The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini revolves about the life of the protagonist-Amir, who is struggling with a huge load of guilt since childhood. In his endeavors to counter this guilt that was born from his childhood years, more guilt stems from his efforts to redeem his face before his father. Amir is ever in a tussle to gain his father’s attention and develops a self-centered approach whereby he views any competitor for his father’s attention as a threat. This selfish nature continues to exacerbate his efforts and subsequently, his journey to redemption. Symbolically, the story infers or represents, self-destruction at childhood that to some extent help to make one a better person in the future (Jefferess, 390). Admittedly, Amir’s guilt and subsequently his journey to self-redemption are the two modifiers of his character in becoming a good person. Therefore, central to this story, is a journey from selfishness to selflessness and the life of Amir, vividly describes this journey.
The story opens to an adult Amir who is living in the United States, who takes the reader through a flashback of his childhood memories. The flashback plays a critical role in laying a contextual foundation for the whole story, exposing the reader to all the major characters whose contribution to the thematic needs of the story is crucial. Through the flashback, the root of Amir’s guilt that has ever clung to his life until childhood is understood. There are various factors in childhood that made Amir develop sheer guilt. The fact that his mother died at his birth, Amir feels responsible for his mother’s death and his father’s words in childhood continue to mount more guilt on him. For instance, in one instance when his father fills his glass with whiskey, Amir confronts him and tells him that drinking alcohol is sinful to Muslims.
However, Baba is quick to defend himself, asserting that the only sin is theft and classifies killing as theft since it steals life. In Amir’s understanding, the mentioning of death is a constant reminder that he is sinful since he perceives himself as the cause of his mother’s death and as such classifies himself as a thief. In another instance, Amir overhears Baba conversing with Rahim Khan-a business partner, saying that he is afraid that Amir is not like other boys and cannot stand up for himself- "There is something missing in that boy" (Hosseini, 22) and "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, 23). This further deepens Amir’s guilty and the only way to redeem his face and prove that he is a man is through winning a kite-tournament. In his childhood years, Baba was a kite champion and through winning this tournament, Amir wanted to regain his dad’s confidence and show him that he is no different.
However, the Kite tournament happens to bring more harm to Amir than good and instead of saving his face before Baba, it evolves to an even bigger source of guilt. Despite the fact that Hassan is raped and humiliated by his competitors in the game, he manages to bring the kite home. More devastating is the fact that Amir did not save his best childhood friend from humiliation. He begins to view Hassan as a major threat in terms of attracting attention from Baba. Amir embarked on a game plan to set-up Hassan as thief so that he leaves. He places money and watch beneath Hassan’s pillow and upon confrontation, Hassan admits. During the breakout of the war in Kabul, the two families separate and Amir and his dad settle in California-USA.
More than anything, the story has been broken into three extensive parts all which have the same characters with a few additions at each stage. The main characters’ Amir, Assef, Hassan, Baba, Rahim Khan all still holds to their beliefs throughout each novel. However, the most evident experiences across the book is how the main characters in spite years of separation and breaks all end up meeting again, with each point of meeting, a truth that had been hidden from the characters does arise either to brighten their lives or even make then dull (Herbert 37). A revealing scene that sets the tone for such experiences is the rape case by a bullying boy, Assef, who is a firm believer that the Pashtun should have totals dominance over the Hazaras. To show how much he believed that the Pashtun should dominate over the Hazaras, Assef does castigate Amir for his actions with Hassan, which becomes a lifetime grudge that both Assef knowingly carries to his adulthood. For Amir, the childhood memories of Hassan’s rape by Assef does not only serve to remind him of a role he so dearly abandoned for self-interests but also serves to inform him that he owes all his life and happiness to one Hassan. These events that begin at the kite running events seem not to go away or dis-attach from the characters. In one aspect, Amir’s self-centered life is discovered here, Hassan’s selflessness is also evident in this first scene, Assef’s rudeness and extremism is visible at this point while Amir’s father’s ideologies that are against the religious beliefs taught at school reveal a man who is against Islam extremism.
Focusing ahead to the very last part of the novel, a similar scene occurs. This time, Assef reemerges again at a time when Amir has to confront him. The question here is whether the intention was to strengthen the belief that Amir is still at old age a self-centered man. Rahim Khan recalls Amir from America to come and help rescue Sohrab, Hassan’s son who, in the same way, as his father is sexually molested by the rude Assef. This time, Amir has to endure and may be building his legacy from the guilt of failing to rescue Hassan from Assef and true to it, he is forced to take charge against Assef and rescue Sohrab. Whether this act serves to repay back the sacrifice, he owes Hassan is dependent on the circumstances that one may consider Amir to have been going through in his childhood against the man we meet in the latter chapters.
