The Kite Runner Setting Analysis

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

allows the reader to be more involved with the story. The way that Amir describes where Amir and Hassan live also gives the reader some opening information about Amir and how he views Hassan; Amir vividly describes his own, very expensive home and tells Hassan’s home as the servants home in the shadows where Hassan lived with his father.

This shows that even though the author has already includes memories of Hassan and Amir acting as friends, in this quote Amir show steh reader that he thinks of Hassan as a servant, not a friend.In films, it is much easier to show the viewer the setting; the director of The Kite Runner, Marc Forster, quickly establishes the setting in Afghanistan by transitioning the bright colors of California to sepia toned colors to transition into Afghanistan. Forster chose to begin the first scene in Afghanistan to be of children, including Amir and Hassan, kite fighting in Kabul with a subtitle of “Kabul, 1978” to tell the viewer that there was change in

setting. By starting the first scene with a bird's eye view of the children flying their kites and the next shot of only kites flying in the sky. This shows the viewer the importance of kites in the story. Unlike the book where the kites aren't mentioned until later in the book, kites are the first thing you see in Afghanistan in the film, this shows that kites will have a larger significance in the movie than the book.

In the movie The Kite Runner, the director can help tell the story by using camera angles and also music to emphasize moments.

There is a scene later in the book when Amir Asks Hassan if he would eat dirt if he asked him to. Hosseini writes, “He turned to me. "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?" "I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation. "Really? You'd do that?" He threw me a puzzled look. "Do what?" "Eat dirt if I told you to," I said. I knew I was being cruel ... We sat there looking, really looking, at each other. ... "If you asked, I would," he finally said, looking right at me. I dropped my eyes. To this day, I find it hard to gaze directly at people like Hassan, people who mean every word they say.” This part of the book gives the reader more information about the relationship between Hassan and Amir. In the book this is told a little later into the story because it is easier to spread out different characteristics of Hassan and Amir’s relationship throughout the whole book, however in a film it is better to start the scene/ movie with a significant scene that could visually and auditorily depict the characters’ personalities

quickly.