theirs. Amir both loses his innocence and that of others. His innocence is stolen by his father. In the novel Amir overhears Baba saying, “‘If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son’” (Hosseini 24-25). This affects Amir for his entire life as he tries to compete with Hassan for his father's attention. He does not realize that in doing so, this crumbles his world as he knows it. It makes Amir resentful, calloused, and even cruel, all of which are characteristics of someone who has lost their innocence. In turn, Amir’s loss of innocence causes other to lose their innocence because of his lack of courage and disregard for others feelings.
In the book The Kite Runner, the author establishes the setting of afghanistan after Amir’s phone call with Rahim Khan in the first chapter.The setting of afghanistan begins by the narrator, in the second paragraph, explaining what his childhood looked like in Kabul. The first time when there is a vivid passage in the book is in the middle of chapter 2 where the narrator is describing where Amir and Hassan lived as children.“The poplar trees lined the redbrick driveway, which led to a pair of wrought-iron gates...One the south end of the garden, in the shadows of a loquat tree, was the servants home, a modest little mud hut where Hassan lived with his father” (5-6)This quote gives a detailed description of what the characters are seeing and
The road to redemption is a path that one must take in order to make amends with the past. In the novel “The Kite Runner”, the author, Khaled Hosseini, illustrates the struggle of achieving redemption through the protagonist’s eyes. Amir’s desperation to please Baba leads him into making a choice that will haunt him for the rest of his life. When given the opportunity, Amir looks to right his past sins and is sent on a path to redemption. In the novel, the kite symbolizes Amir’s path to redemption by being the object through which he intends to gain Baba’s respect, by being the cause of his guilt, and by being the object that brings him back to a relative state of innocence.
In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.