Looking back to Hassan’s life, he undergoes mental and physical torture at the hands of a merciless Assef, who understandably joins the Taliban, a group that of course suits his ideologies. Like in Hassan’s case and Amir’s too, Assef is like a man trying all his bets to safeguard his identity and prove to the world that he is more a Pashtun than a half-Pashtun (Bloom, 26). Surprisingly, the reality that he is a half-Pashtun is hidden from him. To make matters worse, Amir’s father does not reveal Hassan’s identity nor does Ali, the perceived father to Amir tell the story behind Hassan. Do these actions cause the suffering and torture Hassan and Sohrab undergo at the hands of Assef? Definitely, they do, and the blame squarely lies on Ali and Baba. If they would have been bold enough especially in the understanding of the cultural beliefs that subject some groups as slaves to others in this region, they could have played a more tactical skill to save the fate of Hassan and the unforeseen pain that Sohrab undergoes.
Simply, Hassan was living a forced identify unknowingly though he does not seem to regret a bit about it. He is contented by his role as part of the Hazaras, and his selfless attitude reveals throughout the book.
The book has been divided into three dissention parts all which have significant at influences on the lives of the characters. The first part introduces the characters, giving each of them an identity and a trait that we follow to the very end. The second part introduces the link for the first and last parts as each of the characters seeks to define, strengthen or redefine their identity. For Assef, joining the militant Taliban group is more than expected from his childhood rude character and his firm beliefs in extremism.
In Amir’s case, the second part introduces his passion for writing and the relocation to America is evident of his changing life after the incursion and war in Afghanistan. It is during this part that he also meets Soraya whom he ends up wedding (Bloom, 32). The part also forms the transition of Amir as an independent man after his father’s death and it is this death and the subsequent death of Ali that open up to his new world where he is to learn of his family and his relations with Hassan whom he carries a guilt for the abandoning him at the crucial moment.
The last part does open up the identities of the characters in such a surprise manner. Amir’s relations to Hassan are revealed, and he is afforded a chance to wash away his guilt by saving Sohrab, Hassan’s son who is in the custody of the rude Assef. This last scene offers Amir the chance for self-redemption after living all his life under the cover of his father and Hassan’s sacrifice, boldness and will to fight to the very end (Rankin-Brown, par. 2). At this point, Amir is fighting to redeem his image, he is also compounded by the fight o have children after their marriage with Soraya. The attempts to bear a child have become negligible by day, and this is one more battle he has to fight. This is a fifth he cannot leave for another day, it is one he cannot hide from, he must show how well he has transformed and work his way through it (Herbert, 11). These transitions and the challenges around each transition are a reflection of the everyday life. Beginning at an early age when one remains hidden in the identity of others, to a transition that signals the independence world where one has to fight his challenges amidst the ever changing environment.
Hosseini, in this masterpiece, is able to intertwine various stylistic devices that help in the development of the themes. Although fictional, the story has a rich aspect of historical realism with accurate date and chronology. Alongside the lives of Amir and Hassan, Hosseini runs a similar political story behind (Jefferess, 393).There is a parallelism between the lives of Hassan and Amir and the Afghanistan politics. Before 1973 and during the childhood years of both boys, the country enjoyed peace and tranquility during the regime of King Zahir Shah’s. However, as the country enters into a new turbulent regime of Dawood Khan, the close relationship and friendship between the boys become equally turbulent. The era is also characterized by loss of humility through characters such as Assef who harasses Hassan and Amir.
Hosseini also shows expertise in characterization. The choice of characters and their descriptions goes hand in hand with their actions throughout the story. Although Amir is earlier perceived as a jealous and selfish person, his transformation is clearly characterized by selflessness as he travels to Afghanistan to save Sohrab.
Inimitable to Hosseini is his capability to combine the Persian literature characteristic to the Sufis with the literary style of Western novel (Malik, 161).The novel alludes to the Persian tale of Sohrab and Rostam and other literary aspects characteristic to the ancient Orient. The novel borrows a lot from the Persian, such as the The Kite Runner’s ironical revelations of the past, tragic irony and the setting of the novel in a war-tone era.
Works Cited
Bloom, H. Khaled Hosseini's The kite runner. New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. Print.
Herbert, M. Bookclub-in-a-box presents the discussion companion for Khaled Hosseini's novel The kite runner. United States: Bookclub-in-a-box, 2007. Print.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner: Graphic Novel. A&C Black, 2014.
Jefferess, David. "To be good (again): The Kite Runner as allegory of global ethics." Journal of Postcolonial Writing 45.4 (2009): 389-400.
Malik, Muhammad Asghar, Syed Kazim Shah, and Rashid Mahmood. "The role of linguistic devices in representing ethnicity in The Kite Runner." International Journal of Linguistics 5.1 (2013): pp-161.
Rankin-Brown, M. "The Kite Runner: Is Redemption Truly Free?" N.p., 7 Jan. 2008. Web. <http://spectrummagazine.org/node/242>.
Xiao-qing, J. I. A. N. G. "Symbolism in The Kite Runner." Journal of Hubei Radio & Television University 2 (2010): 041.
