Styles:
The tone of the story is very intimate and sentimental because the story has a very strong emotional attachment and gives the reader a sense of astonishment when very unpredictable instances occur such as the rape of Hassan as well as when the soldier confronted Hassan about his mother. The two scenes give the emotional appeal and set the mood for the events leading afterward.
Hosseini uses many Afghani words and includes context clues to allow the reader to discover the meaning of the foreign words. The diction in the novel allows the reader to experience a closer relationship to the setting of the book, Afghanistan. Hosseini's use of foreign words is an indication to the reader that the novel describes a very different lifestyle than that of the majority. The foreign diction mirrors the foreign culture. The colloquial words and phrases not only give a sense of identity to the characters, but to the author as well. Hosseini reveals a little about himself through his novel.
“I feel like a tourist in my own country” (Hosseini 231). The author uses a simile here as Amir compares himself to a tourist, because he is so used to America, and Kabul has changed so much. He doesn’t realize how bad it has truly gotten until he is driving through the middle of Kabul with Farid. It shows how alienated he has become from his original hearth, then migrating to America, and the back to Afghanistan after such long periods of turmoil.
Additionally, this story surprisingly does not have an antagonist but an antihero. Amir is an example of a antihero because instead of having a strong, courageous attitude, he is weak and cowardly as he watches his child hood friend get beaten raped in front of him, and then goes on to blame Hassan for crimes of theft he never committed. Although later on Amir does own up to his mistakes, it is too late because Hassan and his wife had been murdered by the Taliban, leaving their son orphaned.
This novel is presented through first-person narrative showing how it does sound like an autobiography. The story is told by Amir to give the reader a clear picture of how cowardly Amir is and how far he will go to gain respect and honor of his father while slowly losing his childhood friend. Most likely Hosseini is not writing this as an autobiography because as he develops the character of Amir, it is apparent that the story line is fairly fictional with chances of luck occurring at every corner for the main character.
Symbolism can be shown through the quote, “I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies” (Hosseini 218). In his letter to Amir, Hasaan talks about the lawla flowers and music to represent the happiness of Kabul, and the kites now remind him of happiness instead of the bad memories of the past.
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini was written to open up the readers heart and mind towards the conflict in the middle east. This book puts a name and face to the people the world are helping to free. How could they be fighting for freedom in this far off land of Afghanistan, and not understand the people; their heritage, their land and what they lost? Most likely it is to show that overall, war leads to extended conflicts that are hard to face for everyone.
Hosseini uses many Afghani words and includes context clues to allow the reader to discover the meaning of the foreign words. The diction in the novel allows the reader to experience a closer relationship to the setting of the book, Afghanistan. Hosseini's use of foreign words is an indication to the reader that the novel describes a very different lifestyle than that of the majority. The foreign diction mirrors the foreign culture. The colloquial words and phrases not only give a sense of identity to the characters, but to the author as well. Hosseini reveals a little about himself through his novel.
“I feel like a tourist in my own country” (Hosseini 231). The author uses a simile here as Amir compares himself to a tourist, because he is so used to America, and Kabul has changed so much. He doesn’t realize how bad it has truly gotten until he is driving through the middle of Kabul with Farid. It shows how alienated he has become from his original hearth, then migrating to America, and the back to Afghanistan after such long periods of turmoil.
Additionally, this story surprisingly does not have an antagonist but an antihero. Amir is an example of a antihero because instead of having a strong, courageous attitude, he is weak and cowardly as he watches his child hood friend get beaten raped in front of him, and then goes on to blame Hassan for crimes of theft he never committed. Although later on Amir does own up to his mistakes, it is too late because Hassan and his wife had been murdered by the Taliban, leaving their son orphaned.
This novel is presented through first-person narrative showing how it does sound like an autobiography. The story is told by Amir to give the reader a clear picture of how cowardly Amir is and how far he will go to gain respect and honor of his father while slowly losing his childhood friend. Most likely Hosseini is not writing this as an autobiography because as he develops the character of Amir, it is apparent that the story line is fairly fictional with chances of luck occurring at every corner for the main character.
Symbolism can be shown through the quote, “I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies” (Hosseini 218). In his letter to Amir, Hasaan talks about the lawla flowers and music to represent the happiness of Kabul, and the kites now remind him of happiness instead of the bad memories of the past.
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini was written to open up the readers heart and mind towards the conflict in the middle east. This book puts a name and face to the people the world are helping to free. How could they be fighting for freedom in this far off land of Afghanistan, and not understand the people; their heritage, their land and what they lost? Most likely it is to show that overall, war leads to extended conflicts that are hard to face for everyone.
Themes:
- The lesson of forgiveness and redemption come hand in hand, in order to be fully forgiven you have to redeem yourself. For some it takes years to master this lesson of maturity and growth, while for others it takes a lifetime. The Kite Runner is a great example of forgiveness and redemption because it shows Amir's journey from a boy to a man by learning to forgive and redeem his relationships with his Baba, Hassan and himself.
- The theme of a strong sense of nationality and family pride is shown throughout Amir's journey. Family is extremely important in the story, especially because it takes place in Afghanistan. It is a nation where culture and tradition are of monumental importance, especially to the older generation. This is shown when Baba and Amir are in America. Even though they are in a different country, Amir is expected to observe all of the cultural traditions his family would have back in Afghanistan. It can also be shown when Amir has the confidence to return back to Afghanistan to confront what he left behind during his childhood.
Character:
"Then I told him I was going to Kabul" (Hosseini 227). Amir proves to be quite the coward throughout most of the novel. He can't bring himself to stand up for himself or Hassan throughout their entire childhood. Then, when his chance of redemption arises, he refuses to go and do what he knows is right. However, this time Amir realizes the gravity of the situation and the importance of his role in protecting Sohrab, the son of Hassan. Rahim Kahn has always been there for Amir. Rahim's role in the novel is to look out for the well being of Amir. To correct him when he's wrong and praise him when he succeeds. It takes a little bit of effort, but Rahim Kahn finally gets Amir to do the right thing because he knows that it is important in order for Amir to move on in his life. The more substantial part of Amir’s search for redemption, however, stems from his guilt regarding Hassan. That guilt drives the climactic events of the story, including Amir’s journey to Kabul to find Sohrab and his confrontation with Assef, the man who had raped Hassan as a boy. On a larger scale, Hosseini is constructing a world where redemption is at least possible. In the universe of the novel, one can return to the site of his misdeeds, as shone through Amir's journey back to Afghanistan. And this is important because it suggests nations can atone for mistakes the same as individual human beings can. This could also be the way in which Hosseini was not able to make this change into a reality and wrote it into his novel instead.