1.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a story of good versus evil and how one bad decision
that is clouded by selfishness can scar a person for the rest of their life.
The narrator is Amir, a young Afghanistan boy who shares with us how his life
was affected by a terrible sin brought on by his only desire of earning his
father’s love. He lived in guilt since he was born because he thought he was
the cause of his mother’s death. This is why he felt his father hated him and
why he would do whatever it took to please him. Their Hazara servant’s son,
Hassan, was Amir’s closest companion. Hassan would do anything for Amir but it
wasn’t like that for Amir who would take advantage of Hassan at times. After
making the worst decision in his life, Amir’s life is turned upside down unless
he can find forgiveness in himself.
2.
The major theme of The Kite Runner is finding salvation. Salvation is
defined as “deliverance by redemption from the power of sin and from the
penalties ensuing from it”. I believe that Hosseini chose to write about this
because he wanted to explain how prejudices about religion, social status,
and/or ethnicity can influence a person’s decisions in life. He portrayed this
through Amir who had grown up with prejudices and then did something to Hassan
because Hassan was “just a Hazara”. The many years following his choice,
however, were plagued with guilt. The rest of the novel is about how he finds
salvation from his past.
3.
I chose this book because several people had recommended it to me, including my
mom. She has urged me to read it on many different occasions so I decided to
take advantage of the chance I had and finally read it. I honestly had no idea
what the book was about when I had selected it or when I began reading the
novel; however, it immediately grabbed my attention. The first page started
with the main character, as an adult, reflecting on his past and how it was
calling him back to that unforgivable thing he had done at the age of 12. I
obviously was wondering what that “thing” was and why it was so horrible, so I continued
reading.
4.
For the most part, I found the book to be realistic. These events definitely could
have occurred and/or be occurring in Afghanistan or other countries today. Like
Amir, many children who are not given the proper and needed attention as a
child end up getting into trouble in order to receive a minuscule piece of
attention. Everyone, including myself, has wished they’d been given a chance to
go back in time and have a “Do Over”. Unfortunately this is not how life
functions and we all have to live with our mistakes just like Amir.
5.
The author’s tone was sentimental and desperate but also judgmental. It was
sentimental because the author constantly referred back to the past and how
Amir felt about it. Amir was always reminiscing about what he had done to
Hassan that winter day in 1975. “Looking back now, I realize I have been
peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years” (1). Also
throughout the novel there was a sense of desperation. Amir always yearned for
Baba’s attention and would do whatever it took to become someone his father was
proud of rather than embarrassed of. “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe
Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it
a fair price? The answer flooded to my conscious mind before I could thwart it:
He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (77). The author tried to explicitly show how
others were often judged. “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man
who can’t stand up to anything” (22).
6.
· Symbolism- “Behind him,
sitting on piles of scrap and rubble, was the blue kite. My key to Baba’s
heart” (71). This blue kite means the world to Amir because with it, he is able
to make Baba proud.
· Personification - “… 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” (1). This gives the past the human-like
quality to claw its way out and shows that the past cannot be forgotten (buried).
· Imagery - “At parties,
when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him
like sunflowers turning to the sun” (13). This phrase creates a visual inside
your head of a large man, Baba, walking into the room and everyone stops what they’re
doing to stare.
· Metaphor - “Children
aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors”
(21). When Rahim Khan told Baba this, Baba realized he can’t have a perfect son
because it’s not his life to control but Amir’s.
· Symbolism - “Do you want
me to run that kite for you?” I thought I saw him nod. “For you, a thousand
times over,” I hear myself say (371). When Amir runs the kite for Hassan’s son
Sohrab, it symbolizes that things have gone full circle. Amir is now the “servant” and has finally
found redemption for his past sin.
· Allusion – “Never mind
any of those things. Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is
religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a Sunni and he
was a Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing” (25). This is
allusion as the author assumes we know that this explains why Amir is
privileged and Hassan
· Repetition - “For you, a
thousand times over” (2, 67, 194, 371). Hassan says this to Amir, showing his
loyalty and unconditional love for Amir no matter what. It’s repeated to
emphasize Hassan’s dedication and that Amir finally sees that things were
always one way.
· Personification - “Then I
glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the
sky. They danced high above the trees on the end of the park, over the
windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San
Francisco, the city I now call home” (2). This quote of the novel personifies
the kites and enables the readers to paint a picture in their mind.
· Symbolism - “The swelling
subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon, it was just a pink jagged line
running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar.
Which was ironic. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling”
(47). This symbolizes how much a person can be affected by a single event.
· Irony – “Earlier that
morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done
twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under a
mattress” (242). This is ironic because as a child he framed someone of
stealing money but as an adult he gave someone money; both times he placed a
wad of cash under a mattress.
CHARACTERIZATION
1.
Hosseini uses both approaches so he can let the readers know some of the
characters’ traits and let them make their own conclusions of each character.
Direct
Characterization:
“I knew I was being cruel, like when I’d taunt him if he didn’t know some big
word” (54). This is direct characterization of Amir because we know that Amir
is cruel because it is directly stated in the passage. “To this day, I find it
hard to gaze directly at people like Hassan, people who mean every word they
say” (54). This distinctly shows that Hassan is a very true and honest person.
Indirect
Characterization:
“Sometimes, up in those trees, I talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his
slingshot at the neighbor’s one-eyed German shepherd. Hassan never wanted to,
but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn’t
deny me…Hassan’s father, Ali, used to catch us and get mad…But he never told that
the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor’s dog, was always my idea”
(4). This shows that Hassan was so dedicated and faithful to Amir that he’d
never get Amir into trouble and even take the blame for it. “Hassan didn’t
struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a
glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen
before. It was the look of the lamb” (75-76). This shows that Hassan was
someone who just takes whatever is dealt to him in order to serve the greater
good.
2.
Yes, the author’s syntax and diction changes when he focuses on a character. The
Kite Runner is written in first person of Amir, so Hosseini wrote pretty
much the entire novel in informal diction because it’s all Amir’s thoughts. “But
I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, the snow melts one
flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake falling” (371). Hosseini does change diction when different
characters are speaking. “‘It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days,
sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir.’
Baba said” (142). This is more formal diction.
3.
The protagonist, Amir, is a dynamic and round character because he changes
during the novel and has many characteristics. At first he’s self-centered, cowardly,
and dependent. Eventually, he is forced to become the brave, heartfelt
individual who his father always wanted as a son.
4.
After reading the book, I felt like I genuinely knew several of the characters
such as Hassan and Amir. During the unforgivable incident, I felt like I witnessed
Amir and Hassan and afterwards felt like I was there in the novel seeing the
aftermath of what had happened and how each character was impacted.
ENDURING
MEMORY
I
expect to remember how kind Hassan was and the Afghan culture
for a long time. In my opinion, these two ideas played major roles in The Kite
Runner and are therefore memorable. I will remember Hassan because he was a character
filled of loyalty, dedication, and trust that I loved from the get-go. He saved
Amir countless times when Amir was in need of help. For example, he stood up
for Amir when Assef was bulling him. If Hassan hadn’t been the person he was,
the whole plot of the novel would have been altered, specifically the conflict.
Also I believe the Afghan culture was important and memorable because it
profoundly influenced the characters’ ways of living and their decisions. Had
the culture not enforced low ranking of Hazaras, Amir and Hassan would have
lived completely different lives. Also Baba’s wish of having a son was based on
the Afghan culture of having a son follow in your footsteps and carry on your
family name with pride.
