Ordinarily, pieces of literature show scenes of violence. These events are not just placed haphazardly; often times, these predicaments are intricately set to build the meaning of the work. Wighout this kind of violence, some points in the novel would be hard to comprehend. In Khaled Hoseini's The Kite Runner, multiple cases of compulsion are demonstrated. Khaled Hosseini uses symbolism and sense of mood during these situations contribute to the understanding of his literary work.
Chapter seven of the novel opens somewhat normal, with two young boys, Amir and Hassan, preparing for the annual kite running tournament. When the boys win the contest, an air of jubilance and carelessness comes over Amir and Hassan. Hosseini describes the moment as “alive”, “unabashed”, and “the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life.” At this point, the reader feels happy for Amir and Hassan. Soon after, though, the whole mood changes. Amir witnesses the rape of Hassan, and does nothing to help him out of it. All Amir could think about was the prized kite that they had just won, and bringing it back to Baba. The kite represents an object of both Amir's happiness and his guilt. For instance, the champion blue kite was the ticket to Baba's heart and a reminder of the delightful childhood that he once had. Be that as it may, Amir basically allows Hassan to be raped only because he wants to bring bak the trophy of a kite to Baba. After that point, Amir sees the kite as a memory of his betrayal to Hassan. Words used during the scene such as “cold”, “paralyzed”, “havoc”, and “nervous” develop the situation; Amir's inaction proved to be his flaw throughout the work. The dark, wintry alleyway was home to the memory that would change Amir's lif...
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... and Amir is quickly defeated by that of a lost hope and brokenness. Both attempts ended with a shattered promise, and an entity left in ruin. In the end, Hosseini implemented all scenes of violence to show readers what Afghanistan is now, what it truly is.
In its violence, The Kite Runner uses both mood and symbolism to help understand the meaning of the work. All scenarios that showcased violence were placed to show not only the change of Afghanistan, but the change of Amir as well. If the novel were written without these events, the novel's true meaning would be hard to decipher. In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, violent scenes are placed to further the meaning of the work.
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.
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 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...
A boy who doesn’t stand up for himself, and a war that demands decency are two points Hosseini portrays to demonstrate the readers sense of moral values depicted in this book. Amir is taught many values to be a decent man, however when the situation presents itself for Amir demonstrate his teachings; Amir realizes how different he is from the ways of his father. Amir discovers his courage after many years of being a coward and feeling regret. The teachings of his father did sink in and Amir is now educated with the virtues of a decent man.
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...
(2) The Kite Runner follows Amir on his odyssey to redeem himself for his hurtful actions. Through this journey, Khaled Hosseini delivers the message that sin and guilt can always be atoned for. At the beginning of The Kite Runner, young Amir wins a kite fighting tournament. He feels like he has finally redeemed himself for his father.
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.
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.
The other source of tension in Amir’s life is his relationship with Baba, his hard-driving and demanding father. Desperate to win his father’s affection and respect, Amir turns to the sport of kite flying, and at the age of 12, with the assistance of Hassan, he wins the annual tournament in Kabul. Amir’s victory soon is tarnished when he witnesses a vicious assault against his friend, who raced through the streets of Kabul to retrieve the last kite, Amir had sliced from the sky, and fails to come to his aid. Amir’s cowardness is compounded by a later act of betrayal that causes Ali and Hassan to leave their home, and he now faces the nightmare, bearing the burden of his poor choices for the rest of his life.
The themes of the loss of innocence and redemption is used throughout the novel The Kite Runner to make a point that one can lose innocence but never redeem it. Once innocence is lost it takes a part of oneself that can never be brought back from oblivion. One can try an entire life to redeem oneself but the part that is loss is permanently gone although the ache of it can be dampened with the passing of time and acts of attempted redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses characters, situations, and many different archetypes to make this point.
Writer Ayn Rand once said that, “Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.” This happiness is not what a person feels when common pleasures occur in their lives, such as the purchase of a new car, or a promotion at work and an increase in salary. The feeling of genuine inner well-being and peace is a completely separate state of being that can be witnessed in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. The two key characters to the story, Amir and Hassan, share a very unique relationship. They achieve the deepest longing of humanity to achieve happiness through the different choices they make and experiences they have. Hassan proves to be on the proper path to happiness early on with a strong moral conscience in his life, sense of purpose to serve others, and the self-confidence to be independent. On the other hand, Amir struggles to achieve these same qualities as Hassan; to do the right thing, to think of others, and to carry his own weight with confidence.
The film The Kite Runner deserves praise because of the filmmakers’ interpretation of major scenes. The most controversial scene of the novel is the rape of Hassan, not because of Amir’s betrayal of his friend, but because Hassan is a child. Children are universally viewed as innocent individuals who require protection, and as a result any violence against children, even fictional, is likely to receive emotionally charged condemnation. Reading the novel, there does not seem to be a favourable way the filmmakers could portray such a scene. However after analysing the film, it can be concluded that Hassan’s rape is handled as well as realistically possible because the sexual assault of a child is directly implied without being mentioned or shown. Another aspect of the film that was handled well was the preface. In the novel, Amir, then in adulthood, states the impact a major event twenty-six years ago had on the rest of his life. This section also includes references to his friend Rahim Khan and the kites flying in Golden Gate Park. In the film similar information is also portrayed because of English subtitles that translate a phone conversation between Amir and Rahim Khan, as well as a scene, which features kites flying in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. However, in addition to this, the film also expands on the number of allusions by showing Amir’s wife Soraya as well as copies of his published novel. These additional details are appreciated because it allows for connections between the preface and the rest of the plot. The film’s preface is also superior because these new details are not integral to the storyline, and as a result do not ruin it, while the novel’s preface about a life changing event reduced the emotional impact of Hassan’s rape. Although this film should be held in high esteem because of the interpretation of major scenes, it is only one reason why this
In my view The Kite Runner is an epic story with a personal history of what the people of Afghanistan had and have to endure in an ordinary every day life; a country that is divided between political powers and religiously idealistic views and beliefs which creates poverty, and violence within the people and their terrorist run country. The story line is more personal with the description of Afghanistan's culture and traditions, along with the lives of the people who live in Kabul. The story provides an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political chaos. Of course there are many things that are unsaid and under explained in this tragic novel which, in my observation, is an oversimplification. There is also a heavy use of emotional appeal, and an underlying message. This is a flag for propaganda.
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the author follows the development of protagonist Amir through a life filled with sorrow, regret, and violence. Amir encounters numerous obstacles on his path to adulthood, facing a new test at every twist and turn. Amir embarks on the long journey known as life as a cowardly, weak young man with a twisted set of ideals, slowly but surely evolving into a man worthy of the name. Amir is one of the lucky few who can go through such a shattered life and come out the other side a better man, a man who stands up for himself and those who cannot, willing to put his life on the line for the people he loves.
As implied by the title, kites play a major role in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. They appear numerous times within the text and prove to be surprisingly versatile in their literary function. They provide common ground for characters whose interests do not normally intersect. They are also present as a very powerful symbol, which adds an extra dimension to this already literary rich novel. Reversing the roles transcending generations, it shows itself to be a multifaceted medium.