In The Kite Runner Hosseini uses the literary device of foreshadowing throughout the novel. By using this literary device he allows the reader to comprehend that there is a major conflict in the story and that it will eventually be revealed. An example used in the text includes the quote, “That was a long time ago, 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. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years” (Hosseini, 4). Early on in the novel this is stated by the main character Amir. Readers later discover that the “deserted alley” is where Hassan was raped and that Amir cannot deal with his guilt because the “past claws its way out”. Therefore this passage infers that no matter how hard Amir tries to “bury it” he cannot ignore his guilt of what happed all those years ago and the event that took place will never be forgotten.
Another literary device used in The Kite Runner is the use of
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By doing this it creates intensity within his writing and draws the reader’s attention to the events occurring within the novel. An example in the text includes the quote, “The blast echoes through the street of my father’s house. Hassan slumps to the asphalt, his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase” (Hosseini, 200). This quote references Hassan’s death and indirectly compares it to the kite fighting games he used to play as a child. By stating “his life of unrequited loyalty” it refers to Hassan’s never ending loyalty towards Amir which in turn led to his demise. Also, by comparing his death to the kite fighting games it infers that this is where his life truly ended. It ended when he chased down the loosing kite for Amir to give to Baba, it ended when he was
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 4, 1965. He is currently alive at the age of 55 years old. Khaled published his first book, The Kite Runner with River head Book on May 29, 2003. In total Khaled, has published three books, The Kite Runner published in 2003, A Thousand Splendid Suns published in 2007 and his most recent And the Mountains Echoed which was published in 2013.
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.
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows how lying and deceit is a counterproductive route when trying to live with a dreadful past, exhibited through the actions of Amir. Amir’s decision to withhold the truth and blatantly lie in several situations due to jealousy and his desire for Baba to be proud of him amounts to further pain and misery for himself and those he deceives. Because of Amir’s deceit towards Baba and Hassan, his guilt from his past manifests itself into deeply-rooted torment, not allowing him to live his life in peace. The guilt from Amir’s past is only alleviated when he redeems his sins by taking in Sohrab, contributing to the theme that the only way “to be good again” is through redemption, not shunning the past.
In Khaled Hosseini’s book, The Kite Runner, Amir is an example of growing up, making mistakes, and facing the consequences for those mistakes. Amir grows so much throughout the book. He is a fictional example of maturing and growing up in a realistic manner. Making mistakes is a part of this growth, even though his were extreme. The reader is introduced to Amir and is disgusted about how he treats Hassan and abandons him in a time of needing rescuing. His mistakes disgust us, especially after Hassan has been by his side the entire book. As the reader gets deeper into the book, they start to develop feeling of anger but sometimes sympathy, towards Amir. By the end, we are not as angry as Amir than the reader to begin with. Amir has grown into
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about a young boy named Amir that begins in 1975 in Kabul, Afghanistan. As a child, he mistreats his servant, Hassan, who is like a brother to him. After failing to intervene in Hassan 's rape, Amir lives with guilt until his late thirties when he is presented with a chance at redemption. Amir 's father’s old friend, Rahim Khan, called from Pakistan to summon Amir to him. Upon his arrival, Amir learns that Hassan is his illegitimate half-brother. Hassan had been killed and his son had become an orphan. Amir then goes to drastic lengths to find and retrieve Hassan 's son, Sohrab. During this time Amir faces the guilt of his past and finds peace with himself while saving Sohrab
#) These opening lines of the novel foreshadow what is yet to come. You can see Amir looking back at the past in an attempt to justify why he is the man he is today. In the winter of 1975 it was the final round of the Kite Running tournament when Hassan chose to run the last kite for Amir. In doing so, Hassan is cornered by Assef and his gang, who question Hassan’s loyalty to Amir.... ...
This quotation is foreshadowing for the whole book. It foreshadows the internal struggles Amir will experience throughout his life because of what happened that one winter day in 1975. The author not only utilizes the quotation as foreshadowing for the book but also as a reflection on the hurt in his life.
The road to redemption is a path that one must take in order to make amends with the past. In the novel “The Kite Runner”, the author, Khaled Hosseini, illustrates the struggle of achieving redemption through the protagonist’s eyes. Amir’s desperation to please Baba leads him into making a choice that will haunt him for the rest of his life. When given the opportunity, Amir looks to right his past sins and is sent on a path to redemption. In the novel, the kite symbolizes Amir’s path to redemption by being the object through which he intends to gain Baba’s respect, by being the cause of his guilt, and by being the object that brings him back to a relative state of innocence.
To begin, the first instance of redemption is found and portrayed through irony. As Amir's mother died giving birth to him, he has always felt guilty. Leading up to the annual kite-fighting tournament, Amir feels as if winning will redeem her death, and solidify his relationship with Baba. When he comes upon Hassan who is cornered by Assef, Amir feels as if his rape might be justified: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Or was it a fair price?” (Hosseini, 82) If Amir gains the kite, he wins Baba's heart. Ironically, the sacrifice of Hassan is the catalyst to Amir's need for redemption. Instead of redeemi...
In the novel, after Amir betrays Hassan, Amir, now an adult, attempts to redeem himself from his past actions, which is not as effectively shown in the film. Amir returns to Afghanistan to visit his father’s friend, Rahim Khan when Amir is given a letter from Hassan which reads, “And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you” (Hosseini 230). However, in the film’s adaptation of, The Kite Runner, Hassan’s life as an adult is only briefly touched upon, and all that is mentioned is either told to Amir by, Rahim Khan or told by Hassan in this short letter he writes to Amir. This is such an important part of the book, so in the film, when Hassan’s life is so vaguely described, it is difficult for the audience to recognize the development of Hassan’s character. Amir stays away from Afghanistan due to the overriding guilt he feels from betraying Hassan, but after reading Hassan’s letter, Amir now feels forgiven and released into freedom. This sense of redemption is not evident in the film as Amir does not show signs of feeling forgiven or redeemed of his past
In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.
“Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali’s arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. “There” she had said. Now you have your own idiot child” (Hosseini 10). Since the moment he was born, the defining feature of Hassan’s appearance was the split in his upper lip, just left of the midline. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Hassan was repeatedly belittled for being the harelipped Hazara. A harelip is considered an imperfection, a mistake in how someone is suppose to look. Why would Khaled Hosseini, the author of the novel, want Hassan, the loyal selfless servant, to be known as a mistake? Hassan’s cleft lip is a juxtaposition with his virtuous personality and character. In order to reiterate the juxtaposition, Amir suffered a cut on his lip after battling Assef, “The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip” (Hosseini 297). After Amir defeated Assef, he achieved redemption and his character was good again, his physical appearance now suffered. Contrastingly, Assef
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
A large part of the novel deals with Amir trying to redeem himself. First with his Baba by trying to win the kite fighting tournament because Amir feels as though his father blames him for his mothers death. The the larger act of redemption occurs when trying to rid himself of the guilt of letting Hassan be rape...